Bane had so much potential! I'm disappointed in where it went with him.

Rating: 8/10 (28 July 2012)

Great movie, but nowhere near as good as #2. The Joker and Harvey Dent were such powerful characters, they made #2 what it was. This film was missing a character like that.
It was an interesting take on Bane. The voice was interesting. I would have gone with something more morphed and unnatural. The haughty accent took away Bane's potential to be truly frightening, but it also made him a bit more cerebral and human, which is what I think Nolan wanted. It definitely made him a more distinct character than just another half cyborg-vader type.
But Bane had so much potential. They built him up into a really cool villain. Rather than a brainless roid raging thug, he was built up into this evil neo-political sociopath...then he kind of just disappeared. He just sat there watching his little ant farm, you couldn't tell what he was wanting to happen. The final fight was a major letdown. All of the fights seemed a little like drunken brawls, just punching and broken ribs. But after all they had done to center the movie around Bane, they killed him off like he was just a sidekick henchman. He was too important for that. All of the good guys (Batman, Kyle, Blake, Gordon, Fox, Foley) were balanced out only by Bane, and he was pulling it off, but he needed to be "nuked" at the end. To just downplay him, kill him, and try and replace him with the weak Miranda character didn't work for me. Her objectives and evil side were never clear enough.
That was the hardest thing to accept: what did Bane/Miranda want? The original league of shadows was an anti-crime terrorist group. The goal was simply to destroy Gothom almost Punisher style. The Joker was an agent of chaos. His only goal was mayhem and destruction. Where did Bane/Miranda fit? They almost wanted them to be both, but it made no sense. What did they seek in letting Gothom exist for those 5 months? Was it a suicide mission? They never planned to escape the bomb. Why did they want to die with the city?
Overall I really liked it, but it could have been better. The size and scope of these films was truly epic, but it overwhelmed the characters in the end. Batman almost struggled to find his place within this film.