A long ride to mediocre

Rating: 6/10 (20 July 2012)

First, let me preface all of this by saying that The Dark Knight set the bar almost impossibly high. Going in, I expected this movie to come up short of TDK, but I hoped it wouldn't come up as short as it did.
Visually this movie is AMAZING! Nolan really creates a feast for the eyes. The soundtrack is so perfect it goes almost un-noticed. Where Nolan comes up short is development of the characters, which directly impacts the story. Add to this the predictability of the plot, and you get, by far, the weakest movie of the Trilogy. Bane's character is just dropped in and we are pretty much left with a "bad guy." There is no explanation of why he is there until it is almost too late in the movie to care. The strength of this series has been the characters and Nolan's ability to connect the audience to them. The Dark Knight Rises come up short in that very critical area.
To wrap it up, this is a mediocre story hiding behind very impressive visuals. It is still very entertaining, but should leave anyone paying attention to the plot wanting.