It's amazing how many positive reviews of this film are essentially just making excuses for it. Unfortunately, the flaws are literally inexcusable. This is yet another entry in that endless line of large-scale action films that just don't add up dramatically.

It's not hard to understand how people have been misled. This is a sequel to a great film. And it certainly *looks* great, thanks to a massive budget and Christopher Nolan's unique directorial touch. It's got spectacular action, larger-than-life villains, cool gadgetry and some solid supporting performances. But it's got no logic at all, starting from about the halfway point.

So all the film's very significant assets are wasted, for lack of an extra couple of hours at the keyboard. Why does Bane want to take over Gotham? Why wait six months?? How does Bruce Wayne recover from having 'no cartilage anywhere in his body' *and* a serious spinal injury, spend months in a dungeon, and find himself in shape to perform like a circus acrobat?? (This guy is supposed to be human, remember. That's the whole attraction of the Batman character.) Nothing really connects dramatically, either. Alfred makes a contrived exit, for no reason other than to add some semblance of emotion. Catwoman exhibits almost no personality, and reverses herself so often it gets monotonous.

There's even a rather ugly subtext, suggesting that anyone protesting against income inequality and obscene misconduct on Wall Street is probably an anarchist and a terrorist. (And possibly a super-villain, to boot.) The right or wrong of this insinuation is irrelevant. It simply belongs in a different movie, one that's willing and able to deal with important and complex issues. Dark Knight Rises slips it in subliminally, and never deals with it (or anything else) in any depth.

On top of all this, we have a most unwelcome reappearance by the idiotic Ra's Al Ghul, as well as a painfully arbitrary and meaningless plot twist near the end.

Plus, of course, a surpassingly dismal performance from Christian Bale, which makes all his previous dreary output look Oscar-worthy by comparison. When will people notice that this guy *cannot* act? He makes faces and modulates his tone of voice almost like an actual actor, but there's never anybody home behind the facade. And whatever is the opposite of charisma, he has it in vast quantities. Batman should be an imposing figure, a tragic presence, an anguished soul... Bale has no soul, and the anguish lies in watching him attempting to conceal this lack by over-acting for two and a half hours.

All in all, this film does a good job of killing the Batman franchise - for a while, at least. Let's hope the reins pass to someone with a clearer vision than Nolan. Someone who can do for Batman what Sam Raimi did for Spider-Man: discover the *man* inside the suit. All the gadgets and CG effects in the world won't do it. It needs better writing.