The Dark Knight Rises actually falls precipitously after the Dark Knight, leaving behind an overly ambitious trilogy that tries to do too much and becomes a muddled mess. It is eight years after the Dark Knight has ended. Batman has disappeared, and Bruce Wayne has become a recluse. However, bringing the caped crusader out of retirement is the last remnant of the League of Shadows: Bane (Thomas Hardy). He was born in a pit-like prison and clawed his way to freedom. The price is a morphine inducing mask to keep him from feeling pain. While brilliant, he is also brawn - and a formidable opponent for the Dark Knight. Also in the mix is the mysterious Selena Kyle (Ann Hathaway), a jewel thief cat burglar. As usual, she is the amoral hero, only looking out for her self-interest, but not totally void of doing good. Bane puts Batman to the test, actually injuring him in the process. Now Bruce Wayne must heal, recuperate, and claw his way back to fight for the city he loves. Bane not only defeats Batman, but also puts Gotham in a vice-like grip, using a nuclear device to hold them hostage. He attacks the two things America loves the most: money, and sports. All this leads to an intriguing story that unfolds over two hours and 45 minutes. I did have two gripes. First, and the most problematic, was the noise and music that sometimes drowned out character dialog. In fact, Bane's mask upped that even more-rendering many of his words very dissonant. The second was that the plot got a little too labyrinth, offering too many twists and turns. Some plot devices can be seen from far away, but others seem to have Nolan trying to out-do his masterful twists in his 2006 masterpiece, the Prestige. On a lesser note, I found Joker much more interesting as a vicious, plotter bent on playing games to prove that everyone else is like him. Bane is straight forward and uses brute strength, usually drawing people into his trap. Also, the idea of Batman breaking his back and recuperating so quickly strained belief. All that aside, though, the finale brings us closure and full round back to the original Batman Begins - even bringing cameos by Rhas A Ghul (Liam Neeson), and Bruce Wayne's father. It is layered, but sometimes a film can have too many layers. Too much meaning of the story detracts from the story itself. In this case, Nolan tries to do way too much, with a long run time of 2 hours and 45 minutes. Too many storylines and messages fail to make the story cohesive. It was good to see Nolan revealing that the lie of 2008's Dark Knight came back to haunt Commissioner Gordon and Batman, and Batman does have to repair relationships with Alfred (Michael Caine) and Lucious Fox (Morgan Freeman). Still, with all the other stories, motifs, messages, the film is diluted way to much. I have seen it three or four times and while entertaining, it loses it's luster every time with me. The Dark Knight Rises disappoints.