10 Movies That Would Be Outstanding If They Weren't So Long

7. The Dark Knight Rises

Length: 165 mins The final entry in Christopher Nolan's Batman series received the most mixed reviews of the three, with fans going after Bane's peculiar vocal affectations, Bale's even more aggressive Bat-voice, and numerous plot holes. And while a more restrained runtime won't fix those first two complaints, it would certainly help clear up those perceived inconsistencies in the story. First, there's too much time spent away from The Dark Knight. That's inexcusable for a movie that bears his name in the damn title. Do we really need to hang around the citizens of Batman-less Gotham for this long to understand what his absence means? No. That part could have been accomplished in ten minutes. And though the bits at the beginning of Bruce Wayne as a decrepit shut-in may have also dragged out a bit, that was at least an important part of his story. After all, The Dark Knight needed some place to rise from. One could argue his true ascension occurred in that prison pit hours later and that having these two, separate rebuilding moments is redundant. But for my money, seeing this other side of Bruce Wayne in the beginning is more important than him going through a corny training montage while Gotham becomes a barren wasteland where nothing all that interesting happens. Get him out of the pit sooner (or don't put him there at all) and keep him closer to his city.