The Dark Knight Rises is far better than anyone is currently willing to give it credit for...for the time being. I honestly feel like a lot of fans just have this cold attitude towards the movie because it didn't give them exactly what they were hoping for. And when I say that, I'm not talking about people who have some issues with it, I'm talking about those who refuse to acknowledge any of its
obvious strengths. But no matter what flaws you choose to focus on, after every re-watch I find myself feeling that the film is about as satisfying a conclusion to the trilogy as you could possibly get, and an even better emotional sendoff to the character than I would've expected. As an individual film it might not stand alone quite as well as the other two, but the other two didn't have to bear the weight of tying up the loose plot and thematic threads of two other films. It's my favorite "third" movie of all-time, and I honestly wouldn't change a thing about it. Not even Talia's death scene. I love it, warts and all. It belongs in that trilogy.
Part of the danger of being the third film in a franchise is that expectations raise (and change- re: Marvel's success) while at the same time the audience becomes more jaded and harder to impress. TDKR tackled that loathsome "third movie curse" straight-on, and I think it fought it off pretty admirably for the most part. Far better than most. Especially considering it had to do so without The Joker, the main factor that made the second film the pop culture sensation it was. It just focused on finishing the story that was started in BB.
Long live TDKR.
