The Dark Knight Rises: Nolan's Biggest and Worst Movie to Date

SPOILERS are the most exciting:

There are two big ones.

1. Miranda Tate a.k.a. Talia al Ghul, not Bane, is the child of "The Mercenary".  I knew there had to have been an inside man, but it wasn't apparent to me that it would be her.
2. The Dark Knight Rises. (I've been wondering what the title was referring to for months!)
1. Four possible meanings of how the title was derived:
1. Bruce Wayne literally rises from the bowels of a middle eastern prison/pit.
2. Bruce Wayne finally overcomes his fears and lets go of the pain of his past.
3. Officer John Blake figuratively rises to assume the role as the new batman. (Personally, I thought his anger was going to lead him to become the Riddler, but Robin is too inherently good.)
4. Officer Blake literally rises in the Batcave as the final scene of the film.

FILM REVIEW

I felt indifferent walking out of the theater. (It's my own fault. It is practically impossible for me to not compare Knight Rises with Dark Night.)  This film simply reaffirmed how extraordinary The Dark Knight really was for me.  Having set an impossibly high standard for success, I was underwhelmed by nearly every aspect of this film. CNN reported it accurately when they called The Dark Knight 164 minutes of "lugubrious soul-searching" and wanting in the action & excitement department.

It was not meant to be watched as a stand-alone film.  It only works as the third act of a trilogy.  I don't plan on watching it again unless I do a marathon viewing of the entire saga.

HIGHLIGHTS/LOWLIGHTS

Top 5 Things I Disliked:

1. Selina's line: "A storm is coming. Mr. Wayne."  That self-important quote bothered me. Plus all those campy, 90's one-liners.  They have their place in other batman films, but this series is supposed to be different. Additionally, Selina's character was entirely backwards for me. She's supposed to be a tease.  She is supposed to lead Batman on and then betray him in the end.  Instead, she does the opposite.
2. The photography/editing.  The acting was probably fine, but their moments of authenticity weren't masterfully captured like they were in the previous film.  This is a common problem for directors who have too long of a story to tell...
3. The cut scenes and flashbacks made for a weak ending. It was good, but I had hoped for more.
4. The fighting was worse than WWF.  But that was to be expected.  I was in it for the story and found it lacking.  There was NOT ENOUGH emphasis on the conflict between characters.  What is a story without conflict?
5. Bane didn't sell it for me.  I imagined him much bigger (which they really could do anything about), more intelligent (via his body language), and more intelligible (with a less cheery accent).
6. Oh, one more—Miranda quoting Jesus' final words before her death.  Inappropriate.

Top 5 Things I Enjoyed:

1. The film's expensive special effects.
2. Alfred's vindication.  That was the one emotional part of the movie for me.
3. The female twist.  Nolan got me.
4. The plane heist/destruction scene. Original and breathtaking.
5. Efforts were made to resolve the trilogy. (e.g. Batman's fear.)

Next up for Nolan: Man of Steel.  We'll just have to wait and see if he phones it in or hands off direction to a family tie like he did for this one. Perhaps after Dark Knight, Nolan stopped caring.  Did he feel an element of guilt regarding Ledger's death?  Did he realize that he had achieved cinamatic excellence and couldn't top it?  The issue reminds me of what Joss Whedon confessed at the end of the 10th Anniversary Firefly panel at San Diego Comic Con 2012.  Whedon admitted that he never gave a Sh*t about anything he made after Firefly.  (EVEN Avengers.)