No-one is saying that The Dark Knight Rises wasn’t one of the biggest films of 2012 – if success were measured in hype alone, it would arguably be the greatest film ever – but unfortunately, Nolan’s trilogy-ender partly died on that very same sword. Expectations weren’t met – but then, that wasn’t ever going to be possible – but even worse, the film seemed to be riddled with problems, in terms of technicals and creative elements. And some of us were left sadly disappointed, even despite some of the incredible moments.
Too much time was spent in the time after Nolan’s third film was released picking apart the film and complaining about the problems the film had – and my own analysis of the film followed that thread, albeit with some qualification, and millions of words were spent bad-mouthing the director and the creative decisions behind Rises. This however isn’t just yet another venomous moan about the problems of the film, it’s also an exploration of some of the very specific problems of Nolan’s trilogy ender that the next Batman director will need to avoid.
As a film writer, it’s inevitable that you face angry tirades of “you think you could do better?” in comment threads and on social networks, so it’s about time someone answered that question. So, ahead of the blu-ray release, here’s what I would have done to fix the problems of Nolan’s Dark Knight Rises.
1. Batman Should Have Died
The Problem
Batman should have died, or at the very least his fate shouldn’t have been as overtly shown on screen as the ending of The Dark Knight Rises handled it. It was even all hinted at, from the pre-release assertions that there would be some definite closure and that the trilogy would represent an end to the images of the smashed bat cowl and the careful attempts to build up the lore of Bane after Batman & Robin’s lucha abomination.
Nolan was leaving, Christian Bale was leaving, and Warner Bros were making noises about a reboot coming next, so there was an unprecedented opportunity to do something memorable and profoundly affecting by killing Bruce Wayne off. But the opportunity wasn’t taken and instead we got a not wholly fulfilling conclusion that undermined most of the Wayne character development up until that point.
True, some theories suggest that Alfred was merely dreaming a happy ending for his friend and charge, because the alternative was unbearable, but it would have been an awful lot better if Nolan had simply infered what Alfred had seen or not seen, rather than showing us.
How To Fix It
Kill the Bat. Simple as that. If the Dark Knight trilogy was envisaged as a self-contained story arc, like the equivalent of a comic book one-shot, Nolan and Warner should have been brave enough to follow through with the film’s revelation (that the symbol was enough for Gotham) and killed off Bruce Wayne.
The idea that Bruce Wayne will ever have a “happy ending” is a betrayal of the character, and an unfair dilution of his personal history: the one thing the darker side of the comics has always ominously suggested is that Wayne is compelled to don his costume, to exorcise the demons of his family’s death, and that it would take something catastrophic to stop him. Unfortunately for Wayne fans, death is the only suitable answer
Alternatively, if Warners were too concerned about the negative connotations of killing Wayne off, Nolan should have cut his film when Alfred smiles in the cafe, and not revealed Wayne’s fake feeling happy ending. That would have filled the need for finality, as well as offering a more poetic ending to the film, which would arguably have fit better with Nolan’s wider body of work.
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70 Comments
Agree with everything except the last two points. Tate is an LOS member and they all probably knew Bruce is Batman, since R’As knew. The R & D department is harder to explain, but with Tate taking over Wayne enterprises it isn’t that hard to imagine she used her new access to discover the secret. Still, that should have been dramatized. As far as point 10, that’s why Nolan is so valued as a filmmaker. Bay does not have it right, and that’s one reason why is films are so inferior. In any event, there’s plenty of things Bay never explains, like why in Transformers 1 the army’s backup plan to Megatron waking up is to take the cube into the city and endanger innocent lives. Or where the Fallen was all this time and if only a Prime can defeat a Prime, what the hell Megatron was doing for two films trying to destroy Optimus. And on and on…
The film ends the way it does for a reason. Although Nolan does deviate quite a bit from the COMICS he is hinting that Bruce Wayne will step down as Batman and that John Blake aka. his version of the character Nightwing will take up the role as Batman like in the comics. Nolan’s Batman films are the most realistic Batman series yet and yeah they’re a little off but so is every version, but they are by no means as bad as this site makes them out to be!
Miranda was the only woman we see Bruce get with in the entire trilogy, I wouldn’t exactly call that promiscuous.
