The Dark Knight Rises, then plummets.

Rating: 6/10 (27 July 2012)

SPOILER ALERT!!!
I completely loved the music. Hans Zimmer masterfully merged the original score with the prisoners' chant to create a terrifying yet unique sound that carried the movie along. I could not keep the drums out of my head till the next morning.
The daring opening sequence, the midair plane hijack/kidnapping/staged-accident was cleverly pulled off and set the tone for the rest of the action sequence in the movie.
Batman's first appearance in costume after a prolonged absence was grand also; the auto-adjust wheels of the bikes were particularly cool.
That said, I must confess that I am a very angry fan. Mainly because I have read and drawn the Dark Knight since I can remember, partly because Mr Nolan, director of The Prestige really was the best man for the job, but I'm afraid the job was not well done. Even more disappointing is that David Goyer, writer of the Blade Trilogy, writer of the Dark Knight trilogy, an all around 'comic-head' whose body of work singularly contains the most superhero blockbusters by one single writer/producer/director failed woefully.
HOW CAN YOU RETELL 'KNIGHTFALL' WITHOUT A MEMORABLE FIGHT SCENE!!! Without one of the greatest martial artist in the comic world putting up a worthy performance, without Bane resorting to doping just to even the odds, without all of the images of Neo Versus Agent Smith scorchingly burnt out of my mind forever? Why do I keep seeing Kelley Jones' cover of the pivotal story arc? Did Nolan and his team even reference the source material? Did they see Batman's scale to Bane's? Did they see how majestic his built was? Tom Hardy's delivery was 'Broadway' flawless, but I swear I saw something bothering on a potbelly in Bane's second appearance.
The amount of time wasted on monologues, Alfred, played by Sir Michael Caine, constantly defying Bruce Wayne almost to the point of irritation. John Blake played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a rookie cop who smartly reveals Bruce's identity to his face in yet another protracted and confusing monologue. All of this time would have been well spent in the hands of a good fight choreographer.
Catwoman, played by Anne Hathaway was a sight to behold, although all of her would-be memorable moves were shot too close up robbing her of a befitting place with Scarlett Johansson and Carri-Anne Moss as the baddest babes in spandex. I have heard of lips pouting, but I swear that's what her derrière did when she mounted Batman's bike.
Memorable lines? Don't hold your breath, as Bane and Scarecrow delivered some jaw dropping clichés, and that is when one manages to make out Bane's words through his overly enhanced-bionic-English accent, and yes, Batman still whispers.
There was sadly a feeling of overcrowding, if that term can be used for a $250m blockbuster, and I don't mean the thousands of extras that Mr Nolan had to hire, but apart from the top-billed cast, the amount of known faces popping up and disappearing before completing their sentences were just too much to take in. From Liam Neeson returning as an imaginary Ra's al Ghul, to Reggie Lee playing the subterranean hero cop, to Tomas Arana, who played Quintus in Gladiator, being on screen for less than two minutes.
The casting wasn't the only thing on a grand scale; the story itself was of epic proportions. The tension was palpable, the reality was very American. The team pulled off the Gotham siege and made invading aliens seem like child's play albeit with a few holes in the plot, some that even my suspension of disbelief could not handle.
At the end of the day, no memorable hand-to-hand fight scene, no hi-five gone wrong, no mutant bashing a God's head into the concrete. No memorable lines, no memorable moves, even Bane's defeat was left hanging unpleasantly.
My candid opinion, Nolan overplayed his hand with the vulnerable Batman thing. The greatest detective on earth did not have an inkling of what he was up against, the greatest martial artist in DC universe did not last a complete 10 minutes against a Bane without his venom. That broke the movie for me.