There’s great. There’s amazing. There’s perfect. And then there’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises.’

The Dark Knight will go down in history as one of Cinema’s greatest trilogies, as well as ‘Back to the Future’, ‘Indiana Jones’, ‘Star Wars’, and ‘Toy Story’. The writing is perfect, and all the loose ends from the first two movies are well wrapped up. The acting is great, with standout performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy. Anne Hathaway was good, but not Ledger good, as I originally had her down for. The editing, sound design, effects.. wonderful.

If you haven’t seen Nolan’s other two Batman movies, there are a few plot elements that you might miss. But if you did see them, why the heck are you reading this review? I realize I’m a little vague, but it’s honestly hard to come up with words to describe this movie. I’m shocked that any film could be this good. It is a little long, but overall, this is why we go to the movies. This is why the industry exists.

*****