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8.4 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 2571 Ratings

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  1. Jul 23, 2012
    3
    It is not our own fault, as a collective audience, that the third film in the trilogy is often so pressurised into being a fantastic, ugly and plot-less mess. We get overexcited and speculate endlessly and wildly about the plot and twists of the film to the extent where the creators are left with no option but to go hell for leather and overload, over-complicate and overextend themselves when it comes to actually making the damned thing! Nolan has in the past provided massively entertaining well written, scripted and directed works of cinema, (TDK, Inception and YES prestige) I do not doubt his talent.

    TDKR was not one of them, the dialogue lacked the wit and pithy impact of the previous film to the point where everything felt rushed and miscued. The plot 'twists' were obvious, unnecessary and entirely un-intriguing. The action scenes were fine, a little drab although I appreciate the 'broken Batman' concept. Bane was good and would have appeared better if the rest of the plot had stood well around him. A suitably frightening bad guy I loved the voice and the interactions between him and his army (although why they are so willing to die at his command is never fully explained). The prison scene could have worked in another film, similar to Batman Begins for example, but were an irritating and contrived side plot, especially the whole rock climbing bit (was this the key scene? Not sure). Give a director enough budget and he will drop your expectations through a trapdoor.
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  2. Jul 22, 2012
    4
    It's not a bad movie, not by any stretch of the imagination. It's certainly superior to Prometheus. However it lacks any impact. There are no memorable performances, ideas, moments, scenes or effects- good or bad. I didn't walk out angry but I was certainly disappointed.
    Bane was horribly realized. I'm sure the mask was a severe burden on Hardy's acting but I never connected with Bane the
    same way I did with the Joker, or even Ras. And given that he is probably my favourite Batman villain, that was a severe disappointment too. The voice is also frankly atrocious. It sounds like a stereotypical old man but through a Darth Vader filter. Half of his lines were unintelligible and the rest had any menace robbed from them thanks to the ridiculous tambre. The more we learn about him, the less sense he can his motivations make. Apart from that, the rest of the movie was just... just there. Anne Hathway made a pretty decent Femme Fatale, but the role never really evolved beyond that. I think there were just too many characters and development was spread too thin. I never got emotionally invested in any of the characters, and consequently the action and drama just didn't carry much weight.
    Speaking of spreading too thin, for a Batman film we see very little of Batman, and only marginally more of Bruce. He spends the entire first act hobbling around and then after two or so action scenes he spend most of the second act wallowing in a cell while what can only be described as 'Stuff' happens.
    The take home message of the film is shocking. Apart from pissing all over the 'people are essentially good' message of the second film, it also seems to be giving a great big middle finger to the idea of socialism and the Occupy movement. There's also a big thumbs up for authoritarianism. Did Frank Miller write this? Not to mention another subtext which seems to infer you should be grateful if you grow up in poverty or hardship as it will give you strength.
    All in all it's a deeply flawed film in its conception and execution. It's crime isn't so much that it does things badly (not to say that it doesn't do things badly), but that it doesn't really do anything well. It's the epitome of 'meh', neither good nor bad, but with some shoddy characterization and ideas. A plain cheese sandwich made with slightly stale bread.
    I think Nolan was too focused on referencing and drawing from comic source material and desperately trying to create a historical parallel, and not paying enough intention to just making a good film off his own talents. All in all, it's a big step back from The Dark Knight, and an unworthy ending. It's worth a look simply for closure, but probably as a rental.
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  3. Jul 28, 2012
    3
    Ultimately the problem with the movie is the plot makes no sense at all. As I'm endeavoring to not give away anything, so I'm going to be intentionally vague. There is no logical explanation for the actions of the villains in this movie. Nothing to justify why they are doing what they are doing, and even if you work past that and accept that they just are, what they end up doing doesn't even make sense in the context of their stated goals. Unlike the insane, but methodical plans of the Joker in the second movie, the bad guys in this are just plain insane, and yet they play it far more straight-faced than the aforementioned previous antagonist did.
