---
title: "The Dark Knight Rises"
year: 2012
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-dark-knight-rises"
fi1m_id: "the-dark-knight-rises"
imdb_id: "tt1345836"
tmdb_id: 49026
wikidata_id: "Q189330"
fi1m_score: 74
critics_score: 69
critics_reviews: 15
published: "2026-09-15"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:09.937838+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Directed by Christopher Nolan · 2h 45m · MPA PG-13 · Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller

## Identity

The Dark Knight Rises

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-dark-knight-rises
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-dark-knight-rises
- **IMDb ID:** tt1345836
- **TMDB ID:** 49026
- **Wikidata ID:** Q189330
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1345836/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/49026, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q189330

**Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 69 from 15 reviews

*In a sentence:* Anne Hathaway seems to have wandered into Gotham from somewhere people are still allowed to enjoy themselves

> Christopher Nolan’s Batman finale earns its long evening through strong performances and forceful action. There are too many characters and explanations, but Bale, Caine and Hathaway keep giving us reasons to care.

## Synopsis

Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) faces a threat to Gotham in Bane (Tom Hardy), forcing him to reckon with the demands of being Batman. Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) have their own parts to play in the city’s defence. Selina (Anne Hathaway) complicates Bruce’s position, while Alfred (Michael Caine) worries about the cost of his commitment. Christopher Nolan directs the final chapter of his Batman trilogy, with the conflict spreading beyond its central hero to the citizens of Gotham and the institutions charged with protecting them.

## Review

Christopher Nolan’s *The Dark Knight Rises* is a good Batman film made cumbersome by an excess of characters and explanations. It sets out to close a trilogy while making room for a cityful of people whose troubles matter even when Batman is absent. That is a worthwhile ambition for a superhero film, and Nolan gives the ordinary faces enough attention to suggest he means it. At 165 minutes, though, the film has time for considerably more plot than it can make interesting.

Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne as a man for whom carrying on has become a physical effort. There is weariness in the performance, and it gives the solemn dialogue more weight than the writing always earns. Michael Caine’s Alfred makes the personal cost harder to ignore. We were moved by his concern for Bruce: Caine makes it feel like the fear of someone who has run out of ways to help. Their scenes give us a reason to care beyond the scale of the threat.

Anne Hathaway’s Selina is equally necessary, although for rather different reasons. Her wit and watchfulness suggest someone who can assess a dangerous situation without delivering a speech about it, and the film badly needs that change of pace. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives Blake enough conviction to hold our attention when the story moves away from Bruce. Tom Hardy supplies Bane with physical menace, but his indistinct voice makes some of the dialogue unnecessarily hard to follow. The performance is imposing; the exchanges with Batman offer little of the pleasure of seeing two people test each other’s intelligence.

Wally Pfister’s cinematography gives the huge cityscapes weight, with crowds that make Gotham feel occupied rather than merely available for destruction. Production designers Nathan Crowley and Kevin Kavanaugh provide enough detail to make this a city we can believe people work in. The physical effects give the action a force that suits Bale’s worn-down hero. The action is most involving when we can see how exposed the people are within those spaces.

Lee Smith’s editing has a less grateful job, keeping all the competing storylines in motion without making their relationship consistently clear. Christopher and Jonathan Nolan’s screenplay keeps adding people and explanations, and the shifts between them repeatedly interrupt scenes we would rather stay with. Hans Zimmer’s pounding percussion provides momentum, but its insistence becomes tiring when the dialogue is already working so hard to announce the stakes. We do not need every conversation to arrive with the pressure of an emergency.

The film’s politics are also hazy. Nolan raises questions about power, public order and collective responsibility, then gives them less attention than the details of the plot. The movement away from a lone rescuer towards the wider city is welcome, but some supporting characters get enough screen time to slow the story without becoming people we care about. Against the superhero genre’s habit of treating everyone outside the costume as background, the attention is valuable. The overcrowding remains a problem.

