Huh, it's interesting how y'all consider TDKR to be one of the weakest. I didn't think about that, Cor--that they might have thrown it together. I can see that. Though, I liked it so much, that my take is that even when Nolan throws things together, they turn out spectacular.
I do need to rewatch the series in order to definitely identify one as my favorite (I've only seen TDK once, and that was some time ago.)
The reason I liked it as much as I did was because of all the characters and their different responses to the situation.
In the first two films, Bruce Wayne largely knows who he is (BB) or is very sure of his morals and his approach (TDK), but he seems to be out of options in TDKR. We see him hiding away, not trying to maintain the "playboy by day, hero by night" act, and almost giving up Batman. He gets reprimanded from all those who believed in what he was doing, from Alfred to Gordon to Blake. I liked seeing him come from being passive to active, which was really capped of well by the "Rise" scene. Blake was such a neat character, too. And the complexity behind Selina Kyle was fascinating to watch. We see her turn from bitter and flexible with the law to finally getting some conviction. Everything implied about her character development was subtle and artful, much like the character herself. With the old characters, though, I liked the fact that the series showed that over the years, people do change and get tired even of worthwhile efforts. Gordon, who was the good police in Begins, has to admit that he lied.
The last couple minutes of the film were beautiful. They reminded me a lot of the last minutes of
Inception.
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Cor, that's a good point, about Iron Man compared to The Avengers. I don't think my comparing it is very fair, but I suppose it was inevitable, since I was introduced to the Marvel superheros by The Avengers. I don't have huge expectations for Iron Man 2, but we'll see.