After
seeing the movie and having time to absorb it, to let it stew, I’m ready to
give my thoughts.
Nolan
ended this trilogy perfectly. He had an ending he wanted, he told people the
ending was perfect, so perfect that they never considered changing it. Batman
comic purists were expecting the end of Batman, but comic purists know the
broken back wasn’t the end—it was a detour which lasted a long time.
In
the movie, Nolan rushed Batman back, for time’s sake. That’s fine by me. We got
a realistic idea of what happened. What we got in the end, was a sequence of
events that shook the entire trilogy to its foundation. One film removed from
making himself the villain, and Batman is the hero. He becomes Gotham’s white
knight. It’s funny that people expect Nolan’s entire involvement with Batman to
come to an end… I see it just beginning to take the next step. Batman isn’t The
Dark Knight anymore… he’s Gotham’s hero.
In
the movie, to Gotham, Batman is dead. He blew up saving their lives. Bruce
Wayne’s death unexplained to the people other than possibly being one of Bane’s
victims. But Wayne simply relocates, and Alfred’s vision from earlier in the
movie comes to fruition. I’m sure Christian Bale is done (for now) as the caped
crusader. But, as we saw in the movie, there’s a hint at Robin (or hopefully
Nightwing) becoming the next on-screen hero in Nolan’s direction.
Purists
know that Batman also returns, in the form of Azrael, until Bane makes his
return. Azrael eventually disposes of Gotham’s monsters in a way Batman never
would… allowing them to fall to their death. When the good name of Batman is
tarnished and Nightwing can’t do anything about it, Bruce Wayne returns to
Gotham…
I
have no proof that Nolan will follow through with this story. He did put twists
onto Bane that were never touched in comics… but he left an opening for any
route with Robin and Bruce Wayne he wants to take, and he did so with closing
all of the doors needed to be closed as well, which is very difficult to do.
The
one thing that stood out to me in the movie though, is the appearance of
Scarecrow yet again… but not yet anywhere near his capability as one of the
godfathers of Gotham crime. To me, it feels more like a suggestion that he’s on
his way there, and a hint at him becoming a primetime villain in a future
installment of Nolan’s project(s). If that’s the case, I expect the Wayne story
to return and go above and beyond what we expect.
I
said there’d be spoilers, and there were a few. I speculate and hope as a fan a
lot. Take this piece for what it’s worth… comment, interact, let me know if I’m
missing out on a direction, a detail.
By
the way, the greatest part of the entire movie was the final fight scene on the
steps when Bane beat up a pillar, bare fists… don’t even attempt to argue with
me.
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