This is not the place to come looking for a brisk, self-contained adventure. Nolan asks us to care about a whole city and a hero whose exhaustion is part of the attraction, and that will be easier if his Batman already matters to us. Give it the evening, but expect to spend some of that evening waiting for Selina to come back.

*Fi1m score 74, published 15 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics find The Dark Knight Rises a satisfying close to Nolan’s Batman trilogy, praising its ambition, large-scale action and strong ensemble. Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle attracts particularly consistent approval for bringing wit and energy to a solemn film. The reviews also favour the physical spectacle and detailed cityscapes, even when the storytelling proves less convincing. For many, the connections to the earlier films give the conclusion welcome emotional weight.

Reservations centre on the crowded plotting, length and heavy dialogue, with several critics finding too little feeling beneath the action. There is less agreement about Bane, the clarity of the action sequences and whether Nolan’s seriousness becomes self-importance. The spread is wide: The Hollywood Reporter praises the lucid storytelling and ranks it above its predecessors, while The New Yorker finds it murky and interminable, with Hathaway providing the principal relief. Even favourable reviews often acknowledge that the film struggles to manage its many characters and ideas.

## Straight answers

**Is The Dark Knight Rises worth watching?**

*The Dark Knight Rises* is worth watching for anyone who already cares about Christopher Nolan's Batman, and we scored it 74. Christian Bale, Michael Caine and Anne Hathaway give the long evening its reasons to care, but at 165 minutes the film has more characters and explanations than it can make interesting.

**How long is The Dark Knight Rises, and what is it rated?**

*The Dark Knight Rises* runs 2h 45m and is rated PG-13 by the MPA in the US. It is an action and crime film.

**Where can I watch The Dark Knight Rises in the US?**

*The Dark Knight Rises* is streaming on HBO Max, The Roku Channel, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video in the US, and it is also available to rent from Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video from $5.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How does The Dark Knight Rises compare to The Dark Knight?**

*The Dark Knight Rises* is the more crowded and less gripping of the two, while [*The Dark Knight*](https://film.one/film/the-dark-knight) is the tighter crime thriller. The earlier film has Heath Ledger's Joker to give its dilemmas urgency; the sequel spreads its attention across a whole city and Bane's exchanges with Batman offer little of that pleasure. Both run long, but the earlier one earns it more consistently.

**Do you need to have seen the other Batman films before The Dark Knight Rises?**

*The Dark Knight Rises* is the final chapter of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy and is not a good place to start. The film leans on Bruce Wayne's exhaustion and Alfred's fear for him, and both land harder if his Batman already matters to you. Newcomers will follow the plot but miss much of the weight.

**What should I watch after The Dark Knight Rises?**

After *The Dark Knight Rises*, try [*Heat*](https://film.one/film/heat) (1995, Fi1m 91): For city-scale crime, patient character work and action that makes bodies feel vulnerable. Then [*The Battle of Algiers*](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers) (1966, Fi1m 93): For a much tougher examination of urban conflict and the people caught within it; and [*High and Low*](https://film.one/film/high-and-low) (1963, Fi1m 90): Another city divided by wealth, with far greater patience for moral complications.

**What order should I watch the Batman films in?**

Release order is the safe choice for Batman, and it is the order [our collection page](https://film.one/collections/batman) lists them in. *The Dark Knight Rises* is the most recent of the 7 Batman titles on Fi1m; before it comes [*The Dark Knight*](https://film.one/film/the-dark-knight). [The full order.](https://film.one/collections/batman.md)

