The Dark Knight Rises: Nolan's Biggest Mistake

Warning: There are some spoilers below - please bear that in mind before reading. There is no doubt The Dark Knight Rises will go down in history as one of the biggest films of this or any year - a mega box-office return is assured, and with a 9.0 review rating on IMDB, and 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, it seems the majority of those who have seen it so far loved it. And director Christopher Nolan did make a bold and entertaining statement film - an epic movie experience whose scale and scope was admirable and whose finest moments will surely rank extremely high on the list of best film sequences ever made. But the film was far from flawless, and unfortunately, the trilogy-ender was not universally loved, with both critics and fans expressing disappointment with certain elements - islands of criticism in an otherwise postive landscape of reviews. Those responses could otherwise be cast aside as the inevitable, provocative response to any major film if it weren't for the fact that the same critical points seem to appear in many of the reviews - lack of development, less than assured editing, and some gaping plot-holes. It is clear that those who express doubts about the film are opening themselves up to a barrage of negative feedback - inane accusations of "fanboy" fervour (as if being a fan and having passion and expectations is somehow wrong or worthy of derision), but as long as there are those of us who weren't wholly satisfied by the film, there will be an opportunity to talk about those disappointments. My own chief problem with the film was the lack of finesse in story and character development that left some gaping plot-holes, and meant certain characters ended up disappearing into the background. Too many balls in the air, and not enough concern for where some of them landed. That doesn't mean the film was terrible by any means, but it certainly had some glaring problems, as I spoke about in my own extensive analysis of it. But what do you think was Christopher Nolan's biggest mis-step? Add your vote to the poll below. Don't agree? Feel free to express your own feelings about The Dark Knight Rises below. Click next to reveal our run-down of the 20 mistakes that made The Dark Knight Rises a relative disappointment.