'The Dark Knight Rises' running time makes it the longest Batman ever

Christian Bale in 'The Dark Knight Rises,' now confirmed for a truly epic running time

Credit: Ron Phillips/Warner Bros.

Christopher Nolan has found one way to guarantee "The Dark Knight Rises" can be called the biggest Batman ever. The running time is 164 minutes (and 27 seconds).

That's longer than Nolan's 140 minute "Batman Begins" and 152 minute "The Dark Knight." None of the Tim Burton or Joel Schumacher Bat-films ran longer than 126 minutes.

The "Dark Knight Rises" running time was revealed by the British Board of Film Classification (the U.K. equivalent of the MPAA), who stamped the film with a 12A rating. "Rises" landed the similar PG-13 from the MPAA back in April. Although the MPAA rating was for "intense sequences of violence and action, some sensuality and language," the BBFC board simply cautions the film "contains moderate violence."

Also of note in the BBFC information is the film's cast listing: Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Liam Neeson, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Aidan Gillen, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Matthew Modine, Juno Temple, Tom Conti.

Yes, that's Liam Neeson (whose villainous Ra's al Ghul perished in "Batman Begins") listed before Anne Hathaway. Everytime you think you've got one "Rises" question answered, another pops up.

Check out all the reasons we can't wait for "The Dark Knight Rises" below:

Why we need 'The Dark Knight Rises' right now

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Geoff Berkshire
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Geoff Berkshire lives in Los Angeles and writes about film and television. His work has appeared in Variety, the L.A. Times, and Premiere, among other publications. He is the former national entertainment editor and film critic for Metromix.com.