Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

I am about a week late in getting this post up.  Last weekend, J and I had the rare opportunity to go out on a date.  The traditional dinner and a movie.  Ah, bliss.

We have both been eagerly awaiting this final installment of Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight Trilogy", as we were both big fans of the first two films.  When I lined a babysitter up for the film's opening weekend, I was positively giddy.  (No, seriously.  I was.)

I had read a few reviews of the film before seeing it, and was surprised to see that they weren't glowing.  In fact, I read that Rotten Tomatoes temporarily shut down its commenting capability after receiving much hate and vitriol following their less-than-favorable review.  Yikes.  I was sad to read that this movie may not be the best thing ever, but tried to keep an open mind anyway.  After all, I'm a fan.

Folks, I have to say...the reviewers got it wrong.

This movie was fantastic.  It was one of the rare occasions where during the entirety of the 2 hour and 45 minute film, I never once looked at my watch to check the time.  I was engrossed.

For me, there were a few highlights:

Bane: He was S.C.A.R.Y.  This character was so menacing.  And throughout the film, I wondered who the actor was that played the part, because I had no idea.  I couldn't separate the character from the man.  I figured that this meant the actor was an unknown to me.  I couldn't believe it when I looked it up after the film and saw that it was Tom Hardy.  Well done, sir.

Selina Kyle: I admit that when I first read that Anne Hathaway was to play Catwoman in this film, I was more than a little skeptical.  In my mind, she is pure "Princess Diaries."  But turns out, she can play a bad ass with the best of them.

But best of all, the story: Oh, the story.  And I don't just mean the plot of this film.  Christopher Nolan truly told a story across the three films.  And the best part about this is that you didn't see it happening.  It wasn't until the movie ended that you saw how all of the pieces fit into place.  It may sound corny to say this about a comic book movie, but that kind of storytelling takes real talent.

So if you haven't already guessed, I give this movie an A+.  I tried to find the plot holes that I had read about in reviews, but I couldn't.  I tried to think of a time when the movie was dragging, but I couldn't.  I tried to find a flaw, but I really couldn't.

If you enjoyed "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight", you must go see this movie immediately.