5 Awesome 2012 Summer Movies and 5 That Sucked

3. The Dark Knight Rises

While it is only three on this list, I do think this is the separation point in the top five where any of the remaining films have an argument for the best of the season. Perhaps I put The Dark Knight Rises here, then, because it didn't quite meet unrealistic expectations. At first. This is a film which needs to be watched multiple times. I feel that with every passing viewing, The Dark Knight Rises will only improve. It is a big, deep, layered picture, something unlike anything we have ever seen in a summer blockbuster. The ambition of Christopher Nolan can be seen in every carefully-constructed scene of his final Batman flick. The trilogy reaches a fitting end in a film whose scope is hard to comprehend in one viewing. There are warts in the film, like the absence of Batman throughout, the compromise of Bane in the end, and the introduction of a villain in the final reel, but for the most part these are details picked apart only when a film is as good as this one. I cannot stress enough the importance of seeing The Dark Knight Rises at least twice. Those warts will shrink each time you see it again.