    The next problem is the action. The whole "comic book movie" excuse that gets banded around so often can really only make up for so much. The core of the issue is that in Nolan's Batman universe, bullets seem to be more precious than diamonds. For some reason this did not feel quite as obvious in the previous two installments as it did in this one. Every action scene has mooks running up to Batman or other characters with guns in their hands to be easily disarmed. The frequency with which this happens in staggering. Barely anyone ever fires their guns throughout the movie and when they do, they make Stormtroopers look accurate. This culminates in a massive all out battle in which literally thousands of people suddenly forget the deadly projectile launching devices more or less all of them are holding and start laying into each other with whatever is available on hand. The sheer absurdity of the scene makes it impossible to ignore the issue even if you'd intentionally not payed attention everyone running up to martial arts specialists to be easily disarmed up to that point. All of this casts an absurd, practically silly light on the action that really detracts from the movies tone.
    Next problem: Exposition, exposition, exposition, exposition, exposition...you can see where I'm going with this. A character enters a plot important room and they start spouting exposition about it to people who quite obviously and unmistakable already have this knowledge beforehand, and nobody questions why they are being told something they already know. The sheer volume of exposition in this movie pushes the already ridiculous runtime past the point of tolerance.
    Honestly, I feel tired of this movie. I felt tired of it by the time it finally ended on it's awful cop-out ending, I felt tired thinking of all the things that really did not work in it, and I feel tired listing them here. I'm sorry, it just really isn't a good movie on almost any level, which is a crying shame seeing as it's predecessor is one of my personal favorites.
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  4. Jul 22, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After watching The Dark Knight, I knew right away that Rises wasn't going to top it. That was the mentality that I had going into the theater, hoping to be pleasantly surprised, yet expecting, at the very least, a satisfying conclusion. I got neither. To put it simply, this was both underwhelming and dumb. The movie opens with an entirely too elaborate plane heist for what amounted to the abduction of some arbitrary nuclear physicist that doesn't become relevant again until halfway in, only to be killed off just as soon as his importance is explained. If you really think about it, he wasn't necessary. All it really amounts to is some pithy moment at the football stadium where Bane establishes that the physicist was the only person capable of decommissioning a bomb, then kills him immediately to shock everyone. That was **** stupid because he wasn't even in Gotham before he was abducted, but I know everyone else in the audience was mesmerized and got chills. Idiots. Speaking of which, Bane's voice was impossible to understand and surprisingly wimpy sounding behind that mask. Maybe it's just me, but I seriously had no clue what he was saying when he talked in the microphone, further distorting his already hard to comprehend voice. Honestly, the movie jumps from plot point to plot point so quickly that you barely get the gist of what is going on before the shot changes again. Something else that was noticeably absent was the grittiness of the first movies. The emotions felt more genuine in the first two movies, whereas the acting in Rises felt phoned in. No one character really gets a whole lot of screen time. You don't get a chance to give a damn about them before the scene ends. Lotta plot holes in this movie, too. First, the movie establishes that Bruce Wayne has no cartilage in his knees any longer for some reason, forcing him to walk around with a cane. That's remedied by a quick scene showing him using high tech joint support devices that solve this problem while also enhancing his strength to the point that he can break through stone without effort, but then as Batman, he gets the case of the stupids and gets his dumb bat ass kicked by Bane, captured and stripped of his Bat Suit as well as joint support gadgetry, and abandoned in some underground prison. Not only that, his back is broken. So, magically, he's cured of his joint problems with absolutely no explanation, and being hung by a rope fixes his broken back. Dumb. Catwoman barely has any screen time, and arbitrarily wears a fetish leather suit with goggles later in the movie. Also she is an implied lesbian/bisexual with the scant couple of scenes and dialogue with