The most tolerable of Christopher Nolan's Batman films, The Dark Knight Rises at least has an iota of levity. For the most part, it trudges along in the self-serious fashion of the first two films, but Anne Hathaway's Selina Kyle offers a faint glimpse of the franchise that might have been. She's a buoyant, even silly presence — cracking wise and kicking at things with outrageous heels when she could clearly tone it down. But therein lies the fun in a superhero movie, as Bane is every bit as unpleasant a presence as Heath Ledger's Joker was.
Setting up preposterous plot that never feels properly established or developed, Bane is relentlessly irritating. With the exception of the action sequences centering around him, he's another joyless mouthpiece for Nolan to make Batman as gloomy as possible. The ensemble is bloated, to be sure, but no one sucks the life out of the film as readily as Bane.
The opening scene on an airplane, the football field collapse, and Batman's flying machine make this a worthy Oscar contender for Best Visual Effects. The sound work is also impressive. It took sloppily written transitions and clichés too clunky to ignore (a ticking time bomb, a busload of orphans) to keep this out of the Best Picture race, and I'm so grateful for it.
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