Movie: The Dark Knight Rises

I found that the NYT review got me more stirred up than the movie.  The review has too much about current politics and, I think, a complete misreading of the politics of the movie itself, which is right-populist in much the same way as Law and Order. The line police are always good and noble, while politicians, police upper management (commissioner Gordon excepted and even he is a bit ambiguous here), rich people and lefty populists are all (Batman excepted), bad, or at least ineffectually wimpy. Not a vision that has much empirical plausibility or normative appeal, but people seem to like it.

They should have assigned A.O. Scott to review this one.

Still, putting aside the politics (what!), it is a very enjoyable film.  I assumed, given the length, that I would be bored at times, and conscious not of the movie but of the outside world, but I never was. And can you ever have too much Gary Oldman or Michael Caine?

I do wish they had done more with the catwoman character. Perhaps that bit ended up on the cutting room floor. She was interesting in her conflicted loyalties, but the potential depth was not really exploited in the film.

Still, this is recommended, and is about as good as it gets for summer fluff