Even before director Christopher Nolan’s third and final Batman film – “The Dark Knight Rises” – arrived in theatres, he deserved applause. He refined a genre, turning movies that were limited to either campiness or just popcorn-flick, summer fun into dark, complex epics.

In the final installment of his “Dark Knight” franchise, Nolan certainly remained steadfast in his ambition to turn the tale of Batman into a meaningful allegory. There are touching moments, funny bits and rushes of adrenaline, but the plot is heavy and the presentation cumbersome. It is thrilling and thoughtful theatre, but it doesn’t quite make for the cinematic charge that “The Dark Knight” so unequivocally was.

Beginning eight years after the events of that film, we see a hermetic Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale, “The Flowers of War”), still arrested with grief at the loss of his love interest, Rachel Dawes, while his alter-ego is retired after taking responsibility for the death and crimes of Harvey Dent.

Meanwhile, Gotham, once a nest for crookedness, can finally celebrate peaceful streets as a result of the Harvey Dent Act, which helped authorities lock up criminals at a swift rate. But the gap of inequality continues to widen among the populace, a trend that the terrorist Bane (Tom Hardy, “Lawless”) exploits on his march to mayhem.

Although limited by the health-giving mask hugging his head, Hardy’s portrayal as Bane is a memorable one. His voice is muffled at times, but is otherwise low, booming and intimidating. The kind of sound you would expect from an intelligent and gorilla-like man. And what Hardy lost in facial expression, he makes up for physically – it is thrilling to watch him move across the screen. His walk is intimidating, and he’s agile and thunderous in combat.

But what is disappointing about Bane is he doesn’t appear to have a philosophy of his own that he’s acting on, unlike other villains of the series. Ra’s al Ghul, in “Batman Begins,” thought criminal rehabilitation was foolhardy and that decadence had to be put between the crosshairs and killed. Then came the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” a nihilist who sought to unleash chaos. These characters helped serve up portals of dialogue on notions of justice and human nature that became central to Nolan’s saga. Instead, Bane merely pledges allegiance to the vision of Ra’s al Ghul’s League of Shadows, and all we get are the same motives we saw two movies ago, robbing Bane of a kind of the black magic charm his predecessors had. His fight isn’t personal.

There is one scene, however, where Bane speaks to a broken Batman about hope as a weapon – as with all the Batman-Bane scenes, it is one of the best of the film. Unfortunately, the topic is never mentioned again, and Bane continues singing the visions of Ra’s al Ghul.

But there is still a lot to consider in this 164-minute movie. Self-preservation, redemption, sacrifice and moral imperative swirl around Wayne (In a throwback to “Batman Begins,” the notion of fear makes appearances, too). Masks – in the name of good and evil – supply an important motif for several characters – even Police Commissioner James Gordon is second-guessed for the way he masked Dent’s crimes in the previous film. And brace yourself for imagery and dialogue reminiscent of our post-9/11 world and the Occupy movement – intentional or not.

But even with improved action scenes, “The Dark Knight Rises” doesn’t run as smoothly as the previous films. Nolan takes a brisk pace in introducing plot points and new characters with important motives, leading to some mental hopscotch as the story unravels. Several events are also annoyingly unrealistic. It is mainly this slightly choppy storytelling and the lack of a Heath Ledger-esque performance that “The Dark Knight Rises” takes the silver medal in the this trilogy.

But on the whole, it is a joy to watch. The writing – done by Nolan and his brother, Jonathan (“The Dark Knight”) – is sophisticated and god-thankfully rid of the tacky one-liners that percolated through the other films. The cast, as a whole, offers its best of the series. Bale is more vibrant than ever inside the Batsuit and plays Wayne with spot-on humility, sadness and, later, conviction. Michael Caine (“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”), as the sage butler Alfred Pennyworth, is a scene-stealer as he pleads with his employer not to come out of retirement.

As for the rest of the bigger newcomers: Anne Hathaway (“One Day”) is slippery and smart as Catwoman while Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“50-50”) gives a compelling performance as a young, trustworthy cop. Marion Cotillard (“Rust and Bone”), doesn’t spoil the fun, but finds little room for any flair as a potential love interest and business savior to Wayne.

“The Dark Knight Rises” is a worthy third act to what is perhaps the best and most innovative superhero trilogy to date. Nolan just tried to do too many things, and the whole thing just stumbles over itself sometimes. But the visuals are sleek, the performances credible, the score intoxicating. And the mood is so refreshingly engaging and unique to its genre. It’s a fitting end.

3.5 stars out of 5.