“But if you ask this type of audience member – or indeed the cynical nit-picker – to come up with story details themselves, or give them enough rooom to interpret certain events themselves, you end up with a disgruntled audience, and when a film has aspirations to be a summer block-buster, the term “I didn’t get it” is Kryptonite.”
Genius line. Great articles I’ve been reading your work–I like your take on films, excellent insight.
Good article but number ten is completely ridiculous. The ending to inception was brilliant and when a director gives the audience something to think about, thats a success in my book.
Is the inability to decide upon an ending for your film a success or just laziness? Everyone praises Nolan for his “head scratching” endings, but to be honest the premise itself is thought-provoking enough…why do I need a vague ending to compound that?
You fail to see the big picture of that ending. obviously it was meant to be a cliffhanger for the casual movie goer but i assure you it was not “laziness” by his part. Whether it falls or whether he is still dreaming is irrelevant. the main point was that Cobb finally got to see his childrens faces again.
It’s all well and good being an armchair critic, but I have no doubt that the Nolans and team put their heart and souls into ‘…Rises’, making the very best film they possibly could, and I feel it a little disingenuous to pick holes in it… this is both the best and worst thing about the ‘net, we all feel we have a right to publicly dissect someone else’s work, and point out every little flaw and disparity, just enjoy the film for what it is; a superb and fitting conclusion to one of the best movie trilogies to date.
The movie had flaws?
the first point-movie adaptations are elseworlds stories hence bruce gaining a happy ending is a possibility. thats the point of the movirs; it can allow Bruce to gain a happy ending he deserves which the comics cant.
Bruce as a symbol makes sense since in Batman Year One bruce witnesses a bat crash through the mansion he mentions that he can be a bat to counter crime. the villains are not scared of him since these villains are ‘the freaks’ those who step into batman’s life once he is rid of the gangsters or once the gangsters start to fear him too much. as Joker says in Dark Knight ‘You’ve changed things’.
sorry going off point but anyways really insightfull article just wanted to put my points out.
Unfortunately, Nolan didn’t want to do this third movie, most likely because he had already written it when the series began. Joker was supposed to be the villain for the finale but Nolan didn’t think that he could replace Ledger. This movie was just to get WB off of his back about his contract. I think if Ledger had still been alive the movie would have been much better.
This is nonsense, Heath Ledger – like most actors in a franchise – have a clause in their contract that allow them to return in the event they’re needed in the next installment, but it doesn’t mean they are contracted as such to return. Had Ledger lived, and Chris Nolan wanted the Joker to appear in a short cameo – like Dr Crane/Scarecrow – he could have without having to renegotiate a new contract, this is what that aforementioned clause is for and nothing else, it’s a mere legal formality.
And that story about the Joker being the villain for film #3 is utter baloney; he was always going to be in the second one; David Goyer’s original two-film outline would have had Harvey Dent/Two Face scarred in the second film and be the main villain in the third film, but Chris Nolan didn’t like sequel bait and rewrote it to include Dent’s arc entirely in the second film… and rightly so.
Chris Nolan was initially cautious about doing a third film, but when he cracked the story, he signed on with enthusiasm to make it, it wasn’t a reluctant acceptance on Nolan’s part, if he hadn’t wanted to do it, he simply wouldn’t have done it, he wasn’t contracted to do it so it was his own choice not anything else.
Sequel bait? At the end of “Begins” Gordon gives Batman the joker card…seems like bait to me.
Interesting post. I also felt The Joker should have been included in some way.
This is a pathetic Article, This is the best trilogy ever and probably the best ending ever.. So screw u !!!
Lol i agree with you about it being the best ending ever, barely besting toy story 3. You could have said it better though haha.
The money still says the best trilogy is Star Wars.
Yeah, disagree with your last point entirely, some of them though are right on the ball.
I’m glad they didn’t even bother trying to reference the Joker, it was a mark or respect in itself if anything. I also like your idea of just cutting the ending when it shows Alfred smiling, rather than telling us what actually happened.
I completely disagree with the final point regarding summer blockbusters needing to be basically braindead. I thoroughly enjoyed the Inception ending and loved to read about all the different theories various people had in regards to the fate of Mr. Cob. Other than that I thought this was a good piece, still one of my favourite films though :p
As I read this article I kept thinking of point-by-point counters to everything you said. Then I realized that some people just want to watch the world burn and won’t be persuaded by my counterarguments. As such, I’ll live you to your disappointment, I loved the film.