her blonde friend or perhaps roommate. It's not really explained or necessary, but does it really matter? You're not doing the math when all you can think about is sex, are you stupid? Robin is a cop who actually doesn't help the situation even one god damn time. Nothing he does actually affects anything, so I have no clue why he's in the movie other than for the one line where someone tells him he should use his full name, "Robin." Wow, was that supposed to shock me? You think I didn't know who he was supposed to be? Oh, and somehow Batman is able to fly a nuclear bomb out to sea with his Bat copter thing with only 40 seconds left on the timer, then escapes from a 6 mile blast radius, when just two scenes before we see him just barely outflying tank missiles inside the city. The movie even confirms he somehow did this by indicating that he flew his copter back to Luscious' weapons depot without being noticed. I found this movie very hard to watch because of how brain-dead it was. This movie obviously wasn't meant for me. It was meant for morons with 3 second attention spans. Frankly, I'm shocked more people aren't pissed. Expand
  5. Jul 20, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. While not the worst film ever made, The Dark Knight Rises is certainly a major letdown. The film is mired by numerous plot holes, logic errors, jarred storytelling, amateurish editing, bad pacing and transitions, and lack of explanation as to who the new comers are and why we should care. Not to mention the plot twist after plot twist that is thrown at the audience during the dull 2 1/2 hours you'll spend watching the movie. There are numerous things touched on in the beginning that are ultimately thrown to the wayside (see: Bruce's "brace") that distracts from the viewing experience and breaks the immersion of the film. There are also problems with the voice acting given during this movie; Bane is the primary culprit, but even Bruce, Alfred, and of all things Batman have issues with clarity and not sounding ridiculous. The logic of some of the characters in the movie is absolutely stupid as well (see: acting police chief when Bane makes his move). I just want to conclude by saying that "Auto-Pilot" doesn't mean "magical plot transporter". You'll see what I mean when you watch the film to it's non-nonsensical conclusion. Expand
  6. Jul 20, 2012
    3
    Unfortunately the benefit I thought I'd get by seeing the entire Trilogy tonight of Christopher Nolan's brilliant Batman world actually worked against me. Seeing Batman Begins, by far the best of the three, again had just as much of the magic as my first opening night screening. The Dark Knight, too, continued to set the GOLD standard for superhero filmmaking. That is why seeing those two masterpieces bumped up against this awful excuse for a Batman and an even worse excuse for a Christopher Nolan film, made the evening purely miserable. First, the opening scene introducing Bane and the ending wrapping up the Trilogy We're the best 20 total minutes of the movie. That, and a fantastic, yet not-used-as-much-as-she-should-have-been Catwoman portrayal by a very sexy Anne Hathaway, pretty much summed up what was worth seeing in this clumsy, poorly written, poorly acted travesty of a sequel. The vast majority of its 2:45 running time resembled not one ounce of a Christopher Nolan film, save for the above caveats. Christian Bale even appears to have forgotten how to play Batman and Bruce Wayne. The cast was almost unrecognizable, and for that I blame the script. Color me disappointed. Expand
  7. Jul 20, 2012
    4
    The Dark Knight was the best superhero film to date. However, TDKR was not. It wasnt even good. The entire movie was slow, boring, preachy, pandering, and had practically no action. If you know Batman lore, you know who Miranda Tate is, so the "surprise" at the end, wasnt a surprise. And even if you dont know the lore, it still wasnt all that much of a twist. It felt like an afterthought to throw into the movie. All the people who say TDKR was the best movie ever and gave it a 10, have not seen the movie yet, or are just insane fanboys that will love anything with a bat symbol on it. Expand
  8. Jul 20, 2012
    3
    The Dark Knight Rises had a lot of hype and high expectations to live up to after coming off of its acclaimed predecessor--The Dark Knight. Thus, inevitably, when going in to see the TDKR, TDK will be on the back of many peoples
  9. Dec 19, 2012
    1
    I have no idea how so many people like this drag of a movie, there will little to none character development , there so much cliche stuff it was sadly predictable, the actions scenes were badly choreographed. there was NO chemistry between the actors. I love Nolan but this was just a waste, full of disjointed plot lines and lack of cohesion.
