If you search the term “unreasonably high expectations,” you’ll find an image for Christopher Nolan’s last Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises.” Some people might overreact and will interpret anything short of a masterpiece to be bad, but that just isn’t the case. TDKR is very very good, but has several aspects that keep it from being that masterpiece. You have to go into the film as open minded as possible, else your expectations will get the better of you. There is no real reason anyone shouldn’t walk away from this movie completely satisfied by their experience. TDKR is far from perfect, but excels past almost every movie that has come out in the last couple years. It isn’t the movie we deserved, but it’s the one we needed.
There is a general rule about movies that the film must get the audience’s attention in the first few minutes, else they will become disinterested throughout the rest of the film. I tend not to be a real believer in this rule, but it’s a major factor into why you see so many films start with action sequences. TDKR is no exception to this as it opens with one of the boldest stunts in recent memory. The entire opening sequence serves as a reminder of how director Nolan prefers traditional effects rather than cheating on everything with bad CGI. Some of you might have already seen this sequence as part of the promotional “prologue” that went with certain IMAX showings of “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol”. Ninety percent of the footage is unchanged, but there are slight differences in dialogue. There is also a profound difference in Bane’s voice. As the principle villain, Bain was meant to sound dark and intimidating. He still does, but maybe not as much as the film originally intended. Either way, the film gets off to a great start and hardly slows down until the film finally hits the end credits.
Even at two hours and forty-five minutes, TDKR moves at a much faster pace than most movies that are only ninety minutes. So fast in fact, that some characters don’t feel completely flushed out. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character, John Blake, feels like the biggest victim of the pacing. This is especially true because of how important he is by the end of the film. Blake does get some nice scenes and character development, so he isn’t completely left out in the cold. I just felt we only get to see a small fraction of his potential as a character. The ending probably would have come off ten times stronger if they didn’t wait until the last movie to introduce him.
However, one person who didn’t lag behind the rest was Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. The sassy vixen in skin tight leather (at least I think it’s leather) steals the show in most of her scenes. Even out of costume she easily has the best performance of the movie. Everything else feels constructed around certain needs. The need for a villain, action scenes, and budding moments of comedy and romance. Catwoman just comes off as the only genuinely inspired character with most of the best writing and details gravitating towards her scenes. Hathaway and Nolan work beautifully together to mold this character into a very entertaining and engrossing feature. She does start to feel constructed towards the end with the movie’s need to have her help Batman, but it’s the only moment she shows the slightest fault. I know this is TMI, but I should also criticize her for making me sit through half the film with a boner. Some might say that is the best compliment a man can give a woman, but we’re people, not Baboons.
As for the rest of the cast, everyone does a fine job. The people we’ve seen before continue to do what they do, and the new people play out their roles quite well. Bane, played by Tom Hardy, is very intimidating both physically and mentally. He is almost perfectly ruthless as he lays waste to Gotham. My only discomfort with his character is how he exits the film. I can’t be descriptive without spoiling the movie, but I will say: Exit, Explode Stage Right. Marion Cotillard’s character is an interesting love interest, but also suffers from Blake’s problem of not being completely flushed out due to time. The return of Professor Crane and the inclusion of Roland Daggett were also very nice touches. 
The list of characters is so extensive and diverse that it’s intimidating to think they fit all of them into one movie. It really gives the film a “Tale of Two Cities” or “War and Peace” epic feel to it. And just for the record, I’m considering that a good thing.
However, what it has in characters, it lacks slightly in plot. TDKR, despite its best efforts, ends up suffering from the inherent flaws of a trilogy. Unlike its predecessors, TDKR is built up mostly on the backs of previous movies rather than being its own story. The film spends so much time thinking backwards, that it forgets to go forwards. Thankfully the movie is well written and paced so it doesn’t do something stupid like trying to tell us everything at once. The backstory that is revealed also works for the most part, especially when it starts to come together at the end. Granted it’s a little convoluted, but it works in ways “Spider-man 3” can only dream of.
When you decide to end a story, there is a list of things you have to do. One of those things is to create a definitive end to your main character(s). You don’t have to kill him/her off, but you have to set their path to a certain type of end. Like in fairy tales where they said “And they lived happily ever after”. The journey/conflict must reach a level on conclusion to end the current story. Unless you nuke the world, you can’t end a hundred percent of the world that the story has created, but a level of loose ends has to be tied off to keep the audience satisfied. TDKR does all of these things well, but the film does them because it has to. The movie might have actually turned out better if it hadn’t decided to be a conclusion or a trilogy, but these things are the nature of the business. The industry has to keep ending the storylines so that they can hit the reboot button and tell the same story all over again.
As with most films, I can nick pick details. The inclusion of a ticking clock is a lame plot device that is beneath Nolan’s caliber. Alfred’s role could have been handled better. There are also a small handful of noticeable editing issues. Some scenes are back to back or even intertwined but are supposed to take place hours apart. I will say that a story that takes place over the course of several months and doesn’t use a montage is an accomplishment worthy of praise. 
Some of the small mistakes didn’t bother me too heavily, but we’ve come to expect a lot from Christopher Nolan.
It might be too much to ask for this movie to be perfect. When you see a Michael Bay film, you expect the product to be similar to public school lunches. Overcooked pink slime filled beef with a side of soggy freedom fries. Christopher Nolan on the other hand is a slab of Kobe beef massaged in white wine. We’ve just come to expect the best from Nolan. He delivers perfection most of the way through the film, but some of it falls under the weight of its own epic novelistic scope. Then again, maybe I’m just upset that this will probably be the last good Batman movie in my lifetime. I wish Nolan would keep making more Batman movies, but at least it was fun while it lasted.
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There are too many movies for me to review in full, so I created a twitter account to give brief opinions on the many movies I view. If you wish to read my smart ass remarks, follow M.O.V.I.E. Reviewer @MutantOpossum.
 Batman Dark Knight … $20.00
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 Batman Movie A3 Pos… $18.00
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 Catwoman Leather Ma… $49.99
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 Superhero Bow Colle… $7.50
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 dunnananananana BAT… $27.00
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 The Dark Knight Ris… $5.20
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 One Dark Knight Ris… $9.00
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 The Dark Knight Ris… $5.00
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Though I didn’t care much for the movie, I thought your review was much more fair and balanced than what most people are saying about it. One thing though: There was a montage scene, when Bane was describing what would happen to the city while his plan was in motion, it was showing you events that happened over the next few months. Then when his speech was done the story takes place months after.
You’re right, thanks for pointing that out. I guess because the montage wasn’t set to cheezy 80′s music it didn’t register in my brain.