Review of The Dark Knight Rises (2012) by Jm23 — 21 Jul 2012

TDKR was worth the wait and it met my ridiculously high standards. For starters, The Dark Knight is my favorite movie and what I consider to be an instant classic just four years after it's release. Also, Chris Nolan is my favorite director and he never disappoints me.

That said, this delivers. The acting, action, cinematography, set designs, costumes, and music are all top notch, and will lead to at least 8 academy nominations come february. There are about 4 or 5 set pieces that are jaw-dropping.

Bale and Caine give their best performances of the series and are the heart of the movie. New additions Hardy, Levitt, Hathaway, and Cortillard are all spectacular as you would expect. The main complaint this film has and will continue to receive is that it is "long" and "bloated".

However, the long length and large number of characters gives it an epic and book-like feel. The film really takes its time in telling it's story, whereas some long movies start to rush to the end around the 2 hour mark.

While there are a lot of things going on, the story is relatively simple and all of the characters have a good story arc that concludes in a great way. Ending a series is so hard because of the expectations fans build up, whether it is film, television, or books.

But this film really does have an ending that should satisfy the majority of fans. This successfully earns the title of best trilogy of all time in my opinion with LOTR close behind. It is that good from beginning to end.

Most of all, Nolan decided to take chances with this film when he could have played it too safe. Job well done by Nolan and company. Best Picture and Best Director nomination please.