  10. Sep 3, 2012
    0
    Nolan's movies show off the unattractive bighead he really is. While busy pretending to be intelligent and dark he forgets to put in realistic, "human" behavior. This results in very sober movies that are not attractive in any way. His movies f.e. are lacking humor of any kind...hardly ever a smile is shown and often the plot is just so artificial it can't seriously be what normal thinking people like to see. I much more prefer the human kind of behaviour from actors in movies...The dark knight once again fails the "reality"test...which makes it an annoying waste of time. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!! Expand
  11. Jul 22, 2012
    3
    The Dark Knight Rises and there's a whole lot of talkin' goin' on. Admittedly, nothing could live up to the hype this things gotten so I tried - I really tried - to put all that aside. But the sad fact is this thing is a snooze.
    There is back story after back story in this movie as you learn and re-learn the histories of each character. And, while I promise you no spoilers, what really ge
    ts me is , if any of the so-called twists in the plot come as a surprise to you this must be the first movie you've ever seen. I'm not a fan boy and I don't demand fealty to the Holy Writ of the comic book origins, so I'll say making Bane wear that stupid mask was, well, stupid. This is a movie, he's an actor, you need to see his face!
    Anne Hathaway and Marion Cotilard are classic beauties and just watching them on screen is a pleasure just not worth all this hyperbole. The rest of the cast are very talented actors as well.
    So why a low rating? Well, I can't really tell you without giving spoilers and I promise not to do that. So let me just say if you must see this movie, wait a week or two for the lines to die down and go in promising yourself you ask no logical questions at all. None. Zip. Zilch.
    Just sit, eat your popcorn, slurp your cola and let the illogical, predictable plot flow over you.
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  12. Jul 30, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS! I finally saw The Dark Knight Rises last night. Wow, what a disappointment. Chris Nolan needs to come up with a better plot. He used the same one for all three movies. Build up the character, knock him down, build him back up. After this movie, they can never make another Batman without starting all over again. Do you REALLY want to see Batman's origin again? Also, why is it that so many people figured out who Batman was so easily? They could have have had the same movie without that. Also, Bane. First his voice was poorly dubbed. No matter where he was what kind of room he was in his voice sounded the same. It sounded like it was pasted in. Why is it that Bane could break granite with his fists, but not cave in Batman's face? On Batman himself: why is it he could break rock with his FOOT just because he was wearing a automated knee brace? On SPOILER: Robin. I figured out who the young cop was right away. Again, even he figured out who Batman was, who didn't know? Not only was the whole nuclear bomb plot cut and paste, but poor. He takes the bomb over the ocean, and he's a hero? So much for radiation poisoning in the ENTIRE OCEAN! As soon as Alfred told Bruce the story about finding him Italy living his life you KNEW right then how the movie was going to end. When I heard that Anne Hathaway was playing Catwoman, I was like: "she weights 110 lbs and looks like she couldn't hurt a fly." But she pulled it off. She was the best part of the movie. Bruce being crippled was again, giving an early end to the character. He's supposed to be better than a normal person. Also, him "breaking" his back and FIXING it in prison was the laziest/crappiest part of the whole movie. Batman has an incredible line of characters (heroes, villains, and regular people in all of comicdom not sure why that just had to pin the entire series on Ra's Al Ghul.''

    This movie felt unnecessarily big, over produced and rushed. It felt like an afterthought and a contract obligation by Nolan. I wanted to love this movie, but I can just says it's okay. I mean stop pandering to the lowest common denominator and write a smart movie. 2 out of 5 stars.
