The Dark Knight Rises - Detailed Analysis & Review

We've come to the end of our analysis of the Dark Knight Trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises. Can this one live up to the awesomeness that the previous two movies were? Where does this movie work and where does it not? Let's dig in and talk about how this trilogy ends.

----more----

Transcript

Welcome to Nerd Heaven.

I’m Adam David Collings, the author of Jewel of The Stars.

And I am a nerd.

 

This is episode 94 of the podcast.

 

Today we’re talking about the movie The Dark Knight Rises.

 

The description on IMDB reads

Eight years after the Joker's reign of anarchy, Batman, with the help of the enigmatic Catwoman, is forced from his exile to save Gotham City from the brutal guerrilla terrorist Bane.

 

The screenplay was written by Jonathan Nolan and Christpher Nolan

The story was by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer.

It was directed by Christopher Nolan

And it first released on the 16th of July 2012.

 

Once again, I hired this on DVD when it came out, and only saw it once. But I own the complete trilogy on Blu-ray now.

 

The movie starts with Commissioner Gordon praising Harvey Dent at his funeral. Doing just what Batman told him to do. As hard as that is for him. 

 

That ties us into the end of the previous movie. Then we’re straight to the new plot.

 

It’s a hostage situation.

Bane is introduced as a mercenary. A masked man.

It’s a terrifying interrogation, the way they’re threatening these people, but not actually killing them.

 

He wants to know, who is Bane? This guy is looking for him.

 

It turns out one of them IS Bane.

Now my first introduction to Bane was the game Batman Arkham Asylum. In that game, he’s this big monstrous creature powered by the venom serum. Basically DC’s answer to the Hulk.

 

When I heard Bane was going to be the primary villain of this movie I was surprised. How can a big mutated monster fit in with this serious realistic Batman? 

I was surprised to see when he appeared, that he was just some bloke, but he’s got this weird metal mask around his mouth.

 

No explanation is given for this odd facial decoration when he’s introduced.

But he does say that nobody cared about him until he put on the mask.

And I have to say, his voice doesn’t at all match what I would expect to hear coming out of someone who looks like this.

 

He’s got this happy-go-lucky English accent.

Sounds like it could be quite high-pitched but it’s distorted by the mask.

 

Without any explanation, this mask is just really distracting and odd.

 

Bane crashes the plane. He’s stealing blood from one of their bodies.

This is all a pretty impressive sequence to look at, but it’s very disorienting.

Who are all these people? What do they mean to each other?  None of it is clear.

 

Bane Leaves one of his own behind, so a body can be found in the wreckage. And the guy doesn’t even object. What hold does he have over them they’d so readily die for him? Spoiler alert - we’ll never find out.

 

Even after seeing the whole movie, looking back it still wasn’t entirely clear what this scene was all about? They abduct Doctor Pavel and fake his death. That’ll be important later. But what’s with the blood?

 

Back in Gotham, we learn about Harvey Dent day. A new public holiday. 

The city has undergone a historic turnaround. Gotham is without organised crime. For the first time in forever. A real difference has been made. It’s nice to know that Bruce was right. Gotham has been rehabilitated. He’s proven Ra’s Al Ghul wrong.

 

There’s some talking about repealing the dent act, which gave police the power to act, but no real details on what they meant.

And some talking about how Batman murdered Dent.

 

Gordon hates playing along with all of this. But what can he do?

When he says he has a speech, telling the truth about Dent, but now is not the time, I think he means the real truth. Maybe one day he can tell the real truth and clear Batman’s name. But not today. The peace is too fragile. Too new.

 

Things are not going well for Gordon. His wife and kids left him. The mayor wants to get rid of him. He was a war hero, but this is peacetime. I feel really sorry for him. The last movie destroyed his marriage. Between faking his own death - letting his wife think he’d died, and their son nearly dying, I can see how it ended. It really sucks.

 

So we’re seeing a very different world than that of the first two movies.

But let’s not assume it’s all gonna stay happy and nice. There’d be no movie then.

 

Batman might be on the run, but Bruce Wayne isn’t. He doesn’t have to be. Nobody knows Bruce is Batman. But Bruce is living as a recluse. His new beard speaks volumes. He needs a cane to walk. It’s not entirely clear why this is. But he’s not faking this. He really does have trouble walking.

