Christopher Nolan Movies: Ranking The Rug-Pull Moments

8. The Cafe Scene (The Dark Knight Rises)

Moving on from his first low-budget neo-noir thrillers (Following, Memento and Insomnia), Nolan moved into a more mainstream, franchise-influenced project with the Dark Knight Trilogy. The director oversaw the transformation of the superhero genre from the camp, Lycra-clad outings of West and co., to the gritty, unremitting realism of superhero films flooding the modern cinema market. This tonal change had always been credited to Nolan's sombre but well received style of filmmaking and fans thrived on this case-hardened storytelling. So when the closing scenes of The Dark Knight Rises went against the perceived (and often misconstrued) idea that everything in Nolan's worlds must die, there were general murmurs of discontent amongst fans. Whilst Batman surviving is no bad thing, his appearance in the cafe seemed somewhat contrived; an afterthought thrown in to put to bed any doubt that Bruce Wayne got blown up along with Bane's atom bomb. Blunt has never been a word to represent Nolan but it is a word befitting the scene. It has subsequently prompted the taboo question; could the mighty auteur have finally been subjected to an executive decision that might have influenced the ending of the film? This was the valediction to his trilogy and rather than sign out with a bang, fans were given a neat little package, complete with bow ribbon and 'thank you for watching' card - ultimately it fell well flat of that which came before. Surely leaving it with scenes of Alfred weeping at the grave cut together with Fox's technicians revealing the news about the Batpod, would have delivered a greater emotional impact?