I don't know if there's a way to black out spoilers, so I'm going to use this section of the FanPost (before the jump) to warn you that there are spoilers after the jump. Let's talk about this movie, which three or four of you may have already seen.

The movie, plotwise, was obviously a continuation of BB and TDK, but tonally it felt a lot more like Inception than the previous Batman movies. I'm not particularly sure why that is - maybe because of the "twistiness" of it all? Of Nolan's bat films, I'd probably give the advantage to The Dark Knight, which seemed the most like a true Batman movie to me (the villain perhaps realized most accurately to the comics incarnation, Batman and Gordon's working relationship, Batman functioning as a detective) as opposed to TDKR's full-on war, with Gordon doing guerilla work in the streets of a locked-down Gotham and Batman functioning more as a soldier. If you haven't been a fan of Nolan's batfilms (or films in general) in the past, this isn't going to be the one that changes your mind. It's clearly Nolan's biggest budget, and his longest run time - and he indulges in excesses consistent with his style. It's relentless - there's not a lot of quiet time after the cowl comes back on. But if you can take an assault on the senses, and if you're not the kind of person who goes in looking for plotholes...it's a pretty good one.

I thought it was great. A familiarity with Batman lore will presumably lead you to "figure out" a lot of the twists along the way (Joseph Gordon Levitt's real name and role in the movie, the identity of the child) but that didn't draw from my enjoyment of the movie - how and when they played out were still thrilling. The final twist, with Bruce surviving and leaving his small messages for friends and loved ones was the one twist that really surprised me - and I think it was a very fitting way to go about things. It gave both Batman and Bruce the endings they deserved.

As for the IMAX presentation: The opening seen in IMAX actually made me a bit dizzy (thankfully there was nothing quite that nauseating throughout). The IMAX was a bit distracting at times, despite the fact that I was engaged with the movie. There were huge establishing shots followed by regular sized scenes; some scenes switched aspect ratio right in the middle. Distraction aside, it was worth it for me, as a special occasion, to pay up and see it in IMAX for the action scenes alone (on the other hand, Speed Racer, which I liked, and Alice in Wonderland, which I hated, were wastes of money to see in IMAX).

Hans Zimmer's score worked great for me in the film, like the past two, which means independently it will probably have the same effect on me as the last two albums did - a nice reminder of the movies, but a bit hard to muddle through.

As for the talk that there could be further movies in this canon - either Catwoman (which has been mentioned by both Hathaway and Nolan obscurely) or Joseph Gordon Levitt's Robin/New Batman (which seems to only have been indicated by Internet People)...well, I hope not. Like the comics, it will be nice to change it up, get new writers and artists, a new tone, a new approach at Gotham. I'm intrigued by the idea that everything would theoretically build towards a Justice League movie, but also hesitant. DC has yet to prove they can manage and crossbreed their film properties as effectively as Marvel has. The Iron Man movies, Captain America, Incredible Hulk, and Thor (the earth parts) have all seemed tonally consistent. With DC...who knows? The Green Lantern does not seem tonally consistent with anything we've seen from Man of Steel, and there haven't even been announcements of other character films. If they're scripting Justice League now and anticipating a 2015 release...it just seems like Warner/DC has a lot to pull together between then and now, including figuring out a way to make a new Batman work since that has proven to be their tentpole franchise. Burton's Batman worked for general audiences as proven by $$$, and for many critics and fans as well. Schumacher's did not. Nolan's films have been less divisive than any that preceded them, but just because Nolan's bat has proven successful doesn't mean that the next one won't be a total dud.

That was a tangent. Anyway, 8/10, but I expect that it could possibly fluctuate a point one way or the other the next time I see it, which likely won't be until DVD.