 

The maid is stealing his mother’s pearls.

 

And the maid is, of course, not a maid, but a cat burglar. Selina Kyle.

And here’s yet another example of Hollywood star casting  I would never have thought of, but I like Anne Hathaway in this role. She does a decent job of it. I think at this point, she was still stepping out of the shadow cast by The Princess Diaries. Although she had already played Agent 99 in the remake of Get Smart, which I found surprisingly good.

 

Wayne Manor has been rebuilt. Bruce can now operate back in the original bat cave.

But it’s a lot more developed. 

 

Selina likes the pearls. She won’t sell them, but what she wanted was Bruce’s fingerprints. 

 

Alfred is worried about Bruce. He hung up the cape but he never began a new life. He’s not living. He’s just waiting.

But he’s still grieving the loss of Rachel.

 

Alfred tells his cafe story, which is important and will be paid off wonderfully later on. When Bruce was away, travelling the world, learning how to fight criminals, Alfred hoped he’d never come back. Why? Because he wanted Bruce to find his happy ending, and live a life free of the wounds of his childhood.

Alfred would go on holiday to Florence every year. He’d go to a particular cafe. Every time he’d fantasise that he’d look across and see Bruce with a wife, maybe a couple of kids. Neither would speak to each other, but they’d both know that he’d made it. That he was happy.

He never wanted Bruce to come back to Gotham. There was nothing here for him but pain and tragedy. Alfred wanted something more for him than that. And he still does.

 

Next, we meet an idealistic young cop named Blake. He’ll be a pretty important character in this movie, but it won’t be clear why for some time. He’s played by Joseph Gordon Levitt, who is most famous for the teenage-bodied alien in the sci-fi sitcom Third Rock from the sun. But he really sells his performance as an adult cop in a serious drama.

 

Selina meets a guy named Stryver. 

Selina got the prints for THIS guy.

Stryver is gonna kill Selina, but she’s well prepared. In a lot of ways, like Batman.

She puts on a good act to appear an innocent bystander to cops.

 

But Blake is on the case.

 

Thugs capture Gordon and bring him to Bane. There is a connection between Bane and Stryver.

 

Blake comes to see Bruce. In relation to Harvey’s murder. But starts telling him the story of Bane. 

He needs Batman’s help. Does Blake know Bruce is Batman?

Blake tells the story of his own tragic childhood. He’s an orphan too.

Bruce Wayne Billionaire orphan was a hero to those kids.

 

It was never really clear to me how or when Blake discovered that Bruce is Batman, but it also seems pretty clear that at this point, he DOES know. And he believes Batman was innocent of Harvey’s crimes.

 

I guess Bruce’s injuries are from his time as Batman. That would seem logical. But Batman didn’t seem this banged up at the end of Dark Knight.

 

Bruce meets with Gordon in a ski mask as Batman. Gordon says Batman needs to return. He is still needed. Bruce is not convinced Batman exists anymore.

 

Bruce finds Selina at a charity party.

This is a masquerade and Selina has chosen a black mask and cat ears. This is the closest to a cat costume we’ll get to see her in. It’s a realistic take that works in the context of this trilogy. Although she’ll kinda continue to wear it again later in the movie for some reason, which doesn’t seem to fit. Honestly, I’d probably have been okay if this was the only scene where we saw her wear it.

 

This party is also where we meet Miranda Tate, a bright young woman who has business dealings with Bruce, and is very interested in his clean energy reactor, which he’s never put into production.

 

Selina ended up a thief because she did what she had to. But once you start there,  they’ll never let you do what you want to. You get stuck in a life of crime. Does that excuse her actions? It certainly gives us a little more sympathy for her as a character. I suspect this is a common story in the real world. Nobody grows up thinking “I really wanna be a criminal”.

She says “There’s no fresh start in today’s world.” And it’s starting to look like a fresh start might just be something she’d be interested in, if it were possible.

 

In the meantime, she sees herself as a robin hood figure

 

Selina threatens a coming storm that may bring down the rich in Gotham. And then she steals Bruce’s sports car.

