The Dark Knight Rises

First of all, my deepest sympathies go out to those in Colorado. My heart goes out to all those affected by this unimaginable tragedy.
Now to the film.  THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS. After the tragedy, it was probably not the best film to see as it is filled with darkness with few happy moments in between. For the third time, Christian Bale puts on his Batman suit to defend the people of Gotham City from the evils that surround them. Still recovering from Harvey Dent's murder, which puts a cloud over the whole film, Bruce Wayne has been in hiding for the past eight years. Luckily, the city was fine. Until now. Bane, a prison escapee, emerges with more than enough evil to fill several villains. He has a huge army and even an inside man, who is revealed in one of the few shocking scenes in the film. Bane succeeds in turning an environmentally friendly device into a nasty bomb, set to explode in five months, unless the citizen (who is unknown) pushes the trigger earlier. As a result, the city is in pure misery. It reminded me of the Siege of Lenin-berg during the second world war. The Germans had surrounded the city, leaving the citizens with little food and water and barely any electricity or heat, which was awful considering it was in Russia. For Gotham City, the policemen are trapped in an underneath tunnel, barely surviving; the rest of the citizens have limited electricity and other supplies and no one can leave the city as that will explode the bomb and destroy the city. All this time, the people are on edge and Batman has not been able to help them because he was captured by Bane and remains in the very inescapable prison where Bane had been. Luckily, Batman, like Bane was able to escape the prison and is able to save the day, again. Only this time, Batman also loses his life, but saves the whole city. His friends are somewhat dismayed that everyone won't know who really saved the city, but that's the way Batman would have wanted it.
Now to the other characters. And there are a lot of them. Alfred (well played by Michael Caine) is still the trusty butler, who strongly urges Bruce to let someone else to save the day, as he doesn't want to bury another Wayne. So he leaves and Bruce misses him. Lucius Fox (a good Morgan Freeman) is still around to invite fancy new contraptions for Batman.  Gary Oldman is also back as the DA Gordon who knows the truth about Dent but opts not to tell the people the truth and this later comes back to bite him. Then there are the new characters: Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate, a seemingly benign entrepreneur who saves the Wayne business and steals Bruce's heart, but turns out to be evil and the child who escaped from the prison and Bane merely helps her do so. I was actually happy when she died. Anne Hathaway sparkles as the jewel thief Selena Kyle who turns out to be nicer than she looks as she helps Batman in the final battle. The best has to be the addition of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Police Officer John Blake who believes in Batman more than Batman does himself. Other stars pop up in smaller roles including appearances by Matthew Modine, Tom Conti, Juno Temple, Thomas Lennon, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy and Hines Ward, playing himself.
The film was far from perfect. Bane may have an interesting story behind him, but he is largely boring and though played by Tom Hardy, there is little life to him. With his device on his mouth, his words are often difficult to understand. At least Selena Kyle is interesting and engaging. You never know what move she will make next. People may believe that Anne Hathaway was miscast, but I don't agree with them. She kicked serious butt in her role and had good chemistry with Bale. However, though Nolan wanted Cotillard for Tate (he even waited until after she gave birth to her son) but I thought she was not right for her role; I would have preferred Natalie Portman.
The movie was also quite long, over two and a half hours long, with some scenes filled with action, bombs exploding and other scenes open up the emotional flood gates, most of which contain Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The film is not as good as The Dark Knight, but at least in ends happily, with Alfred glancing at Bruce and Selena enjoying a fancy meal together (he didn't die after all) and John Blaine quitting the police force and journeying to the Batcave to fulfill his duties using his legal name, Robin. I will probably see this film again, as it is spectacular filmed and edited with a great, dramatic score and it will most likely be nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, but I feel that that is undeserved. Still, the film is far from a disappointment and is a dramatic finale to a beloved trilogy, but it could have been better. Grade: B+