I'm not that excited. After all the hype for the The Dark Knight, after finally seeing it about 2 months after release the only thing that impressed me was Heath Ledger's performance.
Don't get me wrong, it was an entertaining movie, but I honestly don't like most of the actors chosen for their roles (including Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal) except for Ledger and Oldman (Caine was acceptable as Alfred) and I didn't like the overloaded plot. I especially didn't like the cell phone tapping aspect (it was a lazy plot device, maybe just to squeeze in a bigger role for Morgan Freeman, I don't know), and I think the modern incarnation of Batman relies too much on technology versus the old (non-cinema) Batman who was more of a detective, albeit with a lot of fun gadgets. Everything with Harvey Dent was unnecessary, in my opinion, and I think if they dropped the entire "Dent is our hope" bit and the Two Face backstory it would have made for a better movie - they could have squeezed that into a movie all its own. But that's just me.
Maggie Gyllenhaal's character is also the blandest leading lady in a superhero movie I have seen thus far. I still don't get all the rave reviews praising her after The Dark Knight came out. Someone needs to explain that to me.
Someone will feel inclined to tell me how wrong I am and how The Dark Knight was such a great movie and how The Dark Knight rises will likewise be fantastic. I think The Dark Knight was a good movie and I'll probably watch The Dark Knight Rises (clever title, really) but probably only after the hype dies down.