True. And once the article is out there, and permanent, I guess counter arguments no matter how credible will be seen as an attack on fundamental and absolute claims, with no value to them.
Agree with all the 10 points of your article. If I have done the dark knight rises script, I would have done this things:
1. Bane as the main villain, No Miranda Tate, No Talia. If you want the connection with Ra’s, you have it with Bane as a member of the legaue of shadows that wants reconstruct the league after the events of Begins and just want to finish Ra’s plan as revenge. With this you completely avoid the problem of the back story.
2. Show John Blake as a detective that is investigating the Bat and the connection with Bruce Wayne. With this you can have a story with two lines: Bruce Wayne and John Blake as the detective side of the story. Near of the third act, Blake realize that Wayne is Batman. Putting Blake in that position you can add Coleman Reese character as one of the tortured victims of Bane that Blake finds.
3. Lazarus Pit in Gotham City. We saw something similar in the game of Arkham City, and so, why not put Wayne in a underground cell that Bane was preparing special for him? A cell that Bruce call ”Lazarus Pit” at the end. Afterall you can see that Bane and his league spent a long time under Gotham. Whit this you avoid the strange trip that Bane-Bruce have made.
4. Batman shouldn’t have died. Why? Well, his is Batman. But the way that Nolan show it well, it felt that wasn’t a Batman movie and that is because Batman wouldn’t have done that. He would continue his mission, maybe no being Batman, but training Blake as Ra’s did with him. I think that a good close up of the film would be like in The Dark Knight Returns of Miller. Bruce as a mentor, teaching strategy in the Batcave for the future heroes that exist thanks of his symbol.
Awesome post!
Those are fantastic ideas Lucas. I would have been so much more satisfied with the film if your 4 points were implemented.
But the duration is completely taken by the restoration of Batman. And I guess Nolan wanted to build this moment, the awakening of Batman. IMO he did not make it. It is because of the most of plot-hole that couldn’t be filled with only 150 minutes of film. Moreover, I quite enjoy the smart ideas and twists.
what makes you think batman is dead??????? seems liek it was made pretty clear with the fact that the auto pilot on the bat was fixed (after he says he has to fly the bomb away because it doesn’t work) and the fact that alfred sees him could well give away the fact he isn’t. did you watch the whole film?????????
1. Completely disagree. Am I the only one who, you know, doesn’t like being depressed? Or depressing endings? Frankly I think it’s kind of sad that Nolan spent so long getting you to care about a character… but you want him dead anyway. You might as well be one of the villains he’s fighting.
2. None of those questions or “plot holes” bothered me at all (except for maybe the street art thing, yeah that was a little far-fetched).
3. Somewhat agree, although you’re kinda contradicting yourself with the “it would be nice to have a superhero who isn’t in some way broken” thing.
4. I don’t think every single minor character should have to be developed so thoroughly, in fact, I often quite like them. They make the “world” of the film more realistic and relatable. We don’t always need to question why they’re there.
5. I don’t mind the backstories.
6. Agree. Although Nolan specifically excluded him out of respect for Heath Ledger. He said himself, “We’re not addressing The Joker at all. That is something I felt very strongly about in terms of my relationship with Heath and the experience I went through with him on The Dark Knight. I didn’t want to in any way try and account for a real-life tragedy. That seemed inappropriate to me.” Makes sense, though personally, I would’ve liked at least SOME reference to him.
7. I don’t get what the big deal is about Bane’s death. Yeah, it was a little anticlimactic, but not every villain needs a Disney villain death. He got shot. With the Bat-pod. By Catwoman. So it’s not very dignified, but what would you have done in that situation?
8. I’m indifferent on this one.
9. Somewhat agree.
10. The frick? You’re contradicting yourself again and I completely disagree. Didn’t you just say “Batman should have died, or at the very least his fate shouldn’t have been as overtly shown on screen as the ending of The Dark Knight Rises handled it”? Again, the frick? Also, I admit dumb movies are fun, blockbusters are fun, but blockbusters don’t HAVE to be blatant. That’s been proven time and time again.
I’m pretty sure if The Dark Knight had failed in 2008 people would be viewing Rises in 2012 as one of the greatest superhero films of all time. But NO, we’ve gotta compare everything to that…
the comment you made for the 10th point…i love it. expecially the last two sentences.
Great trilogy – people should remember what has come beofre these films, maybe then you’d stop moaning!
