In the 165 minutes of The Dark Knight Rises—the epic conclusion of the Batman Trilogy—Batman (Christian Bale), once again is caught in Gotham’s troubles and attempts to save Gotham from its terrorists.  Batman, however, is not acting alone.

He is accompanied by Selina (Anne Hathaway), who throughout the movie is known as the Cat robber.   Returning cast members:  Alfred (Michael Caine), Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), and Fox (Morgan Freeman) help Batman achieve his goal of coming out of the darkness of hiding and rising to do what he was meant to do.  Batman is in conflict with what he has to do and what he wants to do, but in the end, he decides to put aside all of his personal feelings to do what he has to for the good of the people.  Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) helps Batman realize that he can’t live and be haunted by his past forever.

The new villain in this movie, Bane (Tom Hardy), helps Miranda (Marion Cotillard) attempt to finish what her father had started.  In the beginning of the movie, Miranda appears to be a businesswoman who invested in Bruce Wayne’s (Christian Bale) “Save the World” project.  Towards the end of the movie Miranda shows her true colors by adding a twist to the plot.

I give The Dark Knight Rises a 5-star rating.  This movie leaves the viewer wondering about a future movie involving Blake and the city of Gotham.  Although, the viewers may need to watch the other two movies in the trilogy to fully understand the plot of this latest installment, it is the best Batman movie yet that’s full of action and surprises.