 

Wayne Enterprises not doing well financially. Bruce put all his money into the clean energy project, but won’t turn it on for some reason. But you can bet he does have a reason.

Miranda supports the project and doesn’t understand why he won’t follow through.

 

Lucious has some gadgets to show Bruce, even though he says he’s retired.

It’s some kind of aircraft.

Bruce is using a device to help him walk and even kick.

 

We learn a little about Bane. There’s a prison pit where prisoners are sent to suffer and die,  in another part of the world. Bane came from that prison. He was born and raised in hell on earth.

He was trained by Ra’s al Ghul. But excommunicated from the league of shadows. Apparently he was too extreme for Ra’s. And that’s gotta be a bad thing.

 

Alfred thinks Gotham needs Bruce, not Batman.

He’s not afraid Batman will fail. He’s afraid that he WANTS to fail. He’s a shadow of who he was. Physically and mentally.

 

So Bayne and his goons break into the stock exchange.

There’s no cash here. So what’s his plan?

It’s an online theft. They don’t stay long. And they leave with hostages

 

Bruce wears the batman suit for the first time in ages.

He arrives on the bike that was once part of the tumbler.

 

This is more dangerous for him than ever because the police think he is a murderer. They won’t hesitate to take him down.

 

This proves to be a real problem - because the cops are more interested in catching Batman than they are dealing with Bane and Co. Good for Bane.

 

Putting aside the question of whether the bike was originally part of the bridging vehicle, it continues to do some pretty cool stuff in this movie. The way the wheels rotate and allow quick direction changes is a lot of fun to watch.

 

But then all reality goes out the window when we see this movie’s version of the batwing, which is basically a full-on spaceship. I mean, I like it, but it doesn’t fit this series very well.

And they don’t even try to explain it.

The batmobile was introduced in a way that made sense in this world, in Batman Begins.

No attempt was made to do likewise with the Batwing in this movie. I found that pretty disappointing.

 

Selina is after a program that will clear her name. A clean slate. It erases your identity from every database on earth. It literally makes you disappear.

So her desire to escape her life of crime and have a fresh start is quite genuine.

But the guy claims it doesn’t exist.

 

Batman rescues Selina from Bane’s people.

 

Selina sold Bruce’s fingerprints to Daggart, who Stryver works for, for that program. She hasn’t been paid, so you can imagine how she’s feeling.

 

Alfred is really not keen on Bruce trying to be Batman again. He’s gonna get himself killed. He used to want a life beyond Batman, but with Rachael’s death, that’s not possible. He can’t move on.

And that’s when Alfred decides to finally tell Bruce about Rachael’s letter.

It’s a very powerful character scene. And this choice hurts both of them very deeply.

Alfred has just sacrificed his relationship with Bruce in an attempt to keep Bruce alive.

A painful representation of what love is all about.

Brilliant scene. Sadly, that means we won’t see any more of Alfred until near the end of the movie.

 

Now we find out what Bane and Daggart were up to. They’ve effectively bankrupted Bruce and acquired Wayne Industries. Bruce’s main concern is applied sciences, but Lucious has done a good job of keeping that off the books and safe. As he should have.

 

But they do have his energy project.

 

Bruce shows the reactor to Miranda.

The reason he never put the reactor into active use is because some Russians found a way to weaponise similar technology. In particular, Doctor Pavel from the plane at the beginning. The risk was too great for Bruce.

 

He’s putting Miranda in charge of the company, in charge of the reactor. “Keep it safe and hidden. If it becomes too dangerous, she’s to flood it.”

Bruce has been officially kicked out of his own company. His father’s legacy.

 

Bane kills Daggett and takes over, calling himself a necessary evil. That’s kind of how the League of Shadows see themselves, right?

 

Bruce wants to recruit Selina to help find Bane. He offers her the fresh start. Claims it does exist. Bruce acquired it to keep it out of the wrong hands.

He may be willing to let Selina use it, but he needs to trust her first.

When he tells her that they’re letting him keep the house, Selina makes a very interesting point. “You don’t even go broke like the rest of us.”

