The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Rating: 7/10 (16 September 2012)

Nolan ends his Batman trilogy successfully, even if it is quite disappointing. When taking into account my absolute love of the first two films, my love of the comics, and my own personal preferences, there is almost too much to say. It's been 8 years since The Dark Knight, and Bruce Wayne has given up his cowl and become a recluse. Meanwhile a terrorist mercenary known as Bane is looking to take over Gotham. Will Batman return? First of all let me put some of my personal gripes out there. Batman giving up for 8 years is ridiculous. I'm sorry, but it really made me dislike the character. Next the film is simply Batman against a terrorist. I've always preferred Batman when he is fighting crime, not international villains hell bent on world domination/destruction. This is why the first two films were great, they focused on him cleaning up the city of crime. The film does well as a final chapter. It rounds off many of the themes of the first two and gives a solid conclusion to the trilogy. Unfortunately it takes many lengthy twists and turns to get there. The film is filled with needless characters which take up time. To balance this, Chris and Jonathan Nolan use painful shortcuts in their screenplay, such as characters just knowing who Batman is. The editing is very sloppy and is unable to create a sense of distance between locations, a sense of time passing, and has multiple flashbacks and even a scene in the wrong place. I never expected this film to live up to The Dark Knight, but it just failed to have the same emotional punch that its predecessor displayed, as it also goes for spectacle. The best part by far is the first fight between Bane and Batman. It has no music, just bone crunching sound effects. This is rare for a Nolan film, but is something he should do more often. I enjoyed it very much so. But like previous Superhero sequels, the flaws just stood out as I was watching it.