It was very good but as others have said there are plot holes and undeveloped characters. The Bane sewer fight is just epic and was awesome to see the famous iconic comic book moment where bane breaks the Bat.

Also one thing that really ticked me off was the opening plane scene, i have watched the Prologue to this film online over 10 times and when i herd they dubbed over banes voice for that scene i was really pissed, bane sounded retarded. Luckily they didn't dub the whole movie over.

Batman Begins 9/10
Dark Knight 10/10
Dark Knight Rises 9.3/10

If they cut 30min out hopefully we get a extended edition.

I give it an 8/10. The first 1/3 of the film really needed to have been tightened and rewritten. They spend almost an hour setting up nothing, then Batman goes and fights Bane. But the rest of the movie, OMG. I was raging with Bruce the whole time he was in the prison. And when he came back and told Gordon to light his signal, to send the message to Bane: "I'm back, this is my city, and I'm coming for you!" Everyone in the theatre was clapping.  Sooo good.

Lots of people are complaining about the first hour or so of the film dragging. Personally I thought it was the shortest near 3 hour movie I've seen. I was hooked from start to finish and there were bits in the film that emotionally effected me (something I can't say that often about a hollywood action blockbuster).
As to whether or not it was as good as the previous 2 movies...I wont go there but I did think it was the perfect end to the trilogy (although I suspect it will spark a lot of fanboy debate as to what could potentially happen next if warner decides to continue...personally I think another reboot may be in order as I wouldn't wish to see anyone continue this story unless Nolan was involved)

Yeah for me the movie NEVER dragged...it seemed like it wasn't that long in the end. The only other movie that was so long and kept me hooked was Titanic.

It was 2 hours and 40 minutes, I think 20 minutes longer than Dark Knight.

Since the other thread has been vastly politicized (for which i share a deal of responsibility), i'll drop this one here http://www.facebook.com/pages/What-happened-to-bros-before-hoes-Well-this-one-isnt-a-hoe-so-shes-first/116258671730173

Ignore the horrible user title, this was just the first copy i could find that wasn't linked to my account at all

I'm a HUGE Batman fan, following him from comics, to movies, to cartoons, to games. I've gone back and read most of the major stuff that Nolan used for this movie recently, too. He and I just have similar tastes, I guess.

-The part with Batman coming out of retirement and looking at Bane and knowing that Bane is the better fighter comes from the Frank Miller Batman comic, "The Dark Knight Returns"

-The part where Batman says, "So that's what that feels like." comes from Kingdom Come when he's talking to Superman and he turns his back only to find Superman is gone.

-Bane breaking Batman comes from "Knighfall"

-Bane being Ra's Al Ghul's chosen one comes from "Legacy"

-Gotham being shut off from the rest of the world comes from "No Man's Land"

-Alfred quitting comes from "Knight's End"

-Batman faking his death and having no money to his name comes from "The Dark Knight Returns", too.

Anyway, some of those storylines were about two years long from the time they started to the time they ended! I can't believe Nolan tried to squeeze them all into a three hour movie. For me (the fanboy that can never be satisfied), I kept having an internal conflict between the way I wanted things to be and the way things actually turned out. I had a lot of problems with other explanations, too.

-You can cure a broken back (his SPINE was protruding from his back!) by hanging from a rope?
-How the hell did he get from Arabia (or wherever that prison was) with no money?
-How did he even get back into Gotham City?
-How did those cops that were trapped underground for months not smell like ass? How were they still able to fight? They should have been super weak.
-Why did Batman suddenly trust Catwoman when she robbed him and fed him to Bane?
-If Batman insists on "No guns", why does everything he owns have a built in gun--and fucking missiles?
-Why are there still prisoners in that prison if Ra's Al Ghul freed them all and incorporate them into the League of Shadows?
-Why did Ra's Al Ghul train Bane to be the best, ever if the sight of Bane caused him so much pain?
-How did Ra's Al Ghul become so awesome in every way when he was nothing more than an exiled soldier?
-Who put Scarecrow in charge of court? I didn't vote for him!
-Why did Batman wait three months before he asked somebody what "Deshi, Deshi, Basara" meant? They said that like every five minutes!
-Nobody bothered to mention that Ra's Al Ghul's kid was a little girl?
-Why didn't any of the other "Batmobiles" have little Bat-Cycles built into them?
-And Jim Gordon carries the Harvey Dent confession every where he goes?
-And people suddenly believe Bane because he read a note?
-Was that knee brace made of magic?

In the comics, the older Batman fought a much stronger opponent and lost horribly. He then came back and defeated him in front of an audience to regain the respect of Gotham City. He didn't fight the guy head to head. He outsmarted him. In this movie, Batman just walked up to him and started punching--but this time, his punches worked. What's up with that?

Anyway, as a Batman fan, I'd give the movie a 9/10 for packing so much stuff into it. It was like a fanboy orgasm. As a movie watcher, I'd probably give the movie a 6/10. Waaaaay too many plot holes for things to make sense. But don't think of me as a hater. I felt the same way about the Star Wars prequels and I LOVE them despite so many issues as movies. Just had to get that off of my chest. This one would be my second favorite Batman film, right behind The Dark Knight. Begins is a better movie but this one moves so fast and does so much.

I have to say that the part where Batman dies at the end had almost everybody in the theater crying like a baby. Even I got some....dust in my eye when Alfred finally broke down at the end saying "I've failed you!"

But, is it just me or was that last minute on that timer the longest minute in the history of the world? Batman had time to make out with Catwoman, give Gordon a speech about a little kid's blanket, and fly way out into the ocean (we must assume that Aquaman was killed).

I found that part funny; he knew a bomb was about to explode, but he still took the time to oil paint the bridge (while nobody spotted him).

Also, why didn't they kill Blake when he was rescuing the cops? The cop that came out of the tunnel was shot, and the others were killed by a grenade. But nothing was done to Blake.