And that’s very interesting. When super rich people go broke, they tend to still have resources behind them. A former billionaire is not going to find himself living on the street begging for food, like a normal person might when they lose everything.

It’s all relative.

And I find that fascinating.

 

It reminds me of Alastair in the British comedy show As Time Goes By. When he said he was broke, what he really meant was he was down to his last million.

 

Bruce and Miranda get intimate. That seems to have come out of nowhere.

 

It turns out Batman couldn’t trust Selina. She’s done a deal with Bane, delivering Batman to him. Bane knows who Batman is as well. Selina overhears so she knows too

 

Now in some ways, Bane is a very similar character to Doomsday. 

Doomsday is good for one thing. Killing Superman. So if you’re gonna put Doomsday in your movie, you’d better be willing to have him Kill Superman.

 

In a similar way, Bane is famous for breaking Batman’s back. That’s his purpose. It doesn’t mean you can’t do other things with the character, of course, but Bane’s inclusion is something of a promise.

 

I’m not as familiar with this incident from the comics as I’d like to be. I am in the process of binging the important Batman comics from the 80s and 90s, but I’m not up to Knightfall yet.

Looking forward to it, though.

Bane says something I find fascinating.

“Peace has cost you strength. Victory has defeated you.”

By winning peace in this city, Batman has not kept up his training. His physical conditioning. That has made him weak. His great victory has become his defeat.

 

Bane claims to BE the league of shadows. Fulfilling Ra’s Al Ghul’s destiny.

 

“You merely adopted the dark, '' he says. “I was born in it, moulded by it. I didn’t see the sun until I was a man.”

 

Bane has found applied sciences. He has all of batman’s tech

And then he does it. 

He brake’s Batman's back. 

In a shot that looks very reminiscent of the comic.

 

I think Selina is already realising that she made a mistake. She’s on the run, not from the police, but from bane. When Blake says he can offer her protection, she just gives him this look, and Blake kinda shrugs, as if to say, okay, maybe we can’t protect you from someone like that.

 

Selina honestly tells him she’s not sure if Bruce is dead or alive.

 

He is alive, but barely. Bruce doesn’t fear death - he longs for it. Bane has taken Bruce to the prison where he grew up. Underground and dark. The tunnel is open. You can see the sky. But climbing is impossible. That impossible hope is what tortures people’s minds.

 

Bruce has to watch on a TV screen as Bane destroys Gotham.

 

Bane seems to be the only one to ever have escaped from this hole. He was born in there, and he escaped as a child.

 

And he’s found the reactor.

The board are coerced into turning it on for him.

 

Bane’s first move is to detonate explosives he's buried in concrete all over the city. The visuals of the football field slowly collapsing looked amazing.

 

There are some similarities between Bane’s plan and Ra’s al Ghul’s. Isolate the island in the middle of Gotham and then use some advanced technology to destroy people.

 

Most of the city’s cops are in the tunnels under the city.

Except for Blake.

 

At this point, most first-time viewers are probably surprised by how big a role Blake has in this movie, and wondering why he’s in here.

 

It seems Doctor Pavel is the only person in the world capable of disarming the reactor bomb. After confirming this, Bane murders Pavel in front of the entire stadium.

 

Now we see a little of The Joker’s theatricality come into play. This is going to be a game. One of the people in the crowd has the detonator. 

It’s not clear at this point, whether this is somebody working for Bane, or if the person doesn’t actually know they’re the one. Perhaps something innocuous they’ll do will set off the bomb. This could have been explained better.

 

I feel like the writing in this movie isn’t up to the same level as the previous two. Ra's al Ghul had a clear goal and motive. The Joker was completely insane, but even he had a clear motive and goal - as crazy as it was. But I can’t get a reading on Bane. He says he’s giving Gotham back to the people. What exactly does that mean? Gotham is finally at peace, better than it’s been in decades. What does he think he’s liberating them from?

But does he actually care? Of course not. He sees himself as carrying the torch of the League of Shadows. He wants to destroy Gotham. But why? Batman has succeeded in proving that Al Ghul’s extreme measures were not necessary. Gotham has been rehabilitated.

So ….. What’s it all about?

 

Interesting to see a bunch of tumblers, in their original cammo colours driving through the city streets.

