Dark Knight Rises Review: 5 Reasons Why It Was the Worst Batman Movie Yet

Walking into the movie theater with my popcorn and slushie at midnight, I was so excited to finally see The Dark Knight Rises, the conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy that I have been waiting to see since I attended The Dark Knight midnight premiere four years ago. However, to my surprise and dismay, the movie was totally underwhelming.

Maybe it was the temperature of the theater or the comfy chair I was sitting in, but I am embarrassed to say that I actually dozed off for a couple of minutes during the movie, something that I never do. For a film that was hyped up to be the most anticipated of the summer, arguably of the year thus far, it did not live up at all to its expectations whatsoever.

However, I am probably in the minority, given its 86% rating on movie grader Rotten Tomatoes and its worldwide acclaim. Although in my opinion, I think reviews are biased given that it's Nolan’s third and final Batman movie. In other words, if it were some nobody film, I am highly confident that evaluations would have been much more harsh.

Here are five reasons as to why The Dark Knight Rises was the worst Batman movie yet:

1) Nobody Could Understand Bane

My biggest pet peeve with the movie by far was the fact that I couldn't understand Bane. Although the film's editors had to take into account that he was wearing a mask, they could have done something to clear up his speech a little bit. The entire time, I wanted to scream at him, "Enunciate!"

2) Where Was The Prison?

One of the biggest questions I left the movie with was where the prison was. Some people believe that the scene was shot at Jaisalmer Fort, one of the largest forts in the world that is located in state of Rajasthan on the western coast of India. If this is the case, how did Batman get back to Gotham so quickly? Please explain.

3) Marion Cotillard Was Obviously A Villain

I don't know whether it is the way she looks and speaks or the fact that she was the baddie in Nolan's Inception, but she just screams villain. In this case, she ends up being Talia al Ghul, daughter of the villain Ra's al Ghul, who was trying to destroy Gotham City along with Bane the whole time. Pretty predictable, in my opinion.

4) The Build Up To The Final Battle Was Way Too Long

One of my friends who watched the movie with me described it as "an hour and a half of pure dubstep." The music was so dramatic for the middle portion of the movie that you would have thought the final battle was going to be an hour before it actually was. No joke, I looked at my phone expecting it to be 2:30 a.m. and nearing the end of the movie, when it was actually 1:30 a.m. Just FYI, I dozed off at about 1:45 a.m.

5) The Worst Batman Movie Ever

It feels like yesterday that I was walking out of The Dark Knight midnight premiere, raving about how epic the movie was and how I couldn't wait for the next one. From the Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker to the combat, it was one of the best films I had ever seen. I left with chills. However, after seeing The Dark Knight Rises, it did not even come close to meeting its expectations.