oh my smurfing god. I cannot begin to describe how delighted I was throughout this entire film.

First and foremost, smurfING CILLIAN MURPHY'S FACE WHO I WANT TO KISS showing up on the screen as a complete and smurfing surprise nailed the movie for me. Nailed it. That made me so incredibly happy, especially his psychotic self-appointed role as ruling judge for the people's court. smurfing loved it.

Also, Littlefinger and JOSEPH QUINN, anyone? anyone? My jaw dropped when I realized that it was Quinn screaming back at Tommy (SPOILER)(see: Joseph Gordon-Levitt) from across the bridge near the end. Loved it.

Talia. Nooo smurfing inclination whatsoever that Ra's al Ghul's daughter would show up and be behind all of this. None whatsoever. I knew there was a daughter involved in the comic but I'm not a Batman expert and it never once crossed my mind that she would appear. Well-played, Nolan. After she exposed herself, though, I wished that there had been some twisted love affair between her and Bane. I thought that's what it was at first, but he was major friend-zoned with the way she said goodbye to him. When she was explaining the backstory and fixing Bane's mask and tears were coming from his eyes, that just broke my heart.

Bane was amazing. For some reason, his accent and the way he spoke really surprised me. I'm not sure what I was expecting. He seemed almost cheerful the way he says things. I expected him to have a deep, gruff, hoarse voice the way Bruce changes his when he becomes Batman. It sounded to me that without his mask, he would almost sound the way Han Landa did from Inglorious Basterds. I am so happy at how his character was executed, though. He was a terrifying villain because he seems to outmatch Batman in every way and nearly kills him. I thought that Nolan could have picked better villains at first when I heard he was using Bane but it couldn't have been more perfect.

Hathaway was a pretty good, albeit pretty typical Catwoman with her sleuthy one-liners, but I guess that was to be expected. I honestly thought she would have more to do with plotting in the downfall of Gotham and then turn near the end - I thought it was those two in a duo instead of her being used to get what she wanted. She reminded me very much of Faye Valentine.

I feel like Albert really opened up the most in this movie. Every film, cartoon, whatever it's like, "yeah Albert, sure sure" even though Bruce clearly loves him. He finally broke through his typical "I care about you and I don't want you to get hurt but I know what you'll do what you want anyway so just be careful" attitude and took it where it needed to go. I found it profoundly heart-wrenching both when he was saying goodbye to Bruce and at the funeral.

Gary Oldman was as great as ever as the Commissioner. Marion Cotillard was excellent. Joseph Gordon-Levitt did indeed steal the show for me, though. I loved him. I had heard some rumor that he was supposed to be a "Robin-like" character, but the way they threw his real name in at the end was pretty gratifying.

And, of course, Christian Bale. The way he portrays fearsomeness and humility and the willingness to do what is right is so incredible to me. You can see it in his face. He completely convinces you that he cares so much for Gotham. He spent so much less time in this movie pretending to showcase who he thinks Bruce Wayne is supposed to be to the rest of the world and completely focused on Batman and what needed to be done. I seriously doubt that anyone will be able to top him if there are any remakes in the future, as I'm sure there will be.

This is one of my favorite - if not the favorite - series of all time. Don't love love Batman Begins, but I can tolerate the last half of it. The Dark Knight is a smurfing gem and this last film was so perfect and ended it all exactly the way it needed to be ended. No strings were left undone. Nolan just leaves you wanting more because it's so, so good.

A bit of a sidenote - I'm incredibly excited that he's doing Superman next. He killed with Batman. And although Superman isn't as dark, I have confidence that he can do a remarkable job with that story as well.

I loved every minute of this film. I wished it had gone on forever. I want to go see it a dozen more times in theaters. (Also, there were previews for Oz that excited the tit out of me and I can't wait for that series to come out, either.)