As Deputy Commissioner of Gotham City, the existence of Peter Foley makes logical sense from a realistic perspective, given that someone would need to be around to step in for James Gordon should anything happen to him. As it stands, though, Foley spends too much time gossiping about Gordon or dismissing his claims about Bane than doing anything to endear himself to audiences. When Bane takes over Gotham, Foley ends up tucking tail and hiding at home with his wife rather than fight for the city, until he's inevitably convinced to suit up in uniform and lead the GCPD into taking on Bane's forces before dying in the fight. This subplot of Foley rising to become a hero could've had some sort of weight to it had he been given a glimmer of likeability at all throughout the film or, perhaps, been present somewhere in one or both of the previous films so audiences could've known him ahead of time. Instead, the character amounts to nothing more than a way to prevent Bane's potential capture not once, but twice, by ignoring Gordon's warnings about his activity in the sewer and by ordering the entire force to chase Batman instead of having even a few continue to chase Bane after the incident at the Stock Exchange. In the end, his death does nothing for the audience and the character could've easily been excised in favor of finding a more logical, natural solution for Bane continuing to elude capture.
Writer, film enthusiast, part-time gamer and watcher of (mostly) good television located on the fringe of Los Angeles, who now has his own website at www.highdefgeoff.com!