This is hit and miss for me. The biggest one I agree on is that Bruce should have died, or had his fate left less clear. It shows not only the theme of where that kind of single-minded, self-destructive obsession that Bruce has lived off of for most of his life gets you, but logistically, how the hell could he possibly have had a moment to disengage from the Bat, unseen, and clear the blast radius? He had like two minutes, and even a second wasted on a personal escape plan that has a very good chance of not working is a risk to the lives of thousands at least and completely out of character for Batman as he’s been established. Maybe it was just crappy editing and the original cut made his survival more plausible and less of a waste of what the last three films were building on, but traditionally, there is no happy ending for Bruce- he’s a very tragic hero.
Ha!Ha! Emotion…
The Joker is obviously dead. You think that in a city the size of, say, Chicago, that after all the death and destruction the Joker brought, not one single person was going to find a way to kill him? I personally think one of the police did it, but that’s just me.
The first thing I thought after leaving the film was that Bruce’s fate should not have been forced on to the viewers like that. The best way to create a legacy is leaving an open end for people to discuss. Instead we got a ham fisted happy ending to a famously dark trilogy. Quite a disappointing end to a film (and trilogy) that I really enjoyed, and it would have been so simple to fix. My suggestion would be to simply cut the rubbish about the auto pilot and the shot of Bruce at the table, and finish with Alfred getting his drink, looking up, and giving a subtle smile. Give the audience a little hope, but don’t undo the atmosphere of the film. Just my opinion, I’m sure there are better ideas out there than that.
Agree with this article, and this comment, but would add a subtle inclusion to the suggested end: ‘cut the rubbish about the auto pilot and the shot of Bruce at the table, and finish with Alfred getting his drink, looking up, and giving a *SAD* subtle smile.’
That’s the equivalent of the ending of Inception then (or, indeed, The Sopranos); it’s left up to the viewer to imagine what happened. If you’re a believer in happy endings, you got one. If you think it fitting that Wayne/Batman dies, you have that too. I believe good art is ambiguous and allows the viewer to get from it what they want, like a Rorschach ink blot test.
Wanky? Possibly. But there it is.
I, for one, am a believer in happy endings in movies. There are more than enough thought provoking, messed up endings in real life. I don’t need to pay to see them in my fantasy/fiction. In my movies I want the good guy to save the world, (He saved Gotham, – check), stop/catch/kill the bad guy (check 1 – Bane is dead, and Talia is dead, so check 2, kind of), and go home and screw the prom queen (Catwoman is not exactly a prom queen, but Hatheway is hot so I’ll take it – Check). So I’ll take the ending and I think a happy ending is VERY important. In fact, I won’t go see a movie that I know does not have a happy ending.
Since when do fan-boy gripes count as flaws in a film? Its not going to be the perfect Batman film for everyone, that’s impossible, but it was a great movie!
And if you followed the plot of the film killing Bruce off at the end would have contradicted his entire story arc, which was a story of Bruce learning to live beyond the Batman. It was quite brilliant I thought, it was a tale of how Bruce would end the legend. It was very humanizing.
Oh, and not showing how Batman got back to Gotham is not a plot hole! They simply thought the audience didn’t need their hand to be held through something that Bruce Wayne clearly had the ability to do!
And though the street art thing was a little far fetched, it was done to inspire hope to the people of Gotham, something that has always been a priority of Bruce/Batman and something that he probably needed to do.
Matthias, traditionally, there is no ending for Batman. This is a self contained story with a beginning and an end, something not done before.
Disagree on the 3rd point. The realism is what makes batman…batman. In any incarnation all his resources an all his intellect makes him a superhero but he’s always going to be damaged. That’s who Bruce Wayne is.
1. i agree just after alfred smile it should have ended, just after the nod to what it could or not have been bruce. but even though remember batman was never forever, it was stated in since batman begins and through the whole movie alfred told bruce that. a life beyond the cave. it makes the movie more human, and gives a really nice ending if you see beyond stupid “mistakes”.
2. come on in which movie ever made is everything explained. that’s the point for the audience to imagine stuff, think, get their conclusions. the only thing i agree is the part were blake knew who batman was, that was b.s.