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  13. Jul 24, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This was not a good Batman movie, especially trying to stand next to Begins or Dark Knight. There's a lot for me to dislike, but I'll try to hit the key points only. The pacing is rotten; actors speak without pausing between lines like they're reading from a script as quickly as possible, and plot points whiz by faster than you can appreciate most of the time as more and more is crammed into the already beefy two and a half hours. If things are slowed down to the point of understanding, you realize that the plot makes no sense. Bane (though not really Bane as it turns out) wants to blow up the city because...well, you find out eventually its because Ra's Al Ghul wanted to, but Bane himself (or his benefactor) really has no motivation aside from being a bad guy. Worse still, Bane and company seem to be suicide agents for some reason, planning on going up in smoke along with the rest of the city when the bomb goes off. The entire plot seems to be dedicated to showing Bane rip the city apart and having character shout Occupy Wall Street lines, all the while showing us how bad Socialism actually is. "Now its everyone's house!" Anyway, I think most of the problems stem from those key points: bad pacing, bad plot, confused social message. The actors are great (if rushed), and the segments with Anne Hathaway felt like an entirely different (better) movie. She plays a great Catwoman, and I wish I could have seen her doing so in a better Batman movie. The Batman vs Bane sewer fight is also excellent, and could be transplanted entirely to a better movie as well (the epilogue isn't too bad either, so you can leave on a comparatively high note). Everything else though, from silly plane kidnapping intro to nuclear race against time climax, is rushed and gaudy. One last funny thing I noticed: The Joker is never mentioned, even in passing or in regards to Dent. Dent is talked about; Scarecrow is cameoed; Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Shadows come up; never the Joker though, and he's technically alive in the Nolan-verse. Why? Personally, because I think Nolan and company recognized they weren't living up to the Dark Knight's quality, and they were trying to desperately avoid reminding the audience of that better movie. Don't say his name, and maybe everyone will forget. I'm not really sure, but if it was their way of dodging the challenge of living up to that movie, they failed miserably. Expand
  14. Jul 20, 2012
    4
    Honestly, I;m soooo disappointed. Such a let down after the awesome first two from director Nolan. The film took far too long to warm up. Much too much story line, too much happening and you are left not really connecting with any of it. If youre looking for a dull, senseless action movie this will be youre cup of tea. If youre expecting a great epic story, great acting and the great Nolan touch you'll be, like me bitterly disappointed. Expand
  15. Jul 20, 2012
    0
    What "The Dark Knight Rises" is missing is efficiency and clarity. "The Dark Knight" was a nearly perfect film marked by astounding character development and perfect pop utility - not a moment wasted. "The Dark Knight Rises" is a muddled mess, albeit a dazzling one. The visuals are stunning; but all of the rabbits in Nolan's hat cannot obscure the fact that the screenplay is simply not up to snuff. Expand
  16. Jul 23, 2012
    4
    I don't know what is wrong with Christopher Nolan, he makes these great movies with awesome special effects, beautiful cinematography, and poignant dramatic moments and **** them up with convoluted plot twists, multiple story lines, and retiredly complicated scenarios. This movie could have been great, but it ended up being just ok. It was too long and too many things going on reminded me too much of inception. The ending was money, but it didn't make up for the rest of the movie being too long and boring, next time don't try to make 6 movies into one and it will be good. Expand
  17. Jul 23, 2012
    3
    The Dark Knight is Risible.
    Almost every scene was either utter nonsense or so boring that it felt like my entire day was being swallowed up in this mire.
    A massive problem for me is Bane, not just that he's nothing like the comic-book character but his voice is even more comical than Batman's - he sounds exactly like the Narrator from Diablo!
    Bane's fights with Batman are terrible beca
    use Nolan still cannot direct brawling scenes. He barely even tries this time and seems to have gone back to his original tactic of cutting away or just plain hiding the action behind intervening characters.
    I can think of 2-3 decent moments but for the vasty majority of the film I was just hoping it would improve or just end. Nolan was obviously sick-to-death of the characters and seemed to want the audience to go out feeling the same way.
