In my review of the Dark Knight, I said it would be hard to top. I was right. I'm sure I was not alone in that thought.
The Dark Knight Rises occurs eight years after the events in the Dark Knight. Gotham is safe and no longer in need of the Batman. Bruce Wayne has virtually disappeared as well, making it seem kinda obvious the two are connected. The plot is convoluted as all hell, but I'll try to summarize. Selena Kyle robs Bruce, causing him to hunt her down, only to discover she was working for Bane, who has a plan to rob Wayne of his money and take control of Wayne Enterprises. Why does Bane want Wayne Enterprises? So he can turn a cold fusion-type energy source into a nuclear level bomb. During all that, Gordon stumbles upon Bane's operations beneath the city, also motivating Batman to get his shit together and take down Bane.
Through the first 40 minutes of the movie, I was bored. At the end, despite the convoluted setup, I didn't get a single surprise. When I walked out of the theater, the movie was a disappointment.
Thinking about it the last week, it's a great movie, I may even see it again in the theater, but there are a lot of problems in it that neither of the previous films have, and that makes it disappointing.
Spoilers ahead.
Problems:
1. Just like with Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, there are too many characters we are trying to pay justice to. The biggest problem in this arena is Talia, who is honestly unnecessary and feels like the character was shoved in there just to get Marion Cotillard in the picture. There should have been a choice between Talia and Catwoman, you can't have both.
2. Plot is too convoluted. There's 50 minutes of setup with unnecessary complications of how Bane takes control of the city, all just to get to the point we all knew was coming, that Bane would take control of the city. And for the entire movie I was waiting for Cotillard to be Talia, making her last minute reveal as the controlling villain a poor, transparent twist.
3. Catwoman is underused.
4. Revelation at the end that Joseph Gordon Levitt's name is Robin is silly.
5. Same nuclear bomb ending as The Avengers.
6. There is no explanation of how Bane and his crew know the exact location of the Applied Sciences room and what is within. I can assume that they knew Batman was also Bruce Wayne because they were involved in the League of Shadows, so that knowledge can be explained. Knowledge of the stash of Tumblers does not make sense.
7. There seemed to be more monologues in this movie than in the previous two combined.
8. The League of Shadows has no exit strategy out of Gotham. So it's a suicide mission? For what purpose? Blowing up the city does not seem to be in keeping with Ra's Al Ghul's original intent.
9. Beyond that obvious nonsense, what was the point of giving the city 5 months? Just to give Batman a chance to save the day?
Good things:
1. Joseph Gordon Levitt's character, aside from being named Robin, is solid.
2. Bane is awesome.
3. Cillian Murphy's presence is always appreciated.
4. Matthew Modine.
5. Nolan's standard great actions sequences.
Reviewing the Nolan Batman movies, I like Batman Begins the best. It has the fewest plot holes and the best character development. Dark Knight is incredible, but for the visceral response it ellicits. It's incredibly tense and exciting throughout, but when you think about it, you see problems. Batman Begins has by far the fewest problems. It's also uncharacterisically straightforward for a Nolan film. The Dark Knight Rises is much more Nolan-like in regards to plot. But I ultimately wish he'd stuck to being straightforward.
First Viewing: 3+2+3+3+3 = 14