4. Blake Knowing Bruce Wayne's Secret
No amount of tender backstory-telling that made John Blake and Bruce Wayne kindred spirits could adequately justify the decision to have the rookie cop fully aware that Bruce Wayne was Batman. The moment is only one head-scratching story detail from a host, and the oddest thing about it is the distinct lack of ceremony about it, and how early it happens in the film. From that point on, you begin to realise that Nolan's Bat-trilogy isn't about the rise of the character, and the establishment of an ideal, it's more concerned with completely picking Batman apart. Not only that, the fact is that recognition completely undervalues the myth of the Batman character - it's like acknowledging the fact that Clark Kent is clearly just Superman without glasses on and a slightly different hair cut: or in other words showing the puppets strings before the show, or the false bottom in the magician's top hat. In other words, it's just not the done thing - even if Nolan needed to fit in as much plotting as possible. And then there's also the impact Blake's revelation has on the later scene in which Commissioner Gordon finally realises that Wayne is under the cowl, in a near-comic face-palm moment of clarity. Rather than a touching resolution to that particular dynamic, we end up judging Gordon for not having made the connection sooner, because a child managed it in double-quick time, and he hadn't risen to the head of the Gotham City Police Department. Blake's awareness spoils the magic of the Batman secret, and long before Nolan pretend blew him up with a bomb, he had already pretty much killed the character.