To quote Charity directly, here's an argument he used to lambast the film:
She's no Joker (who is?), but Hathaway's slinky, light-fingered, high-kicking thief is the film's best idea of fun, even if she's also weighed down with the Nolan brothers' irrepressible urge to smuggle topical, half-baked Occupy sermons into the script (as others have noted, the movie's defense of the establishment in the form of philanthropic billionaires and an incorruptible police force gives it a conservative gloss and makes you wonder what on earth Nolan saw in the two films he's cited as inspirations, "The Battle of Algiers" and "Prince of the City").Notice the text underlined and in bold. Now, if you are worth a salt at all in terms of the Occupy movement, at least in what you know about it, then considering the context of the entire paragraph, Charity displays ignorance of this movement that should have dissipated by now, almost a year into the movement notwithstanding. I'm irked by statements of this caliber, especially when they're used to down-rate a film.
A problem I have with the film review, other than the reporter's flagrant ignorance of what the Occupy Wall Street, is the fixation on the thematic elements of The Dark Knight Rises. He neglects to mention anything technical, or the plot at face value. There's no mention on the soundtrack, either, which is in some ways more bombastic than the predecessors.
Plus, it is so brief, without actually listing an effective number of arguments against it for him to call it "Nolan's biggest and worst movie to date." Really, Charity? Talk about exaggeration! Oh, isn't that one of the usual suspects in why the mainstream media (CNN, Fox, (MS)NBC, CBS, ABC, etc.) is steadily losing credibility among the masses? And then, given how much information you are capable of extracting thanks to the corporate bosses you work for, you barely use anything to substantiate your arguments.
Mr. Charity, please, don't write reviews until you can actually point out strengths & flaws readily. I know you make a few legitimate jabs in a few places, but that's far too little for an article that, in spite of it being an opinion piece (and not truly factual, because not all viewers will get the same reaction or pick up the same things), really does influence the experience for other potential viewers of the film. And working for CNN, you'd think, given your larger audience, you'd try to give them reason to take your platform seriously. But you pretty much failed to do so on your part. Better luck next time, I guess.
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http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/19/showbiz/movies/dark-knight-rises-review-charity/index.html