### Reviews we read (20)

- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Todd McCarthy (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it big-time Hollywood filmmaking at its most massively accomplished and the best of Nolan’s Batman trilogy. He singles out the realistic dramatic events, lucid storytelling, and opulent production values for particular praise. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/dark-knight-rises-film-review-349354/)
- **Empire**, William Thomas (80/100, inferred): It is a satisfying conclusion to the best superhero series, with unprecedented scale in spectacle and emotion, strong intimate moments, and superb supporting turns like Hathaway's Selina Kyle, though it lacks some of the earlier films' surprise or anarchy. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/dark-knight-rises-review/)
- **Little White Lies**, Adam Woodward (4/4/4): Christopher Nolan’s baroque opus is a worthy trilogy closer, both seriously epic and epically serious. It is an immaculately crafted, fatally clinical last hurrah dotted with dazzling set pieces and a relentless percussive score, though it lacks a true emotional hook. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-dark-knight-rises)
- **Radio Times**, Jeremy Aspinall (4/5): Nolan concludes his Batman franchise with another ambitious epic that sees the caped crime-fighter taken to hell and back, featuring superb set pieces and terrific performances. The long haul occasionally sags under too many plot strands, but breathtaking action and directorial ambition make it unmatched for mood and quality. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-lxbubs/the-dark-knight-rises/)
- **Evening Standard** (70/100, inferred): Nolan brings solemnity and humourlessness to the franchise, turning Batman into a grave myth of a tortured saviour; the film features strong action and a murky political context but is weighed down by excessive dialogue and over-determined plotting. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-dark-knight-rises-review-7959649.html)
- **Screen Daily** (70/100, inferred): Stirring in its broad strokes but shakier in its handling of character and story nuances, the film doesn’t lack ambition or vision yet is the first in the series not to smoothly execute its grand aspirations. It suffers from a glut of new characters but is helped by Nolan’s insistence on emotional resonance over mindless spectacle and a satisfying thematic through-line. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/the-dark-knight-rises/5044379.article)
- **Slant Magazine**, Nick Schager (70/100, inferred): The critic describes it as a grand but scattered blockbuster whose thematic ambitions and mammoth set pieces are undercut by narrative muddle and a less mesmeric villain than the Joker. He singles out the IMAX-enhanced action sequences and strong supporting performances, especially from Hathaway and Gordon-Levitt, for praise. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-dark-knight-rises/)
- **Vulture**, David Edelstein (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film reasonably compelling as a big, ambitious close to the trilogy but notes it is overly long with spatial incoherence in action sequences and a letdown coda. He singles out Anne Hathaway’s witty, charismatic performance as Selina Kyle for praise. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2012/07/movie-review-david-edelstein-on-the-dark-knight-rises.html)
- **The Independent**, Geoffrey MacNab (3/5): The film delivers glum verbosity and thunderous action in Nolan's characteristically solemn style, but benefits from physical seriousness, solid casting, and a satisfying connection to the trilogy's start, with Hathaway providing welcome levity. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-dark-knight-rises-12a-7964052.html)
- **Time Out** (3/5): The sprawling epic is stuffed with side characters, subplots and diversions, skewing toward grandstanding action over emotional resonance. When the action sequences hum with real crowd scenes and massive cityscapes, however, it delivers an impressive, imaginative conclusion to the trilogy. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-dark-knight-rises)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (30/100, inferred): The critic calls the film murky, interminable and self-important with poor sound and dialogue, redeemed only by Anne Hathaway's lively Catwoman performance. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/07/30/batmans-bane)
- **Film Comment**, Scott Foundas: The critic praises Nolan's ambitious conclusion to the trilogy as a magisterial epic that deepens the story and delivers one of the great sustained action sequences in American cinema. He singles out the film's commitment to shooting on film and IMAX for its rich cinematic images and the spellbinding climax as a highlight. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/foundas-on-film-the-dark-knight-rises/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan: The critic deems the film potent, persuasive and masterful filmmaking overall, highlighting its bleak tone, terrifying villain and contemporary societal themes. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-xpm-2012-jul-19-la-et-mn-dark-knight-20120719-story.html)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw: The critic finds the film a big, brash, epic-scale superhero movie with Wagnerian confidence from Nolan, praising the wounded maturity of Bale's performance, Gordon-Levitt's terrific turn as Blake, Caine's heartfelt Alfred and Hathaway's Catwoman. Bane disappoints due to indistinct voice and lack of a satisfying cerebral duel with Batman, and the absence of Ledger's Joker charisma is sorely felt. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jul/19/the-dark-knight-rises-review)
