Before anything else I will say this, "The Dark Knight Rises" is visually superb, in this I believe I am in full agreement with the rest of the general public - the special effects are stunning. Furthermore, the storyline is equally intriguing and keeps the viewer interested for the first two hours or so, which leads us to my main problem with the film. It, along with countless other films before it, falls victim to a staggering running time that is completely unnecessary. Initially I would say this is due to my waning interest in the Batman franchise, however, as I saw the film with a dedicated Batman fan who agrees with me I now believe it is an apt point. I see this as mostly stemming from the needless scene in which Batman is imprisoned, essential to the story? Yes. Unable to be shorter? Not at all. For one thing, there was no need for Batman to try and fail to escape multiple times, the lesson that he was seeking could have been learned after one attempt. The feel of these scene was also offputting to me, reminiscent of the atmosphere one might find in a 1930s film about Russian Oppression and I found myself inwardly groaning whenever they came on screen. Furthermore, I believe that as I am not an avid Batman fanatic, the fact that I was able to guess who the secondary villain was was a gaping flaw. Predictability in any film is a drawback, but in one which has been so heavily anticipated for so long, which has had so much money invested into it, it in almost inexcusable. To conclude I would definitely say that this film is good, but there were also areas which could have slightly improved, thereby taking the film into the realms of being fantastic.