Widely considered to be a watermark in the annals of comic adaptations and superhero movies, 2008's "The Dark Knight" was akin to near-perfect lightning in a bottle, a motion picture where every element fell exactly in the place it was meant to. An exhilarating summer blockbuster, yes, but also a mesmerizing, intricate, deeply involving crime drama about the power of guilt, the goodness in humanity, and, ultimately, the sometimes necessary need for sacrifice. To say that it was an incalculable leap forward from the groundwork writer-director Christopher Nolan (2010's "Inception") set up in 2005's solid but uneven "Batman Begins" is an understatement. Now, at long last, the filmmaker (along with co-writer Jonathan Nolan, based on a story by David S. Goyer) has reached the grand finale of his groundbreaking, adult-minded trilogy with "The Dark Knight Rises." Perhaps it was asking too much to expect Nolan to be able to match the success of his middle chapter—third parts are notorious for being letdowns—but this is a lesser film all the same. Too much muchness and a belabored last hour are the Caped Crusader's biggest foes here, and the script, overall, just isn't as airtight as "The Dark Knight." Does that mean it's not a good picture, though? Hardly. When "The Dark Knight Rises" keeps on track, it's dramatically spectacular. By the pitch-perfect last fifteen minutes, few will be hard-pressed to deny that it's not at least a worthy capper to this latest incarnation of the D.C. Comics franchise.
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