3. this is b.s., i don’t get batman should be a superhero. he was and is a superhero. when was he normal. only he made the jump not even bane could do before in the pit, he came back to save gotham and inspire hope again. He reversed bane’s plan of giving hope to give despair and bruce/batman gave gotham hope to be saved. they made a bronze statue for him, he escaped a nuclear explosion, and we don’t need to know why? it’s batman, that’s the point. he had everything planned that’s why the testament was already done, the autopilot fixed, the new batsignal for gordon
4. you need to feel that it is real, it is not anime. foley is like judge faden or the russian, ramirez, wuertz….foley inspired some cops when he came at the end walking with his blue uniform. remember it was a war between the police, who were mad and angry at the criminals which were bane’s army for being trapped for 5 months under tunnels, and foley was second to gordon, he loved his men, that’s why at the stock scene he didn’t sent his men in for the money of other people. remember?
5. neither of the villains has a complete back story. The joker? ra’s? scarecrow?why they called dent to face at MCU before he was two-face? come on the joker said three different stories about himself, he doesn’t have one either and talia explained banes backstory as well as all the stories told in the prison to bruce by the doctors.
6. Nolan stated he wouldn’t involve the joker in any matter for respect, and come on it was 8 years later.
7. Firepower from the batpod by catwoman just before bane kills batman she saving him is not enough? he had the shotgun at his head. what are you looking for?
8. remember talia had a plan. bruce was hurt. in the real batman story they both are between an impossible love. Talia needed to gain his trust.
9. I understand the R&D department information was classified, but she could manage to do it and get to know the information, they knew who bruce was, they were the new league of Shadows. i mean, both talia and bane had a huge plan to avenge ra’s that involved destroying gotham and batman/bruce physically and emotionally. And Really? Coleman Reese again? for real?
10. Come on man, it´s necessary and good for directors and writers to make audiences think for a while. Why would you want the obvious every summer?
“Now that the Dent Act had made it all but impossible for the city’s criminals to cop an insanity plea, it (Blackgate Prison) had replaced Arkham Asylum as a preferred location for imprisoning both convicted and suspected felons. The worst of the worst were sent here, except for the Joker, who, rumor had it, was locked away as Arkham’s sole remaining inmate. Or perhaps he had escaped. Nobody was really sure. Not even Selina.”
From the movie tie-in novel.
Am I the only one who really doesn’t care where the joker was in TDKR? Does it really matter that he wasn’t in it? Did you watch the film thinking about the joker or was it when you got home and thought about things to question about the film?
I disagree with almost all of your points. Especially the one about mentioning the Joker. While it wouldve made sense had Heath ledger been alive, it is utterly ridiculous to try and force in a reference in the film. Although it wouldve been nice if they had have mentioned him or something, having him return wouldve made the movie bloated and the ways you suggested were rather silly and wouldve added to your own list of loose ends. Your last point is equally ridiculous. Your complaining about Nolans movie because he leaves things up to his audiences imaginations instead of hitting them over the head with information? Filmakers should never have to spell everything out for viewers. Look how stupid and annoying it is in Inception where they keep reminding the audience of whats going on. And the ending of Inception is not lazy film making…The ending itself is necessary to the entire essence of the movie. Movies that dont blatantly tell the audience whats going on are usually the best. Look at 2001: A Space Oddysey, or a Kirwosawa film. The only point i really agree on is the Bane back story and the way bane was killed. Batman shouldnt have died and it wouldve killed the film and the franchise along with it.
1. I have, and will continue to argue this point. Batman does die. Not physically of course, but batman in bruce waynes life is dead. He was finally able to move on from the events in the dark knight that lead him to be in such a sad state throughout tdkr. It is, in my personal opinion, a much more poetic and fulfilling ending than had he actually died in the explosion.
2. In regards to how he got back to Gotham, we can assume that having learned how to travel the world with absolutely nothing in the first movie, he could do it again in the third one. No time table is given on how many days were between him escaping the pit and him arriving in gotham. The street art was to make a bold visual statement for bane, and for all the citizens trapped in the city, that batman had returned. A bit over the top yes but it serves a good purpose. Blake explains how he managed to figure that out so questioning it doesn’t make much sense now does it? The fact that more people couldn’t figure it out should be your concern. You saw the brace for his leg..as for his back…I cant explain it. Perhaps it was a painful injury but not a terribly bad one so it was an easy heal. All I can say is, if you want to pick apart every piece of this movie of course it will have errors.
3. The personality and drive of a man don’t make them a superhero. His actions make him a symbol. This point is rather inconsequential.
