Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite directors, so I went into The Dark Knight Rises with reasonably high expectations. Even with this being the third film of a trilogy I figured Nolan would be able to finish on a high note.
For the most part I think he did. TDKR is a very good film, but it does suffer some minor missteps here and there.
As other reviews have pointed out, it's a good idea to watch Batman Begins before seeing this film. Several elements of that film's plot come into play here(Ra's Al Ghul, The League of Shadows, and fear, to name a few). There are also some references to The Dark Knight, but not as many as there are to Begins.
The story begins eight years after the events of The Dark Knight. Bruce Wayne has retired as Batman and cut himself off from the world, his body broken down due to his days of crimefighting. Gotham City is threatened and Batman is needed once more.
Tom Hardy's performance as Bane is exceptional. His Bane is cold and calculating, completely ruthless and without mercy. A more than worthy adversary for Batman.
Anne Hathaway is damn near pitch perfect as Catwoman. She stole a good number of the scenes she was in and it had nothing to do with her looks.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt's John Blake is well played, which is exactly what you'd expect from Levitt.
Marion Cotillard is also very good as Miranda Tate.
All the key players from previous installments in the series(Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, et al) turn in great performances. There are also a few cameos that fans will get a kick out of.
Where the missteps come into play has to do with the pacing, and to some extent the plot. Whenever you're dealing with significant changes in time, there can be a lot of jumping around and it can confuse the viewer. To his credit Nolan did a pretty good job of keeping the confusion down, but there are still a few scene changes that I felt could have been handled better. Some reviews I've read complained about the film's two hour, forty plus minutes, but for the most part I didn't think it was a problem.
Overall I really enjoyed it, glad I watched it in IMAX. Can't wait for the Blu-Ray later this year!