 

Bane tells the city the truth about Harvey Dent, reading from the stolen speech Gordon planned to one day deliver.

He’s raging against the corruption of the Gotham police. Now in fairness, much of their current peace has been built on a lie. But the criminals locked in that prison are still criminals. Justice HAS been served.

So what is to be gained by letting chaos reign and releasing all those dangerous criminals back out into the street?

Maybe Bane wants to watch the city tear itself apart, but he can just set off the bomb.

 

It seems to me that Bane is his own brand of crazy, but a much less interesting version of crazy than we saw last time with The Joker.

 

The people of the city seem to be taking up Bane’s cause and rioting. I find that extraordinary. 

So Blake points out some of the criminals have been denied parole due to the Dent Act.

Well….that’s a potential moral issue. But it’s not a well-defined one. We just don’t have enough information to make a fully informed opinion. The justice system is supposed to punish the guilty, but also preserve certain rights and freedoms that they still have as human beings.

But this was an act of legislation. It was a law. We don’t understand the subtleties and details of that law, but the police had the legal right to keep those criminals locked up, regardless of whether Harvey Dent was a nice bloke or not.

Whether what the law allowed them to do was morally right is a completely different question.

 

And now for the people of Gotham to want to let all those dangerous criminals out to roam the streets, and string up the cops. I’m losing all sympathy for them.

The thing is, I’d be quite interested in a story that genuinely looked at the moral issues of a police force doing something a little dubious to protect the city from the special class of criminal we see in Gotham. Get some real interesting shades of grey going on so you have something to discuss.

Except I don’t think this movie does it at all well. It doesn’t delve in and explore any of that. It’s all brushed over so briefly that it becomes meaningless and there’s nothing to talk about.

 

We cut back to Bruce and we get a little more backstory about Bane. How he came to be born down there in that pit. I don’t know what country this is supposed to be, but you want to talk about corrupt justice systems mistreating the freedoms of its prisoners. This is where you look.

Apparently, young Bane was attacked by other prisoners during a plague. One of the prisoners was a doctor. He tried to fix Bane’s face, but his fumbling efforts left Bane in perpetual agony, and the mask on his face holds back the pain somehow.

Um……..okay.

 

So they’re trying to fix Bruce’s back.

A broken back doesn’t necessarily mean death. My wife suffered a broken vertebra in her back from a roller-skating injury as a teenager. It’s something she’s lived with all of her life. The muscles learn to adapt.

But Bruce is in a pretty bad way. He’s got vertebrae sticking out. It’s believable that Bruce could get back into physical shape again someday, but it’s gonna be a very long and slow recovery.

 

Bruce hallucinates that Ra’s Al Ghul is there with him. He surmises that Ra’s was the mercenary whose wife was thrown into the pit. Ra’s is Bane’s father.

This is reasonable speculation, but Ra’s isn’t really there alive to confirm it. This is all in Bruce’s head. So maybe Bruce is right, and maybe Bruce is wrong.

But we’re expected to believe that it’s true - at least that Ra’s al Ghul was the mercenary, and the child’s mother was his lover. But the only reason Batman, or the audience, knows this, is because Bruce learned it in a dream.

 

At this point I’m left wondering how long exactly is this siege taking? For Bruce to recover and build himself up to the physical strength to climb out of the pit, realistically, I’d think he’d need a year. He was in much worse shape than my wife, and she lost the better part of a school year to her injury.

But it feels like the stuff in Gotham is just taking place over a few hours, or maybe a few days.

 

Blake actually gives us a number. It’s been 3 months. 3 months those cops have been trapped underground. So much about this movie just isn’t ringing true. Wouldn’t the federal government have done something about this after all that time? An entire city under siege?

 

Lucious gives us some more bad news. The fuel cell in the reactor is deteriorating over time. In 23 days it’ll go off, regardless of whether the trigger man pushes the button.

If he could get his hands on the core he could put it back in the reactor and stabilise it.

 

After a few failed escape attempts, the prison doctor gives Bruce some psychological advice. Not being afraid of death doesn’t make you strong. It makes you weak. Fear of death is necessary. It’s what makes you go that extra mile and do what should be impossible. Because if you don’t you die.