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  18. Aug 3, 2012
    0
    I felt compelled to write this review because of the overall positive score this piece of cr.. received. I had some issues with the two previous Batman movies, like the absence of the gothic ambiance - you can pound us endlessly with the claim that the scene is Gotham, but I can still tell it is New York, or poor action scene and the fact that in combat Batman looks like an ordinary bar fighter - hey this is a marshal arts master pushing the human limits of speed, quickness, strength, and agility, and in these movies he looks kind of slow. In this latest movie, for moments I though I was watching Rocky 6 or something. They were exchanging concrete shattering blows endlessly. is that supposed to be an action scene in a modern time action movie. But those are just lighthearted objections. Here comes the heavy stuff. This movies is soooo stupid, it may well have the dumbest and most inconsistent plot I have ever seen. From the little details to the overall plot line it reeks mind boggling thickness. And.... and it is 164 minutes long. Those were the most painful 164 minutes of my movie watching life. I see some people here are careful not to give out any spoilers. Here's a spoiler for you, give this movie the widest possible berth you can imagine, and spread the word before it's too late, and too many people are violated by this weapon of mass brain cell destruction. Expand
  19. Jul 21, 2012
    4
    Okay, I get what they were aiming for...they just missed. Rather than tell a Batman story, the producers and writers told an elaborate and convoluted Death Wish story. The plot was overblown where it didn't need to be. Bane is goofy and inconsistent as a villain and there is no idealogical center to this picture. Considering the end of the film some of the histrionics that take place (Alfred, I'm talking about you) don't really make any sense. I feel like we've run around in endless circles in this movie just to go a very short distance. The movie just doesn't really get it right. It is still entertaining, it just isn't Batman. Even standing alone, not comparing otto Dark Knight is just isn't that good. Sorry. Expand
  20. Jul 29, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Things I didn't like about this movie: ------------------------------------------------------- - The plot never seems to get traction. When you expect something smart, figurative, and metaphorical (like the brilliant Batman Begins) in the end its just a plain old "there's a bomb!" plot with nameless thugs running around. - Bane's character is not developed at all. Nor does his ramblings have an intellectual basis to make him interesting. The dubbed voice over for him was so much louder than the normal track it sounded fake. The overacted scottish accent was horrible. This is kind of sad because Batman comics are praised for the complex villians. Bane had no personality at all and you had no appreciation for his mission or thought process. - Batman is cool because he has gadgets, does awesome detective work in the batcave, invents things, outwits enemies, drives the batmobile, connects the dots where others cannot etc. and wins hand to hand fights. Sadly, none of those traits are portrayed in this movie. The seminal point in the movie where batman actually returns on the scene is a confusing sequence where it seems that he chases the badguys off and they get away. He's then sort of scolded for scaring them off by the police. Huh? Wtf? That's not the Batman we want to see.... - Fox's character is largely ignored in this movie. A shame. They could have done something interesting with him. - Catwoman had great potential to be interesting but they only scratched the surface with her and she had no integral purpose. - Much of the plot mirrors events in Batman Begins (the best of the 3). Batman is hurt, he is thrown in prison. League of Shadows is behind the turmoil and Wayne enterprises has another bad ceo. Batman overcomes his imprisonment, trains to magically heal his serious injuries, etc. - The dialogue between characters is mostly related to "this and that" such as "we have to stop him", "I'm on it!" etc. and nothing deep, revealing or interesting to hear. Sounds bad, and sadly it is. - There is a pointless "police march" that goes no where because the script meanders off elsewhere. - For some reason, people "just know" Bruce Wayne is Batman. Unfortunately, this revelation is just crammed into the script because the script needs it, not because events actually lead to it. - The "Inception" like ending is good cause for debate but also copied from Inception. - The fight scenes were a joke. Batman and Bane just whiffing at one another. Batman is a martial arts expert who can defeat many enemies at once. He also has cool gadgets to evade and surprise bad guys. None of that appears here. Let me be clear. Batman is a SUPERHERO. Not some average joe in a unitard. - Like Prometheus, the music was too loud, everpresent and contextually unrelated. - It was too long. Mostly for the above reasons. - Too much everyone else. Not enough BATMAN!! I mean c'mon!!! We hardly got to see batman at all....seriously. - Why is this movie called Dark Knight Rises? Ok, he quit and came back, then quit or died again. The title seems misplaced or redundant to the other movies. "Batman Begins", "Dark Knight Rises", sorta means the same thing with different words. Things I liked about this movie: ------------------------------------------------------ - Bat plane - Catwoman, although they didn't show her true abilities (9 lives, etc.) Expand
  21. Jul 24, 2012
    4
    I had a much longer review, but metacritic wouldn't let me post it so I'll sum it up.