4. While I agree that selina kyle’s roommate is pretty unnecessary (though that’s not reason to complain, its just another character), foley is not. Gordon cant do everything by himself. There needed to be more gcpd characters. You even mentioned his purpose in the movie as far as the story goes…
5. “In truth, Selina didn’t need much of a backstory”..so why mention it? And we know exactly what happened to bane..unless you want to know how he got into prison, which is irrelevant to the story, they explain everything you need to know about him.
6. ignoring the fact that Christopher Nolan has said the joker would not be included out of respect to Heath Ledger, you have a point. But unforeseeable circumstances forced Nolan’s hand and they had to completely change what this movie was going to be about (originally two face was supposed to be the main villain). Plus, bringing back the joker, even in subtle ways, would cause some story issues. The most notable being: someone is going to have to capture him again. And since this was meant to be the end of the series, leaving something like that open would take away from the theme and the closure.
7. to this point I completely agree with you. Bane was way too much of a badass to go out like that and it really took away from his character I think. Knowing how Nolan always loves to have deep, meaningful storylines this seemed to be out of place.
8. “since Wayne was clearly already so hung up with Selina that he was about to change his entire life and ride off into the sunset with her.”..uhm, no..no he wasn’t. At least not at that point in the story. And I think you may have missed the whole point of her winning over Wayne’s affections. It fit with what her and bane we trying to accomplish. Torching the soul of gotham and getting revenge of batman for killing her father. She fed him hope of a better future and then watched it flee from his eyes and he looked upon her in horror while she stabbed him.
9. This part I don’t fault you for putting in the article. I wish it would have, even so briefly, been explained how they knew the armory was there. I could speculate that perhaps talia or bane were able to find out the information from someone in charge of all the tumblr’s that fox had been collecting over the years. Or perhaps they had fox’s office bugged and found out about it that way. As for talia knowing bruce was batman, her father did train him. I would assume everyone in the league of shadows knows this information. And since talia and bane took over, I would also assume they would know.
10. so…if I am getting what you are saying here…film makers should dumb movies down because some people cant figure things out or because some people cant understand the thought provoking plots or endings?……
Totally agree with you Tyler ! Exept on the part about Bane’s death, that didn’t bother me too much, he had had an epic fight with Batman which ended in his demise ; he had recovered, was about to kill Btmn, so Selina did the best possible thing (plus Talia was on the losse with her bomb, she needed to be given chase immediately).
Pretty easy to poke holes in a movie you didn’t write. It’s a superhero movie. Get over it!
I couldn’t agree with anything said in this article. It seems to me the writer wants a return to the bad old days of comic book movies where everything is spoonfed, simplistic and about spectacle rather than depth.
You can’t expect Nolan to be perfect every time. Eventually he’ll mess up. Thankfully that hasn’t happened yet. Seriously, you said you didn’t want to be nit-picky, yet you most definitely were. Of course talia would no about r&d, she owned the company a that point. Yes, bane’s and talia’s deaths were both disappointing, but since batman doesn’t kill and you can’t leave a loose end as big as two members of the league, they had to die somehow. Bruce Wayne’s apperantly death and then resurrection was totally ok, as well as his handing off the cape and cowl to Blake. Bruce can die, but batman is eternal. But when you’re a genius and powerful, you can make it so that you do die. It’s the same as him dying. And personally, I don’t care about the plot holes, except for Gordon sending evey cop underground. Batman can do those things because he’s BATMAN.
It seems like when a movie is extremely successful in both the box office and with it’s thematic elements, people find the most outrageous things to knit pick. Who cares how Bruce Wayne got back to Gotham, it’s Bruce Wayne, He’s Batman. It would have been a waste of screen time to show him coming back to Gotham and it would have led to the same result regardless. Batman Being a Superhero? If that happened and this movie would become like every other super-hero flick, then it wouldn’t be as great as it was. The only one I agree with is Bane dying in that fashion. The movie ending the way it did, had no intention of leaving anything up to interpretation. The whole point of the trilogy was to show that Batman is a symbol, not a man, showing that anyone can be Batman or a Hero. Blake becomes Batman, proving the movies point in the end. The Dark Knight trilogy is simply just Bruce Wayne’s story, not Batman’s. It’s easy, Blake becomes Batman, Bruce moves on. Nolan just wanted you to think about it and conclude the right answer yourself. The mark of a Great Director. This movie was near flawless with a few bad acting sequences (especially Miranda Tate).
