The Dark Knight Rises

Well, I finally went to see The Dark Knight Rises.  How can I say this?  It began as one of the most boring, humorless films I have ever seen.  I realize the idea is to give Batman a darker edge, but this is the only movie I can recall ever watching where I wanted to check my watch.  Perhaps it relied too much on being part of a trilogy and did not develop the characters enough so the movie could stand on its own.  Whatever the case, I found the first chunk of the film to be utterly unmoving.  The ending, though, was a well-crafted piece of film making.  I did not see it coming and thoroughly enjoyed what the film makers accomplished.  Compared the the rest of the film, though, it kind of feels like they had this terrific ending and just built a story in front of it.  Furthermore, I did not feel anything for any of the characters.  I really didn't care what happened to Batman or Catwoman; Alfred was a whiny pussy.  Blake was okay, but he wasn't as involved as he needed to be because it wasn't his movie.  All in all, there was nothing in this movie outside of the ending that made me feel like it was worth my time or money.