    It has its moments, and the first half is better than the second half, but it is a mess and may very well be the weakest of the Trilogy.
  22. Jul 23, 2012
    1
    This should be added to the list of over hyped movies that sucked. It was not about batman, the movie was about cat woman and robin and a whole lot of useless characters. What a waste of time. Batman had 2 fist fights in the movie, that's all the action you get. He either runs away scared or gets his ass kicked. Watched batman begins and TDK and was really excited to watch this movie. But the movie just sucked..on par with Prometheus! I did not pay money to watch a sissy batman movie with no action. Period. Expand
  23. Jul 20, 2012
    0
    Awful movie, with a horrible political message. Nolan is shouting "get down the revolutiond and support the actual system". Tom Hardy is genious, and his character is a real hero, but Nolan paints him like a villain.
  24. Aug 1, 2012
    3
    Unaccomplished, badly fragmented, often ridiculous, blatantly fascist. At least, Bane is cool. For the rest, Nolan shows himself, in my humble opinion, as one of the most overrated director-writers of these times. The overall story, if managed better - both in terms of screenplay and direction - had the basis to deliver a powerful movie. But Nolan fails on almost every aspect. He clearly knows the importance of drama, but lacks the ability to convey it, and every dramatic scene turns out to be either ridiculous or bland, a thing which gives the final blow to a lazy plot with more holes and failed pretentiousness than a badly designed mini-golf course. Batman himself, especially in the fighting scenes, is a clown that moves with the speed of a snail, and talks with a totally laughable old-style horror-tunnel voice.
    At least, as I mentioned, Tom Hardy is a very expressive and impressive Bane, while Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Anne Hathaway deliver a good performance. The rest, acting included, is pure boredom.
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  25. Jul 24, 2012
    0
    This movie is very average. The plot doesn't make logical sense, the movie lacks appearances from its star cast, and fight scenes are nothing more than 2 brutes swinging as hard as they can. The movie is rather a test to see how much fans love Christopher Nolan. It seems in their eyes he can do no wrong. He is the real world white knight and we will adore and overrate this film just because he made it no matter how many plot holes and liberties he took with this film. Expand
  26. Jul 23, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Warning contains spoilers! Questionable choices made by the director in this plot the feel of the movie was very much like the others which is good but 'Bane' as the main badie always left a question mark over my head when I saw the trailers when there are much more complex characters in the batman saga. I did enjoy how bane was acted his voice was strange but very much what has been heard of before in cartoons and games. However none of his back story was explained why did he get hooked up to a blood transfusion in the underground base he had why did he have the mask that made him sound so strange? Bane in the comics is supposed to be smart, intelligent and the Venom he uses makes him super strong not enough back story for this prominent leading character. Also where was Batman "the world greatest detective" that we had seen in the previous films, using expensive innovative detective methods was exchanged for big explosions and the bat plane. Ra's al ghul plot of bane completing his work because he his his supposed son only for everyone to find out its actually Talia was predictable to anyone who know the comics, has played any of the games and can spot bad acting!, Right from when she first gets introduced she, its easily to tell shes not who she says she is. This film is entertaining but frustrating if you are a fan Expand
  27. Jul 20, 2012
    3
    I can't remember the last time I was this disappointed with such an anticipated film. As a fan of the "comic book" genre and believing that the first two films in this series were nothing short of perfection, this movie fell way short on nearly every level. The dull, lifeless performances were equally matched by an unimaginative and lengthy script. This movie could have easily been scripted to have a fourth, or even fifth, instalment. At least then we could have been saved the horrible editing and cinematography that forced it into a single film, thus making it feel like nothing more than a two and a half hour trailer (the background music also NEVER stopped). And once again we see a great comic book villain who's story and purpose isn't truly told on the big screen, and Bane's is deep, he almost deserves his own movie. So much like Spider-Man 3, they tried to do too much with too little and it really shows. With the exception of it's actors, this final chapter appears to share absolutely none of what made the other two great. Expand
