The Dark Knight Rises: 5 Reasons It's The Best of the Trilogy

This article contains a few spoilers that may dent the overall experience of watching the film for the first time. If you haven't seen The Dark Knight Rises, proceed with caution !

It's been two months since the biggest movie of 2012 graced our screens. According to every major film site I've visited, The Dark Knight was better. 'No Joker' this and 'No Joker' that. Principally because of the absence of Heath Ledger, Rises is in many ways destined to live in the shadow of The Dark Knight. But what if this isn't fully deserved?

Nolan had declared this the last film in his Batman series - creating a trilogy on the cult classic. This means we got to see his Dark Knight one more time. One more time of seeing Bale don the cape and cowl. After four years of making do with mediocre Marvel movies, I was lucky enough to book the tickets for Rises the day it came out. I strolled into the cinema that day knowing it wasn't a George Clooney Bat-nipples and Bat-Card film. Knowing that after nearly twenty years of shame being associated with the Batman film industry, we would have a definitive trilogy all hero films could live by. I knew, not hoped, I wouldn't be disappointed. After all, Nolan had never let us down before - surely, he wouldn't do it now. It was his moment to cap it all off.To do what Schumacher and, with regret, Burton couldn't. And did he do it? Of course he did. Why would anybody ever doubt him? To say it was good would be the textbook understatement. The feeling I felt walking out of that theatre was part relief, part bewilderment (that damn ending) and part total joy. Even though I had never picked up a comic book in my life, or even watched a first-gen Superman movie from start to finish, the overwhelming feeling of sheer nerdy happiness I had on the journey home was the reason I go the cinema. It also had me thinking about it's predecessor. Was it better than The Dark Knight? Was it really at that level? I mean, who can forget Heath Ledger? He stole it. It was probably the best acting performance since Brando in The Godfather or even Sandler in The Waterboy. That gritty, dark and psychotic presence was missed in Rises and, despite Hardy's best efforts, wasn't replaced. But this is about the outstanding positives of Rises, and why the film is classed as the best. Not what not it didn't give us, but what it did. Here's why the conclusion to Nolan's legend scrapes the 'Best of' title...