Apart from the neutron bomb i didn't really regard him as a villain, especially after his stint in the stock exchange and "freeing" Gotham to an extent. Probably just my twisted mind though.

It is not as good as TDK. That one had a perfect story and a perfect character, and it was bordering impossible to top. But what is to be found here is also good, bearing caveats. First, pacing. It is very different than either BB or TDK. BB had a rather traditional pacing. TDK was an onslaught. This is very different. It is rather slow in its two thirds, very methodical in its story building. There are "hot spots" of sequences - and they are huge peaks, like the first Bane/Batman encounter - but very fast, the pacing goes down in speed. It is very intentional, as the bleak sequence of events creeps in. I liked it, but some might not. The latter third is an onslaught also.

Now, I think the weakest point of the film is the overall story and villain - no, that's not Bane, he is merely a tool for the real villain which is revealed at the last minutes. I just can't relate to the League of Shadows and its purpose. I was not convinced by either Al Ghul characters. The solution to bad is not clean slate with everything bad removed. Thus this film suffers from similar problem as BB. So why such high score? Otherwise, Transformers might get 11/10. The score is high because in the context of the total annihilation scope, the plan and character moments are superb. The mastermind behind this plot was a much better planner than Ra's, and in fact makes the events in BB seem like an amateur's plan. Bale is excellent, as usual, albeit missing somewhat. Surrounding characters are really good also - Blake, Gordon, Alfred, Fox. Even Hathaway does a good job as Selina Kyle, despite the stereotypical turn of events at the end. Bane is made to look as a beast rather successfully - he's huge. And he's not the main villain, but it is not clear if he's a puppet or the mastermind behind the events, and Talia is just there for the ride.
My only only problem, as I said before, is the whole point of this brilliantly executed plan. It is still better here than in BB, as Talia just wants to finish what her father wanted.
Some obvious commentary on Wall Street and people in power, but not very deep - and I don't think that was the point - so I won't talk about that. I will just say that TDK was more convincing in its bleak commentary and lukewarm conclusion.
But Rises' conclusion is very satisfying. It could have turned very cheesy at the hands of lesser writers and director, but here we see the masters at work. Truly good. "Everyone can be a hero - like some one putting a coat on a scare boy and reassuring him" is perfection.

Nolan leaves the series with an open ended conclusion (not regarding Wayne). Whether the bait will be taken, and another team will work on continuing the same world, or whether the new team would rather do a different take on the dark knight remains to be seen. We know a reboot is already planned. Perhaps high numbers of this could sway them to remain in the same world and focus on the new Batman (despite his full name being "Robin").

Visually, the film is masterfully shot and edited, in my opinion, like all Nolan films. Can't think of anything to complain about. He knows how to shoot.

The soundtrack, as I said in the soundtrack thread, is a bit disappointing, but it works well in the movie. Large portions of it in the film are the "Bane plan" theme. Kyle gets a new, noir-like (?) theme - it's OK. My problem was the lack of conclusion to the themes in the first two tracks. The second track was a clear continuation of the first, thematically, just like the second film was to the first (as well as the excellent Joker screeching theme). This is somewhat different. One could say that the lack of Wayne in large portions of the film makes this understandable, but still, Zimmer could have done a better job. I think Newton Howard's influence is missing here. Still, some good tracks, especially at the end, when the true story is revealed (the excellent "Necessary Evil") and the conclusion of the film ("Rise"). Still, the second takes the cake as the best soundtrack of this trilogy.