- **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (Critic's Pick): The critic finds the film a grave and satisfying finish to Nolan's Batman trilogy, with strong performances and coherent action that shifts focus from a lone hero to collective hope. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/movies/the-dark-knight-rises-with-christian-bale.html)
- **The Telegraph**, Robbie Collin: The critic sees the film as going further than most superhero movies, with Nolan directing a tale where Batman is often absent and the story focuses as much on everyman figures like Blake. It builds to a ferociously satisfying climax with a nuclear payload of catharsis after a bravura final act. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/9412391/The-Dark-Knight-Rises-a-comprehensive-review.html)
- **Den of Geek**, Simon Brew (4/5): The critic finds the film very good as a standalone and even better as a trilogy conclusion, with strong ensemble drama, ambitious storytelling, and impressive action and visuals. He singles out the commitment to physical effects, detailed Gotham cityscapes, and how it ties strands together for a satisfying endpoint. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-dark-knight-rises-review/)
- **The Wrap** (75/100, inferred): The film offers plenty of thrills and lives up to Nolan's standards but lacks the groundbreaking innovation of its predecessors. Anne Hathaway's Selina Kyle is singled out as stealing the show with her dangerous and sophisticated performance. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/dark-knight-rises-review-falls-short-bat-legendary-48056/)
- **/Film**, David Chen (7/10): The critic describes the film as a storytelling mess overloaded with ideas but praises its visual spectacle, scale, and performances, particularly Tom Hardy's Bane. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/522122/dave-chen-dark-night-rises-review/)
- **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (C): The film is an intense, epic conclusion to the trilogy with terrific performances, exhilarating action, and thoughtful ideas, but it sidelines Batman in favor of a large ensemble, socio-political themes, and spectacle. The first act is clunky, the emotional core is weak, and the story feels more like a function than a hero's journey, though IMAX action and Hathaway's Catwoman stand out. [Read](https://collider.com/the-dark-knight-rises-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Christopher Nolan
- **Director:** Christopher Nolan
- **Screenplay:** Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan
- **Story:** Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer
- **Cinematography:** Wally Pfister
- **Editor:** Lee Smith
- **Music:** Hans Zimmer
- **Production design:** Nathan Crowley, Kevin Kavanaugh
- **Costume design:** Lindy Hemming, Roberto Craciunica
- **Producer:** Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Charles Roven
- **Cast:** Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne; Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon; Tom Hardy as Bane; Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Blake; Anne Hathaway as Selina; Marion Cotillard as Miranda; Morgan Freeman as Fox; Michael Caine as Alfred
- **Runtime:** 2h 45m
- **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13
- **Release (the US):** 20 July 2012
- **Genres:** Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
- **Part of:** [Batman](https://film.one/collections/batman.md) · 7 of 7
- **Budget:** $250 million
- **Box office:** $1.08 billion
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAjBzu8ggi0

## Where to watch in the US

- HBO Max: streaming, uhd
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Hulu: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd
- Apple TV: rent $5.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $5.99, uhd
- Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd

*Checked 2026-09-15.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Heat* (1995), Fi1m 91: For city-scale crime, patient character work and action that makes bodies feel vulnerable. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/heat.md)
- *The Battle of Algiers* (1966), Fi1m 93: For a much tougher examination of urban conflict and the people caught within it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers.md)
- *High and Low* (1963), Fi1m 90: Another city divided by wealth, with far greater patience for moral complications. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/high-and-low.md)
- *Unbreakable* (2000), Fi1m 81: For the strain of being a superhero, considered without quite so much shouting. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/unbreakable.md)
- *Children of Men* (2006), Fi1m 85: For large-scale action that never loses sight of the frightened people inside it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/children-of-men.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-dark-knight-rises