Arguably the most anticipated film of the year, Christopher Nolan’s Batman swan song The Dark Knight Rises is a nearly three-hour conclusion to what is being called the greatest superhero trilogy of our time. The reviews have been quite positive, although a few noticeable plot holes and some “leap of faith” moments marred the experience for some critics and fans.
Regardless of your overall opinion of Rises, a question can be posed: did you catch everything? Like him or not, Christopher Nolan is an extremely intelligent guy, and for those of us who have experienced all of his feature films (that’s a total of eight, by the way), it’s always a challenge to keep up with his thinking. Whether you viewed the film five times or once, it’s always possible that you missed a cameo, allusion, or throwback to one of the previous two films. So, how many of the following ten did you notice?
10. Dr. Thomas Lennon
Thomas Lennon is an actor probably most recognizable for his role as Lieutenant Dangle in Reno 911! and a number of Judd Apatow films (and those of that ilk), where he often plays an eccentric. With someone whose face is so recoginsable from a different genre, it seems strange on the surface that Nolan would cast Lennon in a supporting role in his picture. Oddly enough, Mr. Lennon appeared as Bruce Wayne’s monotonous doctor in Rises. For fans of Reno 911!, this may seem like a peculiar casting choice given the actor’s usual work. In reality, this is not Lennon’s first appearance in a Nolan film, nor his first appearance as a doctor in a Nolan film.
In Nolan’s 2000 breakthrough film Memento, Lennon appeared briefly as a house doctor for “Sammy Jenkis”, working to improve the man’s memory-afflicting condition. So why did Nolan choose to cast Lennon as a doctor again? If you were to ask me, I’d say there’s no logical reason that’s clearly evident, except as perhaps a small nod to his previous work. Of course, Nolan might say differently. The world may never know.
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14 Comments
The confusion over Johnathon Crane perfectly encapsulates the error of his inclusion in The Dark Knight Rises. It was too long to be a nod to the character and he did absolutely nothing ‘Scarecrow-y’. Such a waste.
In the “No Man’s Land” story during the early 2000′s when Gotham was cut from the U.S. Scarecrow was the judge of a kangaroo court.
The confusion over Johnathon Crane perfectly encapsulates the issues with the trilogy, namely the fact that many missed Batman Begins, and unfortunate truth considering so many saw The Dark Knight without seeing Batman Begins, thusly missing the Joker tease at the end, and also missing the brilliant and beautiful first chapter of the Nolan Batman trilogy and one of the better origin story’s on film about a superhero.
I couldn’t agree more. 90% of the people I talked to about Rises before it came out referred to it as “the second Batman”, which is a shame since Begins is, as you said, a brilliant first chapter.
Agree about the part that so many people have seen The Dark Knight yet haven’t see Begins, a disgrace really when both are just as good as each other.
The scar you referto on bane’s head and talia’s back is actually the mark of the league of shadows. Members were branded with branded with this symbol once inducted. In batman begins, before bruce refuses to slay the farmer as his final task for induction, ken watanabe is preparing to brand bruce himself. But bruce refuses to become an “executioner” before getting it himself. The significance is nolans hinting at the fact that “miranda tate” is actually talia al ghul. They also hint at it numerous other times in the film, most notably in certain scenes where talia quotes ras (her father) very subtly.
I do agree with all the Johnny Come Lately shenanigans that surrounded the last 2 films. It’s called the ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy now and people think TDK was the first. It’s embarassing.
Anyway, I didn’t look through the whole article but something that might or might not have been mentioned could be Tahlia’s League Of Shadows tattoo. We see it on her back while she and Bruce are naked in front of the fire. If you watch Begins, you will see Ras wishes to tattoo Bruce with the same symbol. It is that hot rod that he uses to launch with his sword and set the whole place on fire.
You missed the part where miranda tate enters the stock exchange just before bane goes in.
im pretty sure the dcs refers to dc comics and the s is for syncopy nolans company. i might be wrong thats just what i assumed it stood for.
Very well could be true. It’s impossible to know for sure really
Noticed 3 of these things you mention here while watching.You make a good point about Scarecrow.I watched TDKR with 2 friends.They recognized him from DK but neither of them have seen BB..I feel after TDKR many people will visit/revisit the preceeding films.
I think another thing that a lot of people may have missed, after Gordon enters the sewers and there is that small explosion, I think its the deputy commissioner who asks if they saw any giant alligators down there….. I think this may have been a clever ode to Killer Croc who was well known for lurking in the sewers in the comics/cartoons.
Also, how did Bruce get back into Gotham after getting out of the pit?
Good question, one of the more commonly accepted theories is that he used his connections from his time in the criminal underground to arrange transportation back to Wayne Manor. But I guess we’ll never know.