[Professor S]

Very good movie, but it misses the mark set by The Dark Knight, mainly because some of the set pieces are grand to the point of being unrealistic. IMO, what set TDK apart from other comic movies was the gritty realism, and while I understand the more fantastic parts were meant to be symbolic, it still broke the fourth wall a bit too much for me.

Specifics:

1) Tom Hardy as Bane was great. Brutal, cerebral, and single minded. Perfect translation from the books.

2) Christian Bale missed the mark. His character should have been much more angry, and not just calmly say "I'm angry" while doing sit ups. This batman should have been consumed with rage, and empty without violence, and a slave to his ego. The content was there, but the acting was not. This batman was less emotive than the one in TDK.

3) This was the most political, and arguably conservative, of the films. TDK had themes about terrorism, but the TDKR was centered on revolution, specifically, communist revolution (or a fake commie revolution, and which one hasn't betrayed the espoused values). You had the confiscation of property, and even commntary on how communal property that belongs to everyone really belongs to no one.