(This is a repost.)

I’ve just participated in a marathon of The Dark Knight Trilogy spanning a week long and today I finally finished The Dark Knight Rises. It was fun but it was nowhere near as entertaining as either The Dark Knight (which is one of my favorite movies of all time) or even Batman Begins. Why? How could the finale of an incredible superhero trilogy fall just a little flat compared to its predecessors? Today, after watching this film for the fourth time in my life, I think I finally have a definitive answer.

The Dark Knight Rises is a great superhero movie which is apparent with its 8.4 out of 10 star rating on IMDb but what it lacks that The Dark Knight has in such abundance is an easy-to-follow, simplistic storyline.

The Dark Knight follows the growing madness of The Joker and his schemes which takes Batman on quite an emotional journey. There are stunning plot twists and fantastic character developments that leave the viewer riveted.

The Dark Knight Rises tries to build on The Dark Knight’s perfect storyline with an equally complex one and ends up becoming a movie that’s too morbid for its britches. We get it. Christopher Nolan wanted to end the trilogy with a bang but it’s swallowed up in an overly long film that takes its complexity too seriously, leaving one bored and slightly disinterested.

And as most finales go, the movie ends with a huge battle featuring the heroes versus the villains. Stakes are high. Batman, like Iron Man in The Avengers (which came out the same year by the way), has to get the bomb away from the city to save Gotham. He does, he “dies”, but the movie ends with a not-so-surprising reveal that Bruce Wayne is still alive. The movie also concludes with the idea that the next film (which never happened) would feature Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robin which was a great tease but still. The Dark Knight Rises could’ve been SO much better.

But, no one can deny the awesomeness of Bane and Catwoman in this trilogy finale. Bane is the intellectual Gotham version of Darth Vader. His presence is intimidating and imposing at once, he wears a mask to function, and he can be quite a pain in the butt for the heroes. It’s one of my favorite performances from Tom Hardy, as his voice and depiction of the character commands your utmost attention.

And Catwoman is just amazing! I’ve always loved Catwoman because she is that woman who can get anything she wants from a man just with a flutter of her eyelashes and then take on a group of thugs the next second. She’s fierce, smart, has a delightful sense of humor, and she even leaves Batman smitten. How awesome can you be? Anne Hathaway’s rendition of the character is by far my favorite, hands down, even though Michelle Pfeiffer did do a great job bringing the character to life in the early 90s’.

All in all, I honestly just keep coming back to this movie because I enjoy Bane and Catwoman. And considering that they’re not in the other films, well it forces me to watch The Dark Knight Rises every once in a while.

A year from now I’ll probably see the movie again and have something new that I’ve analyzed that I’ll want to share with you but until then, I’ll leave it at this.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a magnificent day.