And as for the back. His back wasnt broken you morons. He had a pertruded disk. Watch the movie again. Obviously it would not be very healthy to just shove it back in place and would probably require surgery to be done right, but it’s a damn movie. PLEASE.
I won’t lie. There are a couple of points you make that are valid.
I’d have liked the Joker to be mentioned, but at the same time totally understand Nolan’s reason for not doing so.
However, you make some breathtakingly stupid points. You complain about Inception’s ending, only to claim TDKR’s final scene should have been more like it.
Regarding the Bane and Talia knowing Batman’s identity; I’d guess the universally known billionaire playboy trained by Ra’s al Guhl who went on the destroy the League’s headquarters, kill it’s leader, and protect the city it set out to destroy would be someone its members might not forget. It’s hardly a stretch of the imagination or a plot-hole…
Worst of all, you claimed Michael Bay has it right, and blockbusters should be dumbed down. That’s so idiotic it defies belief. Nolan should be championed – whether you like his films or not – for at least trying to treat his audience as intelligent.
I won’t say TDKR rises is without fault, because it’s not. However, it’s good points far, far outweigh the odd faux-pas here and there.
Wow…to suggest Nolan should be “more like Michale Bay…”
One of the WORST directors whose films I’ve ever had the displeasure to see…and you want Nolan to be MORE like him???
Wow…just…WOW
Like everybody else I agree with you on some points and disagree with you on others. I will say this however.
I think most of the criticisms stem from the fact that this series was not ready to be concluded, from a story-telling point of view. Batman is to big to the story of his career in 3 movies, pure and simple. When Nolan tried to wrap it all up in the 3 movie he had to introduce too many elements/characters to give them all the proper amount of development and it showed up on the screen.
These directors (and some actors as well) get bored and want to move on to other projects. The director’s life schedule doesn’t necessarily coincide with the time it takes to tell a full story of a hero from origin to conclusion. Nolan and Batman are one such case. There are MAJOR events that should be included in the story of Batman in order for it to be complete.
The biggest one is obviously the story of Robin. Nolan knew that he had to include Robin in order to complete the tale, but he telling the story of Robin would have taken at least one whole film. Nolan was trying to finish up in three films, thus we get things like this character Blake who magically knows Batman’s secret identity.
Likewise with Talia. For people who don’t know, Talia is Batman’s wife in the comic. Yes, wife, not girlfriend. However, their marriage is not quite picket fences and 2.5 kids and dog. They do have one son though. To tell the proper tale of how Batman even has a wife is actually 2 or 3 films by itself. But Nolan is finishing in 3 films so he can’t even consider taking Talia’s character down the road to wife-dom.
Nolan did a fantastic job. It’s even more fantastic considering that he only used 3 films. I felt that the last movie was trying to wrap up the series prematurely, and therefore trying to “check all the boxes” before wrapping it up.
I’m not disappointed with the fact the films say Batman is not a hero. If you think about it, while the films say he’s not a hero, he also says he’s more than a hero, and that makes the difference between Batman and the other superheroes. The director knows that among the comic lovers, most of people prefer Batman, and that made Batman be a hero beyond all of others. While the others are heroes (and Nolan didn’t use the word superhero because it’s more of a childish word), Batman is something more, what represents him as the best among all of other comic book characters.
I agree with several of your comments (particularly the first one about whether Bruce died or not), however the last one is absolutely stupid! Turn Nolan into Bay???? Treat audiences like idiots? That’s idiotic.
I think I actually feel stupider after reading this article.
You Asked how Bruce found his way back to Gotham, umm he’s freaking batman need I say more. And in all fairness, Batman did die, But Bruce Wayne rose. Banes backstory was great, a little switched up from the comics but I love that they mentioned he was born In a prison. This movie and this trilogy is great. You need to just shut up and enjoy the movie:)
Number 8 makes no sense. If a hot co-worker such as her were to throw herself at you, I think you wouldn’t resist. Not to mention Bruce Wayne is at what he believes to be his lowest point and therefore a little intercourse wouldn’t hurt. That is like a serious nit pick.
