TDKR just doesn't seem to possess this type of internal consistency. It wants to portray itself as some kind of complex movie as the last, but it really never engages the questions. For some reason, the acting Commissioner is a glorified weeniehead, then changes his mind without good reason to march with the police. Bane is Bane. Batman comes out of seclusion for some reason that we don't grasp; but then again, his motivations for going into seclusion are weak as well. Did anyone ever doubt what the resolution with "catwoman" would be? Not really. Basically, the forces of order were "good" at heart, and the forces of darkness were "bad" at heart. Even the surprise turncoat happens without us really getting any signals, it was just like, "oh, look, I guess they're evil after all," so it felt rather like a trick than something legitimate we could track (as in The Prestige, where all the clues were actually scattered through the movie but we were just consistently misdirected).
I think that kind of thing can actually work -- it works in the Superman movies, it works in Star Wars -- but not in a movie that pretends to be something darker and more complex about the human heart. It was a movie rich in potential that didn't seem to follow its inherent essence, based on the tone, the marketing, the title, the predecessors, and the threads within it. I think it was still better than the bulk of superhero movies that have ever come out, but it was a disappointment in what it could have explored and just... hinted at the questions and didn't go there, it was far more conventional rather than thoughtful like the earlier movies. I'm also tired of having to excuse a movie "just because it's a superhero" movie; you know a movie is good when it doesn't matter what kind of movie it is, you can just say, "hey, that was a good movie!"
