Okay so, this is me attempting to do some semblance of a review for The Dark Knight Rises. Spoilers after the Cut. First of all, going into this movie, I had a laundry list of things that I expected to hate, despise and generally dislike about it. I felt (and still feel) that the advertising campaign was handled rather badly, in that it sold the film to me as the grand, bombastic action film with explosions and insanity every two seconds. I felt that Bane would not be able to carry the entire movie on his own merits as a villain. I was sure that I would hate Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, and overall, I just figured that it was highly unlikely that Nolan could WoW me for the third time in the trilogy. Well, I was wrong…about most of that. Overall, I really enjoyed the film. Yet there were things that I did not like and I feel, ultimately, were lacking. First of all, The movie was not a giant orgasm of explosions like I expected. The “stadium collapse” scene was a mere footnote, rather than the center piece the trailer seemed to point to it being. Tom Hardy/Bane was pretty damn awesome. He was able to carry the film on his own merits mainly because unlike in The Dark Knight, where the Joker is basically the Lead role in everything save name alone, Bane is indeed secondary to Bruce Wayne (note I do not say Batman) And the final “reveal” of his being the champion/protector of Talia payed brilliant homage to Bane’s role in the comics as the pan ultimate mercenary/henchman. As far as Anne Hathaway/Catwoman is concerned…she wasn’t bad…but unlike most of the official reviews wherein she is drowned in praise…for me, she was simply “there” she didn’t add anything to the film, nor did she take away. She did a fine job doing what was required for the film…but at no point did my jaw hit the floor, nor did I feel anything “sexually” towards her beyond “oh, eh, shes attractive”. To me, Catwoman as a character should drip, exude and generally burn with sexuality (no not the cheesy 5 dollar whore version that we saw in her last incarnation) I don’t know how to explain it exactly, I mainly mean that she did not impact me in the way the character ought to have. As far as the actual technical aspects of the film were concerned…It truly had some fantastic moments…but failed to exist together as a complete picture in the way that The Dark Knight did. It suffered from difficulty of pace, as well as working to tie off all the possible lose ends of the other films. These issues were somewhat offset by the great moments involving the (I’m sorry they can call it the Bat all they want, to me it’s still the Batwing) Bane vs Batman, particularly the final fight. Joseph Gordon Levitt storming the hospital, and some others I will mention later. Now to discuss the pan-ultimate reason that this movie was only enjoyable, and not one of my favorite films of all time. Bruce Wayne is still alive. While watching the film, I began to feel certain he was going to give the ultimate sacrifice. I remember that when he got in the “Batwing” that final time, I actually started to tear up (which anyone who knows me can tell you is the rarest of occurrences) and I was in a state of utter joy/mixed with sadness over how perfect his sacrifice was, and how fantastically the film had designed everything to lead to that. All this, only to watch as he is in fact alive, and not only alive but with Selena Kyle…This killed me. Obviously, the fact that the “Batman” part of Bruce Wayne was dead lended credence to most of the emotional moments of the film…the one it did not back up was, naturally, my personal favorite, “Not everything…Not yet”…To me This line does not make sense in any connotation beyond the actual, physical death of Christian Bale’s entire Character. I was so totally defeated by this for hours after it was over, I really wanted to dislike the film as a whole. But one thing (other then the positives I have mentioned above) kept me from doing that.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s performance, and the possibility (albeit nearly non existent) of him being Nightwing…is/was fucking perfect. my one caveat being that I cannot for the life of me understand why Nolan didn’t just name him Dick Grayson from the start. It’s not like hes going to be “Robin” So I don’t know what the real idea being that “reveal” was. Lastly, my biggest personal problem with the film ties into that reveal, and the “reveals” throughout the film. I felt like beyond the reveal of Bane working for Talia. they were all very “fan service” like. While it was pointed out to me that These films were conceived by Nolan and Goyer as a whole from the start of “Begins” I still have a hard time coming to grips with them in this film. The Vision of Ras Al Ghoul, Bruce being alive, and Gordon-Levitt being “Robin” were all very badly done in my opinion, and could have been handled in a way that made them fit better into the film and come across as something other than “HEY LOOK GUYS I’m GIVING YOU WHAT YOU WANT” For even though I trust Nolan enough to know that wasn’t his intention, it still came across that way to me. Ultimately, The Dark Knight Rises is a decent film that, if it suffers from any flaw, it is that of trying to hard to please everyone, rather then simply existing on its own.