Christopher Nolan has returned for the third time to direct his third and final installment of The Dark Knight Trilogy. While it may not be as good as it's predecessor The Dark Knight(read my review here), The Dark Knight Rises is a satisfying and epic conclusion to the The Dark Knight Trilogy.

So in The Dark Knight Rises, it has been 8 years has past since Batman/Bruce Wayne(Christian Bale) took the fall for Harvey Dent's crime in The Dark Knight. Peace had been achieved on Gotham based on a lie in which they made Dent into a hero. Now a terrorist leader named Bane(Tom Hardy) comes into Gotham and threatens the city in which Batman must rise again to protect the people that branded him as an enemy.

One of the things that I loved about this movie is the movie takes is that it feed off the relevance of momentum. This isn't a sequel(or threequel) that forgets that the other two films happened. The Dark Knight Rises does a perfect example of showing the audience of the effects that The Joker Crimes did to Batman and Jim Gordon. The Dark Knight Rises also makes the trilogy go into a full circle, which is rare for a comic book movie trilogy to do.

Another thing that I liked is that we finally get to see the real Bruce Wayne the whole time in this film, not the billionaire playboy persona. Christian Bale easily shows his best performance of Bruce Wayne. Bale moves more deeply into Bruce's soul and brings a haunting performance as this movie is more of a Bruce Wayne story than a Batman story, which is something that worked in this film. Bruce Wayne is a broken and REALLY rusty man that has lost his game as we see him for the first time be physically matched by the menacing villain Bane.

Tom Hardy as the intelligent terrorist leader Bane was phenomenal. Hardy bring a menacing and intimidating performance in his role. He may not be as great or as riveting of a villian as The Joker, but Bane and The Joker are very different villains, as Bane is the one that testes Batman psychically for the first time and is a bigger threat to Gotham than The Joker, although The Joker is still my favorite villain Hardy plays a role that I don't see anyone playing Bane as great of a performance that Hardy brought in the The Dark Knight Rises.

Bane is known for something greater in the comics. He is known as "The Man That Broke The Bat." You don't put Bane in a movie without putting easily his most iconic role. I have been dreaming of this fight, this scene, this sequence ever since I read the comic book "Knightfall". In The Dark Knight Rises however, it was more satisfying than I expected it to be.

The biggest surprise of the film was a character that I loved and that was Anne Hathaway's great portrayal as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. I had mix feelings of her being Catwoman prior to the film, but Hathaway stole the show in every scene she was in and proved that she was born for that role. Smart, cunning, and sexy, she portrayed the best Catwoman put on screen and one that fits in the Nolan Batman Universe. Another addition to the cast was Joseph Gordon brilliant portrayal as Gotham Officer John Blake. If Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent(the good one) would have a child, it would be the character of John Blake. The returning of Gary Oldman(Jim Gordon), Morgan Freeman(Lucius Fox) and Micheal Caine(in which he proved his best portrayal as Alfred) was great to see them play their final roles in this trilogy.

However, there were some flaws to the movie. One would be the character of Miranda Tate, played exceptionally by Marion Cotillard. Her character was vastly underdeveloped and her last scene in the film is AWFUL. This movie does have some plot holes in the film that may leave people questioning. Some people might also have difficulty understanding Bane's voice. While I love the voice, it is sometimes hard to understand. It's like Sean Connery talking in Darth Vader's mask. One "complain" that people might have is the amount of time Bruce Wayne is as Batman. But like I said, this is a Bruce Wayne story and I don't have any problems with it as I was fully invested in Bruce Wayne's story. The great thing is that all of these are minor problems compared to what Chris Nolan brings.

Christoper Nolan has improved on an epic scale since he first started The Dark Knight Trilogy with Batman Begins. The action is spectacular and mind blowing, specifically the brilliantly filmed IMAX sequence. Nolan also gives us a story that is well thought out and well executed throughout that will keep us invested in throughout the film, including bringing us the most emotional and satisfying last 5 minutes any movie this year.

Christopher Nolan has also done something that no comic book or comic book movie franchise has never done. He has ended the story of Bruce Wayne and his journey on making Batman a symbol. He has done the world a favor and that is bringing us a perfect example of how to make a great ending to a comic book trilogy without destroying the greatness of the first two films(Looking at Spider-Man 3, X-Men 3, Superman 3 and 4). He has also brought us one of the best trilogies in movie and comic book history. God helps whoever takes over the Batman franchise after the great trilogy of
Christopher Nolan.

While it may not be as good as it's processor, Christopher Nolan brings us a thought out, stunning, epic and satisfying conclusion to The Dark Knight Trilogy. The Dark Knight Rises is my favorite movie of the year so far and The Dark Knight Rises, as well as the trilogy, is AWESOMETACULAR