I agree with the point on Bane’s death and how Batman got back t o GC fully healed, but I felt the point about the ending was unjustifed. It left a great opening for potential sequels shoulf someone else wish to take up the series or make a Justice League movie. Although I would like to see JGL take up the cowl, and see how he trys to live up to the mantle, maybe introduce new charactrts like Batgirl(Barbra Gordon), wanting to pay tribute to Batman after he saved her family. Just a thought, a film about how Gotham survives without Batman, set in two timelines; before and aftetr the TDKR.
On another point did anyone else feel disapointed that Batman somehow got over his fear of letting loose and becoming a vigilanty, like what Joker kept urging him to do. Maybe it was just me.
LOL..action…the fight choreography wasn’t even that great.
You have issues with Batman not being enough of a Super-hero and still question logic of him running and flying around with a knee brace and fixing his back. You can’t be logical at only specific points in a movie and discount the rest!
That’s what I liked about the film, along with it’s grit and realism it has a subtle fable-like quality viz. Wayne overcoming his physical limitations, a very ancient idea of a terrible prison – the dark pit etc.
I thought the movie was amazing and a great end to the series!
Well, Bruce had five months to heal. A broken back heals in less time, I know, I broke my back once.
So many contradictions in this article. SO. MANY. My favorite though, was calling Batman “The most supernatural of heroes.” Wasn’t aware billionaires were a supernatural force!
I don’t think it would have been right for Batman to have died
Nolan didn’t kill off Bruce because for pretty much forever in the comics, and in the movies ever since the second movie, Bruce has been battling with himself, conflicted over whether or not him being batman is actually doing gotham any good, crazier and crazier criminals come to gotham to try and beat the bat, it’s an endless cycle. Nolan has done what nobody has ever done before, and made Bruce realize, you’ve done what you can Bruce, put it up before you bring a terror to gotham you can’t stop. However unlikely it is for Batman to no be able to stop someone, Bruce is getting old, he needs to pass the mantle, or drop it altogether Gotham will be a safer place.
Batman isn’t a superhero though, just like Iron man isn’t a super hero, there are no super powers here, just human abilities at their peaks.
You must have never read batman comics and you’ve never seen how many times Bruce drops the cowl and lets someone else take over, It happens pretty often. Bruce most always returns, but that’s just because comic book writers never want to let a character like Bruce Wayne go.
This is just stupid, the ending was brilliant.Too many people thought he may die because it’s the last film so it would be too obvious. The films so great because you thought he had died, it was so sad. But the twist was amazing especially when Alfred sees him at the cafe just like he always wanted. Whenever I watch that I feel like crying because he’s living a normal life just like Alfred always wanted. The ending to this film couldn’t have been better. What more can you ask for, a twist and something you didn’t expect? Now the person who wrote this article, I reccomend you to never be a film director because let’s face it, everyone would predict what happens in your films, Boring!
Your lists suck. Way too critical. Newsflash: Movies are not real dumbass, they are meant for entertainment. Get a life
Great article overall. And I especially agree with point number 3. The beginning of The Dark Knight, where he stops the wannabe Batman-Gang was in fact a very good story explanation that not just anyone can be Batman.
A point that I also remembered as it became increasingly clear to me that DKR was positing the idea that Batman could rise again, this time through a different person. Perhaps if they’d cast someone more alpha-male than Gordon Levitt.
And yes, the first act was over-bloated and the third act tried too hard to surprise the audience (fans most of all) by the too-clever-for-its-own-good third act twist which only served to undermine the plot’s core.
I didn’t have a problem with Alfred smirking at Bruce in the end, but I had a huge problem with the idea that Blake could simply put on a suit and everything would just go on as it always had.
Wayne needed the huge resources of a billion-dollar corporation behind him, and his own base of operations. Blake has none of those things. It’s insulting for “Batman” to be reduced to that. I’m not sure what Nolan was thinking but it was wrong in this case.
TDKR was THE WORST of the Nolan Batmans. In fact, it’s one of the worst movies EVER. Some of these points can be a little nitpicky, or down to personal opinion, but I do agree that the story was just an incoherent mess. What they were trying to say about Bay is that he tells you the story. TDKR left SO MANY things unexplained. That’s not good storytelling. It’s LAZY. If we’re constantly asking “Why?” then Nolan has failed as a storyteller. And the thing about him leaving the prison and getting back to Gotham was not just getting back, but getting back IN TIME. I mean, he had no passport. No money. And was on a ridiculously tight schedule. How did he do it? The world may never know.