The Dark Knight Rises available on Blu-ray Combo pack, DVD and for download 12/4!

Before I launch into my issues with The Dark Knight Rises, I do want to say that the movie isn't complete failure and it does some things right. For starters, Michael Caine had better get an Oscar nomination for his role as Alfred. While's Alfred's on-screen time is limited in this entry, Caine brings a truckload of emotion (really, the only emotion in the film) to his performance and he helps to maintain a human face on the story. The plot twist presented in the third act is genuinely surprising and very effective. While Selina Kyle is never referred to as "Catwoman" in the film, Costume Designer Lindy Hemming introduced a ingenious idea by having Selina goggles become cat ears when she places them on her head. The action in the finale is exciting and "The Bat" is cool looking. The stunts are top-notch and the movie is beautiful at times.

Yes, the film is technically sound, but it really suffers in the story and pacing department. As with The Dark Knight, the screenplay for The Dark Knight Rises is credited to Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan, based on a story by Christopher Nolan and David Goyer. The whole thing feels like the Nolans took ideas from The Dark Knight and Batman Begins and simply expanded on them. For example, whereas The Joker took Gotham City hostage for a day, The Dark Knight Rises sees Bane taking over the city for weeks. The chase between Batman and the police reminded me of the one in Batman Begins, but it simply wasn't as exciting. Wayne's appearance at the charity ball mirrors his arrival at the hotel in The Dark Knight. While Christopher Nolan is often inaccurately lauded as being original, this movie simply feels like a greatest hits of the other films.

The Dark Knight Rises stumbles even more in the places where it tries to do something new. It would be nearly impossible to present a villain who could top The Joker, but going with Bane was a mistake, especially as he's presented here. In the comic books, Bane uses a super steroid to give himself strength and he wears a mask reminiscent of a luchadore. Here, we simply get a big guy wearing a Darth Vader-eqsue mouthpiece which makes him sound like James Mason on autotune. Bane is incredibly banal and he's never interesting, either in his look or his personality. The plane hijacking in the film's opening is a masterpiece of stuntwork...until you realize that none of it made any sense and Bane could have easily gotten what he needed without all of the theatrics. The movie really suffers in the second act when Gotham is under siege. I can't believe that anyone was still engaged in this movie when it suddenly split into two films, one Midnight Express and the other Escape from New York (adding more fuel to the argument that all modern films have their roots in the works of John Carpenter). This part of the movie becomes excruciatingly slow and tedious, further driving home how dull Bane is. Speaking of which, Bane's plan of liberating the people of Gotham while also holding them hostage borders on silly. The third act also features some staggering lapses in logic, such as how Bruce Wayne gets back to Gotham City and how "The Bat" can suddenly fly 360 miles per hour.

I went into The Dark Knight Rises with high hopes and emerged with those hopes dashed. While the movie probably couldn't have lived up to the hype, but it had no right to present us with a boring movie. This is not the way in which the beloved "Dark Knight Trilogy" should have ended. And speaking of the ending, the promise of a possibly new franchise seems a bit misguided given that Warner will most likely insist that Batman appear in the all but greenlit "Justice League" movie. As an action movie, The Dark Knight Rises is serviceable. As the final part of this series, it is a swing and a miss.

The Dark Knight Rises apparently has a back door to Gotham City of which only Bruce Wayne is aware on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Warner Home Video. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at 25 Mbps. The dialogue scenes are framed at 2.35:1, while the action scenes were shot in IMAX and shift to a 1.85:1 framing. Some may not notice this, but I found it very distracting. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source material. The picture is extremely crisp and the daytime shots look as if you could walk into them. The picture has a nice amount of depth, as the actors are clearly delineated from the backgrounds. The image carries a nice amount of detail and we can make out textures on objects. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. From the opening scene, we get a plethora of surround and stereo effects. The sound is very crisp and detailed and we can often pick out distinct sounds. The stereo separation is quite good and we truly feel as if we are in the middle of the action. The subwoofer effects are very intense, almost too much so at times. Overall, this is a nice technical package.

All of the extra features for The Dark Knight Rises are housed on the second Blu-ray Disc. "Ending the Knight" is divided into three sections with no PLAY ALL. "Production" is divided into twelve sections with no PLAY ALL, so this title is already well on its way to being the worst Blu-ray Disc release of the year. As the title implies, these segments examine the actual shooting of the film, examining every big scene and the major sets in great detail. We get a lot of on-set footage here, as well as comments from Christopher Nolan and various members of the crew. "Characters" is split into three sections which examine Bruce Wayne/Batman, Bane, and Selina Kyle. The actors and the Nolans discuss how Wayne has evolved over the three films and how the two new characters contribute. "Reflections" allows those involved in The Dark Knight Rises and the entire trilogy to take a look back at the films and the stories, and to also talk about the importance of using IMAX in making the movie. "The Batmobile" is a 58-minute documentary which explores the history of Batman's car. Beginning with the earliest DC comic books, the pieces explores how The Batmobile has evolved over the years. With the 1960s television series and the feature films, we get interviews with the designers and the directors of the movies. "Trailer Archive" offers four TRAILERS for The Dark Knight Rises and what do you know, it does have PLAY ALL. "Print Campaign Art Gallery" offers 31 movie posters from the film.