A good finale for Nolan Batman trilogy

Rating: 8/10 (20 July 2013)

I never saw the finale of Nolan's Batman trilogy in a theater. I was put off by the inclusion of Bane, who never has been my favorite character, so I, consciously or not, never saw it. I just couldn't muster the interest. And now I finally saw it I must admit that The Dark Knight Rises was much, much better movie than I expected it to be.
Nolan took a character I care very little about and managed to tie him into his trilogy. In this movie Bane is a follower of Ra's Al Ghul, who is trying to finish what Batman stopped Ra's doing in the first movie: destroy Gotham. This he plans to do with the help of power generator Bruce Wayne has financed.
The opening of tDKR is not as strong as the opening of the Dark Knight. As a movie tDKR is not as strong either, but it's not a bad movie, nor a bad way for Nolan to finish what he started with Batman Begins.
Just like in the two previous movie the cast in tDKR is very strong. The old faces, Caine, Oldman, Freeman and Bale do their respective roles with routine and at places Bale's growling starts to be borderline silly, but he still manages to pull his Batman to the end without turning him into a complete joke. Tom Hardy does good job as Bane and Anne Hathaway fills in nicely the tight suit of Catwoman. All in all the movie works well in most levels. There's some problematic dialog, that doesn't quite work, but after the movie kicks in the high gear that really ceases to be a problem.
But now, that Nolan has ended his supposedly more reality rooted Batman series I'd love to see Batman taken back in less serious world. The Batman comics are full of colorful villains, that couldn't be explored in Nolans world, but now that he's done, the time could be ripe to bring in the even more fantastical elements of Batman.