  28. Jul 23, 2012
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A bitter disappointment and awful ending to a brilliant trilogy, the movie was so boring and lengthy that I considered to leave the cinema. The script was predictable at some points and the acting was so poor amongst some of the actors. Anne Hathaway was horrible, she was not convincing at all and her outfit looked like a cheap halloween costume. Bane, the main villain of this movie was killed in a split second and everything was forgotten about him, that's it. It's like the script writers wanted this movie to end quickly as possible at this point of the movie. The actress playing Miranda who appears to be Ra's Al Ghul's daughter Talia should get the award for worst death presentation, it was some of the worst acting I have ever seen, you can tell that she is acting. It's like she is taking a nap for crying out loud. Blake who appears to be Robin gets access to the Batman cave and all the high tech stuff that is in there, but he didn't recieve any training at all so he wouldn't know how to use it. Robin is just an ordinary cop in this movie with no combat skills, yet Bruce Wayne gives away the cave to him and settles down with the supposed Catwoman. Expand
  29. Jul 26, 2012
    2
    Wow, I really wasn't expecting this. After all the hype, after knowing it was going to be the last batman movie made by Nolan, the movie just couldnt deliver, at all. And srsly I wanted to like it, I really tried, but after some horrible scenes and dialogues I couldn't lie to myself anymore.

    I can't understand how this movie is getting such high reviews and by so many people... It make
    s no sense. The movie was a plotless mess with too much wasted budget. They didn't know what to do with so much money and decided to make up a load of random crap to fill in.

    From beginning to end, there was nothing to like. The annoying conversations with Alfred, the horrible plot twists, the useless police march at the end (why not just drop a bomb in the middle of it?), the everlasting Morgan Freeman (always the same role and acting), Anne Hathaway (horrible choice for catwoman), the lame speech at the stadium, the over the top loud music, but above everything, the was no plot or story.

    It worries me that so many people are loving it. This proves that anyone can produce a successful movie as long as there is huge hype, budget and fanboyism around it. People are going to love it either way.

    Im not at all a hater, in fact I loved the second movie and TDKR was not even remotely close to it. I dont want to insult the people who liked this movie, but this was a very dumb movie, with too many plot holes ( e.g. Bruce leg problem magically healed in jail?) to mention all of them.

    The good parts? I guess the explosion of the football stadium was cool. I walked out pissed and confused about why so few people disliked it.
    Expand
  30. Jul 21, 2012
    3
    Slow to start and muddied with too many mediocre subplots this is the weakest of the trilogy. The last 45 minutes were fun. Bane was dull. I went to see Batman and He didn't show up until the end. Sure there were reasons, but it was just not fun. The comics are good fun, this, meh. It would be fine to see this on video. There were two major, whose stupid idea was that moments. If you are a fan, I suspect they will disappoint you. Expand
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 45 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 45
  2. Negative: 2 out of 45
  1. Reviewed by: Todd Gilchrist
    Jul 23, 2012
    100
    A cinematic, cultural and personal triumph, The Dark Knight Rises is emotionally inspiring, aesthetically significant and critically important for America itself – as a mirror of both sober reflection and resilient hope.
  2. Reviewed by: Anthony Lane
    Jul 23, 2012
    70
    Christopher Nolan, for all his visionary flair, wants to suck the comic out of comic books; Anne Hathaway wants to put it back in. Take your pick.
  3. Reviewed by: Bob Mondello
    Jul 20, 2012
    85
    As you might expect from the creator of "Inception" and "Memento," there are surprises both in the story and in the storytelling. But the biggest surprise may just be how satisfying Nolan has made his farewell to a Dark Knight trilogy that many fans will wish he'd extend to a 10-part series, at least.