I think The Dark Knight Rises is the weakest of the bunch. It was *too* serious, and what little humor there was pretty much all revolved around Catwoman's snark. Bane was also just not a compelling villain--he had practically no personality to speak of. He may have been capable of breaking Batman's body--but it was so much more satisfying (to me) to see the Joker toy with Batman's sense of morality in the previous film, and derive such obvious pleasure from doing so. Give me Bruce Wayne struggling with his sense of right and wrong over him climbing out of a gigantic well any day. Not only was watching him trying to get out of that well (or prison, *whatever*) a dull, repetitive exercise on top of being incredibly heavy-handed symbolism, but it also almost completely removed him from the story for a considerable period of time, and managed to even further throw off the pacing of the film, which was already sort of wonky in the first place. (A less sympathetic editor would have done wonders.) Perhaps Bane was ultimately the 'better' villain, in that he accomplished more that he set out to do, but he was also an utter bore. And finally, what a disappointing climax. It all comes down to an extended bout of fisticuffs and a big gun fired at just the right time? Bleh. It was a fine movie for what it was, but I've seen it twice now and have no real desire to see it again. I own the first two films on DVD, but the third won't be joining my collection anytime soon. Sure, it brought the spectacle, but spectacle isn't enough. I was more attached to the plot and the characters in Avatar than I was The Dark Knight Rises, and that's saying something, I think.
