Not that it matters…My Problems with The Dark Knight Rises or Heath Ledger’s an ass.
I was able to finally get to THE DARK KNIGHT RISES this weekend and I thought it was a great movie. I really did. I felt it was a great cap to the previous two films and was a fun ride from start to finish. That being said I did a few minor quibbles with it and this being the internet, I’m going to put those quibbles out in the universe.
If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t read on. I’m going to try to be as vague as possible, but at least one of my problems will feature a spoiler.
– I understand that Christopher Nolan wants his Batman world to exist on its own. It was never meant to be some sort of set up film for a Justice League movie or anything and I get that. I would have just liked one little nod to the rest of the DC Universe. I’m not saying he had to reference Metropolis or Superman or another hero. But would it have killed everything if the other team the Gotham Rogues were playing is this film were the Central City Marauders instead of the Rapid City Marauders? Something like this in the film would have been awesome. Just a little acknowledgement that Batman is part of a larger universe in a form that no one but true geeks would have understood.
– Heath Ledger is an ass! Seriously, screw him for dying. Okay, I’m not serious, but I would have loved to see what little cameo The Joker would have had in this film, because you know he would have had one. Cillian Murphy was great in this film. Really, he was. But could you imagine Legder’s Joker in the role of the judge? Or just shots of the Joker causing havoc in a Gotham City free from any law. Yeah, screw you Heath Ledger for dying.
– SPOILERS AHEAD – My biggest problem with the film is the ending. Before I state it let me say I know that this is/was Nolan’s last run with Batman. I get that. He wanted an ending. But I strongly feel that we should have not seen Bruce Wayne and Selna Kyle at the end of the film. I feel a much better ending would have been Alfred looking across the cafe, catching someone’s eye. Smiling and then the screen goes black and credit roll. I just would have preffered that ending over what we got and I think it would have made the film just a little more fun.
As I said at the top, I loved the film. The above are only very minor quibbles. I look forward to seeing where the franchise goes from here and I hope that Gary Oldman is always Commissioner Gordon. To me he’s set the standard and no one else can play him. Not that it matters.
I agree with all your quibbles, with the exception of the ending. I like that Nolan gave a nod to the Bruce/Selina romance without it becoming the center of the story.
My only other issues were Bane’s back story and the relationship with Talia. She and Bruce were engaged, they have a kid for crying out loud. I think she’s a fantastic character who was horribly shortchanged.
I agree about Talia, Andi, she was short changed. Though I feel there’s many more interesting characters to pull from than the Ghul clan. Having only read speculation that’s who she was playing, the reveal was a nice surprise for me.
I will also say I was a ‘dumb moviegoer’ in that I did not get the auto-pilot thing at all. It wasn’t until reading about the film later I realized that that’s how he pulled it off.