10 Classic Movies You've Always Misunderstood

6. The Dark Knight Rises - Bruce Wayne Survived

The Dark Knight Rises Batman
Warner Bros.

The Dark Knight Rises divided far more people than it should have. A brilliant film in its own right, it crowned off the best trilogy of the past decade. The divisive nature comes from many countless Nolan made, but the big fish is the ending; how much you like the film tends to correlate with how much you accepted the film€™'s conclusion.

Much was discussed in the preamble before the film€™s release over whether Bruce Wayne would make it to the end credits alive or not. And up until the last five minutes it seemed he€™d most certainly bit the atomic dust. Until, in an ending shot as relieving as Inception€™'s was infuriating (but as we know now, not really), we discover he'€™s alive and well with Selina Kyle. The elation at this moment, after genuine uncertainty, brought the film and the trilogy to a fitting end.

But some people read the Florence-set cafe scene as part of a wishful hallucination the grieving Alfred€™'s having after, as he sees it, letting Bruce die. While that€™s a more poetic ending, there€™s been nothing in the film (nor itkis direct predecessor The Dark Knight) to suggest anything we've seen isn't real.

Contributor
Contributor

Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.