So he advises Bruce to do the climb the way the child did. Without the rope.

I don’t know if this is good advice or not, but in a way it kind of makes sense. Bruce is not fully committing. Because somewhere deep down, he knows if he misses, the rope will save him. Without that safety net, he simply HAS to make the jump. So his body and mind will be more willing to do what is needed. It’s all mental.

Makes some form of sense.

But if he fails - he can’t try again.

It’s a gamble I wouldn’t make. But Bruce would.

 

It’s a genuinely triumphant moment when he climbs out to freedom.

 

We get another cameo from Doctor Crane, also known as the scarecrow. He’s trying people in Bane’s dodgy court.

 

When Gordon goes to recruit one of his cops to help, we learn a little more about the situation. The government has apparently done a deal with Bane. The details of which, we don’t know. Seems unlikely.

 

This is a weird setting. It’s almost post-apocalyptic.

The cop says Gordon doesn’t know whether the bomb will go off tomorrow, except … he does. Why doesn’t he tell him about the time decay?

 

So Wayne has arrived and recruited Selina to help him. He still sees something good in her. Is that naive? Maybe. But part of being a literary hero is looking for the good in people.

Gordon has been captured by the goons and is being forced out on the ice, even though he would prefer to be shot than play along with the charade.

 

Bruce lights his symbol in flames on the side of a building, because he knows the power of a symbol to give people hope is an important weapon in this fight. Batman can’t save the city alone. That will take good people to stand up.

 

Blake and Selina are gonna lead people out of the city to safety while Batman leads an army against Bane.

 

Selina is still ultimately selfish, but she wants Bruce to come with her. There’s an inkling of something between them, at least from her side. She makes the point that he doesn’t owe these people anything more. He’s given them everything.

And she may be right. Maybe they don’t even deserve him anymore. But true heroism gives what is undeserved.

And as he ominously points out, he hasn’t given them everything. Not yet.

 

It really does look like a war. The cops all lined up in their uniforms, facing off against the crowd of Bane’s thugs.

 

A big battle like this is a pretty epic way to finish off the trilogy, I’ll grant them that.

 

So big surprise, Miranda is the child of Ra’s al Ghul, not Bane. She’s working with him and she has the trigger. Bane was her protector.

I’m not sure this really works. 

Did she really know about the reactor before Bruce told her? Because Bane seemed to.

I dunno.

 

Also, this calls into question a lot of the backstory we thought we knew about Bane. So…has he actually been in that pit since childhood? Did he grow up there? Was the whole story about the doctor messing up his facial surgery so he needed the mask to keep the pain at bay true or not? We’re just left feeling a little bewildered.

 

Fortunately, Gordon has managed to block the detonator, so it doesn’t explode at once.

Selina has finally decided to have a change of heart and help Bruce.

 

Miranda has flooded the reactor so there’s no way to prevent the bomb from exploding anymore.

 

The only thing that can be done now is to fly it away from the city. A suicide mission.

Batman is quick to sign up for that with his batwing.

Now he really will have given everything.

 

Gordon wants to know Batman’s identity, not because he ever cared, but because people should know who gave his life for them.

Bruce subtly tells him who he is by relating an experience from his childhood.

 

When this movie was soon to come out, I remember saying to a workmate of mine that I suspected Batman would die in the third movie, sacrificing himself for others. My reasoning was that it had been confirmed the series would be a trilogy. This would be the end. And Batman dying just seemed a fitting end that would fit the tone of the series.

 

So I felt kind of gratified when I saw exactly that play out.

Of course, it’s not over yet.

 

It’s fitting that Bruce’s funeral is attended by Gordon, Lucious, Blake, and Alfred. The people who knew who he was.

I’m curious what kind of cover story they came up with for Bruce’s death. I don’t think Gordon revealed Batman’s identity publicly, because when asked about who saved the city, he simply says “The batman.” But with all the death and destruction, it shouldn’t be too hard for Gordon and Blake to explain it.

 

Poor Alfred. He’s so heartbroken. He blames himself. He feels he let down Thomas and Martha Wayne.

