The Dark Knight Rises (2012) - ★

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer: Christopher Nolan
Stars: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson

I was thoroughly unimpressed with this movie. It was boring, unoriginal, predictable, and a huge disappointment. I’m a fan of The Dark Knight mainly because of Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker. Without him, The Dark Knight Rises was nothing but a stupid comic-book adaptation that took itself too seriously.

New characters are introduced and almost all of them lacked personality, depth and good acting skills. Bane happens to be one of my least favourite movie villains of all time. Partly because I couldn’t understand what he was saying half the time. You never really know who this man is. You have his motives, but you don’t know about the man himself. The Joker was a sick and twisted human being. He had style, flare, and a likeable quality about him. Nolan tried to make Bane possess these qualities and completely misfired.

What this movie does not lack is plot holes. I spotted so many that they were about the only interesting part about the film. They introduce ‘Robin’ in this film as a surprise ending, except it isn’t really a surprise. It is blatantly obvious who is going to be Robin, and this character is the most annoying, self-righteous dim-wit in the Batman series.

The dialogue was ridiculous and unnecessary in so many scenes. I didn’t care for Police Commissioner Gordon, Robin, Bane, or Alfred. The only person that impressed me a little was Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. In my honest opinion, Christian Bale’s Batman has both a bland personality and a ridiculous voice. People say that George Clooney was the worst Batman, but at least he had personality.

The Dark Knight Rises was stuck in limbo. On the one hand, it wanted to be a serious drama/thriller. On the other, it wanted to remain faithful to the farfetched comic book style and story. The Dark Knight (2008) balanced this perfectly. The sequel failed miserably. It took itself too seriously and had hardly any moments of light entertainment or pure genius. I believe that fans of Nolan remain loyal to his movies regardless of whether they are good or bad.

This does not deserve to be one of the highest rated movies on The IMDB. There is just too many things wrong with this film for me to remotely praise it, making it one of the worst movies of 2012.