First, I am a big fan of Batman Begins in it's entirety, and every single Joker scene in The Dark Knight. TDK, in my opinion suffered more and more each minute Heath Ledger was not on screen, and was nearly ruined by Two-Face. I suspect I am in the minority on that but that is how I feel.
Tonight I saw TDKR and perhaps I will be in the minority again when I say Chris Nolan stayed one movie too long. It isn't that I think it is a bad movie. I wouldn't go that far. It is a sloppy film that not only tries to do too much it also showed me Nolan's lack of thought in to Batman himself. Here is what I mean;
Bruce Wayne has trained his entire life to be a master hand-to-hand combatant, and a master strategist, (I intentionally leave out master detective because Nolan never showed any signs of hinting at that aspect of Batman), yet charges in to a fight against the much bigger, stronger, and healthier Bane having done no research on him other than asking Alfred who Bane was. Then he stands and exchanges blows with Bane like two brawlers in a tough man contest. Absolutely no League of Shadows technique or signs of any agility against an opponent that didn't feel pain. Heck, a master strategist having done a little digging would have brought some Narcan filled darts to cancel or lessen the benefits of Banes morphine/venom. I simply was not impressed with either fight between Batman and Bane.
I greatly feared Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle but she did okay with the material she had to work with. I don't think she will be remembered as a great Catwoman though, and shoudn't be. Her unnatural relationship with Bruce Wayne did indeed feel forced and the idea of the two running off together only feeds into Nolan's portrayal of a Bruce Wayne with absolutely horrible judgement. ESPECIALLY since Wayne's poor judgement in whom he could trust resulted in Gotham City being nearly destroyed and the country, and world living for several months under the threat of a rogue terrorist armed with a nuclear device. Naturally Nolan felt it made perfect sense to have Bruce Wayne apparently "fake" his death and run off with Selina right when Gotham City was faced with major rebuilding, it's police force in shambles, and thousands of violent criminals still roaming the streets.
The one thing that spoke loudest to me about Nolan's weaknesses as a Director was his approval of Talia's death which was as campy as any I have ever seen, even on old west cowboy shows. Those last few words, then the sudden head drop screamed BONANZA! to me. Not to mention the hypocrisy of Batman using missiles to basically kill her but refusing to fire a gun.
I liked Bane and thought his voice was great and easy to understand.
I decided while watching the movie by the end that it really is time for a new director to approach Batman. I don't know when that will happen or whom it will be but I hope he or she continues to build on what Nolan did right. Mainly the character of John Blake was great. He is the Detective Bruce Wayne is supposed to be, has an interesting relationship with Jim Gordon that can be explored further, has a genuine affinity for disadvantaged youth, and now that the Cave is located under an orphanage it is the perfect set-up for Blake as the new Batman mentoring a young sidekick.
I wholeheartedly support Jason Gordon Levitt as John Blake wearing the bat suit and I hope to see this explored in the next Batman movie by a director that can slow down just enough to explore the consequences of a characters actions. Meanwhile I plan on taking a break from Nolan.Tonight I saw his weaknesses and I have had enough for awhile.