 

Blake has thrown in his badge. I think the inability to adapt of the officers that wouldn’t let him escape with the kids has hardened him to the rigid structure of the force.

 

I got pretty emotional at the reading of Bruce’s will. He’s left everything to Alfred, the man who raised him, who was as much a father to him as Thomas was.

And Wayne manor is to be used to care for the city’s orphans.

 

So we learn that Blake’s real name is Robin.

Bruce has left him information to find the batcave, in case he wants to continue Batman’s work.

 

So that’s why Blake’s story was so important to this movie. He is…this universe’s equivalent of Robin. In the comics, Robin was just a code name given to a number of people. Dick Grayson, Json Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Damien Wayne.

In this version, Robin was the guy’s real name. It’s little more than a nod to the concept, but it kinda fits this interpretation.

 

And that brings us to that last scene.

We learn with Lucious that the Batwing’s autopilot was fixed after all.

So Bruce Might have survived.

 

Then we see Alfred taking a trip to that cafe. The one where he used to fantasise about seeing Bruce happy and okay. He looks up, and there he is. Bruce is sitting at a table with Selina. They nod to each other and Alfred leaves. All is okay now.

It seems that the clean slate program has given both Bruce and Selina a fresh start.

 

This is a powerful scene. It pays off the earlier scene so beautifully. It shows that Bruce and 

Selina have made a happy new life together, but most importantly, it provides reconciliation between Bruce and Alfred. Forgiveness. A promise that they are still family.

 

It’s a wonderful way to end the movie.

 

As for Bruce and Selina, I love that they end up together. There is always an aspect of attraction and tension between Batman and Catwoman. But this movie didn’t do enough to establish that. They kiss shortly before he dies, for no real reason. And that’s it.

I think It would have worked better if they’d established a little more between them earlier in the movie, maybe instead of with Miranda. The sex with Miranda did nothing other than to make her betrayal sting a little worse, but honestly, I don’t that was needed. Miranda’s betrayal would have been just as powerful whether they’d had sex together or not.

 

So … how can I sum up this movie?

I derive some enjoyment from watching it, and I’ll probably watch it again some day.

But in terms of quality, it’s not even in the same league as Batman Begins or The Dark Knight. This one has a reputation for not being as good, and I do think they dropped the ball.

I can’t help but wonder if it was rushed. It seemed like they needed a little more time to revise the script. I was going to say that a longer runtime might have helped it as well, but I was surprised to look up and learn that this movie was actually the longest in the trilogy.

 

I found myself really having to concentrate to fully get my head around this one. I had a similar experience with The Dark Knight, but that was because there was so much going on. But all those pieces fit together beautifully like a jigsaw puzzle. It was meticulously put together. There was a lot less going on with this one, but the pieces didn’t seem to fit together quite as well, and some of the pieces were missing.

 

So what do I like about it?

It’s got some really cool visuals. The effects and the camera work are beautiful to look at.

I liked Blake’s character.

I liked Batman’s sacrifice and his new secret life. That whole last scene is beautiful.

I liked Anne Hathaway’s portrayal of Selina Kyle, though as I said I felt they could have done more with her and Batman.

I liked that they tried to tie this in a lot to Batman Begins, to round off the trilogy and make it feel whole and complete. But I don’t think they really succeeded in doing that effectively.

And I like the whole Bane breaking Batman’s back thing, and I liked Bruce’s journey of getting himself back on his feet and out of that prison - although the timing doesn’t really work.

 

So that’s a decent list of positives.

 

This was as good as the average superhero movie, but a bit of a disappointment when compared to Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.

 

Ultimately, though, this trilogy has held up really well for me. The awesomeness of the first two more than makes up for the shortcomings of the third. This trilogy changed the way Superhero movies were made. At least for a time. It showed that Superheroes really could be taken seriously as dramatic characters. And it laid the foundations for the Snyder universe that I love and adore so much.

 

I’ve enjoyed covering these movies. I hope you’ve enjoyed my thoughts on them.

Next time, we start a whole new adventure. We’re going to be covering all ten episodes of Star Trek Continues. It’s gonna be a lot of fun, so I hope you’ll join me for that.

 

Until then, have a great two weeks

Live long and prosper.

Make it so.