Spoiler-Free review of Batman Dark Knight Rises

I would sum up my feelings based on a comment someone else said in a previous review:
"No, this is not a direct “straight-from-the-page” interpretation of..."

I came in knowing that I hated the look of Bane and with overall disappointment regarding Batman's voice, Catwoman, etc.

By the way, Catwoman was quite good. I could nitpick, but in fairness I won't. She worked. She gave her own take on the character and really, take away the name (which Nolan did) and you have a character who is interesting enough to warrant being in this movie. Great work.

I'm trying to avoid comments I've seen elsewhere. You already know about the other great performances.

So I'll say this: When I distance myself from thinking of this as a "Batman" trilogy, I feel like I really want to like it. The scope is amazing. There are incredible moments that I can't even tell you about until you've seen it, and then, you'll just agree. Alfred is... wow. Great.

But this is not a Batman trilogy. Maybe an elseworlds take, but even then there are things in this movie that... well, read Harry's review on Aint it Cool. He fleshes out my feelings here well enough that I can actually agree with him on something. And I agree about the ending too. (I'll leave that alone. But oh how I want to comment. On that and more... but I can't yet.)

The movie is tragic. I can say that and ruin nothing. Nolan went out to portray a certain element of Batman and based on the setting of his movies, it worked. I mean, Bruce hasn't been Batman for 8 years. The "Why" is... well, disappointing. But this movie needed a purpose. I guess that served it.

I can't help but think of this movie as being like a piece of dry skin that you just can't wait to rip off, but then you kind of like the feeling as well. It IS a Batman movie and that bothers me. I want something true to the comic. But this movie is decent enough.

Ah. I know how to end this.

I feel like a good trilogy just ended. I disliked the first one. I really liked the second one. The third one is somewhere in-between. Now I'm glad it's over. It means we'll get a real Batman film. As it stands, I feel like I just watched the end of a trilogy that vaguely resembles Batman.