★★★★☆ (4/5) Tagline: A fire will rise. But a soul must heal first.
Eight years after the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent, Gotham City is a paradox. On the surface, it is a utopia of low crime rates and civic peace, thanks to the morally questionable "Dent Act." Beneath the surface, it is a powder keg of suppressed inequality and simmering resentment. And in a palatial solitude, Bruce Wayne—broken in body and spirit—has become a ghost in his own mansion, clinging to the lie that Harvey Dent’s legacy is worth the sacrifice of his own soul. The Dark Knight Rises
In one of the most visceral sequences in superhero cinema, Bane does the unthinkable: he literally breaks the Bat. He dismembers the myth, exposes the lie of the Dent Act, and exiles Bruce to "The Pit"—a hellish, sunless prison where the only escape is a terrifying vertical leap of faith. The middle act of Rises is its secret weapon. Stripped of his suit, his fortune, and his allies (Michael Caine’s heartbroken Alfred, Morgan Freeman’s stranded Lucius Fox, and Gary Oldman’s beleaguered Gordon), Bruce must confront the truth he has avoided for eight years: he wants to die as the hero. He is terrified of living as a happy, ordinary man. ★★★★☆ (4/5) Tagline: A fire will rise