It has been several weeks since The Dark Knight Rises has been in theaters. I normally would write up a review within days of seeing a film, but in the case of this one I needed some time. First, I didn't really feel right reviewing this film after the tragic events that took place in Aurora, Colorado, the same night I was seeing this film for the first time. It felt very trivial to me to dissect a movie when there was so many people hurt and killed, a community shaken, and families broken. I just did not feel right about it, simple as that. The second and other reason why I waited is that I needed some time to sort out my feelings on the film; what I liked, what I disliked, what could have been changed, and so on.
To be honest, my feelings on this film were very complicated and conflicted when I walked out of my screening at 3am on Friday morning the 20th. Granted, I had been in a theater for over 9 hours as I watched the Dark Knight Marathon with fellow Batfans like myself. So, I may have been a tad tired. But then the next day I thought on it more and realized it was not fatigue that made me feel the way I did, it truthfully was the film itself. Now to be fair to those who haven't seen the film yet (Can't imagine there are many, if any of you, out there), I am going to put out a warning that this will be a spoiler heavy review. I am going to dig deep into some of the events in the film and by doing so will potentially spoil some of the most important parts of the film. SPOILERS to follow! You have been warned.
I would like to start with what worked for me about the film, those elements that I felt were just amazing and noteworthy.
The Bat. I must admit when those spy photos from the Pittsburgh shoot leaked online showing The Bat that I was not really all that impressed. It looked odd, had no visible engines, and was bulky in spots. It looked nothing like the conventional Batwings of the past. Something that should not have surprised me given Nolan's treatment of the Batmobile and BatCycle before it. However when fully realized in the film The Bat is amazing. It was quite fun to watch the scenes where it was used. It was so mobile and intimidating, much more than I would have thought based on what I had seen and knew of it.
I worried at first that The Bat would just not seem like The Batwing I was used to from both the TAS and Tim Burton's film from 89'. But in the end, it certainly belongs with those other iconic vehicles. I liked the explanation for its existence and the scene where Lucius shows it to Bruce for the first time was pretty entertaining.
John Blake. There was much mystery surrounding this character all the way leading up to the film's release. There were some who thought he would literally become Robin, others thought he would inherit the mantle from Bruce, and then there were those who said all along he was just a cop on the GCPD. Interestingly, all were right in this case. John ends up being all of those things in the film.
First, I must give Joseph Gordon Levitt credit here. He is a new addition to this universe, coming in late in the game, and he is playing just a Gotham beat cop, nothing more, nothing less for a majority of the film's runtime. He is also having to make his character stand out amongst legendary characters like The Batman, Catwoman, Bane, and Gordon. Certainly not an easy task. But JGL pulls it off beautifully.
I was interested in his character right from the start and became invested in his fate greatly as the film went on. Levitt really makes Blake someone you could have known growing up, you know something along the lines of 'local kid does good' and all that. Blake is a man who has a tragic past, like Bruce, and uses that tragedy as a source of strength in his life. Blake is also an orphan like Bruce, his parent taken from him. There is a vulnerabilty to Levitt's Blake that is always there on the fringes of his tough guy cop act. I liked that there were layers to this character and I would dare say, as played by JGL, he is one of the most complete characters in the film.
Upon closer examination, Blake is a combination of all of the wards who became Robin in the DC Comics universe. Dick Grayson became a cop when he left Bruce, after he became too old to be Robin, and also ended up fashioning himself as a new superhero, Nightwing. Jason Todd spent much of his youth in boys homes. And Tim Drake figured out that Bruce was Batman all on his own and came to Bruce at a time of need. Nolan clearly didn't want to included Dick Grayson outright, a mistake in my opinion, so he decided to cut and paste aspects from all three of these characters to form Blake. I can respect that, even if I may disagree with it. All of this just to say that I liked Blake as a character, his character arc, and his inclusion in the overall trilogy.
Catwoman. Ok, lets talk a minute about one Ms. Selina Kyle in this film. First off, Anne Hathaway had a very challenging task in assuming the role of Ms. Kyle in TDKR. To most Batman fans, Michelle Pfeffer owned the role after her incredible performance of the character in Batman Returns. To older Batfans, Julie Newmar or Ertha Kitt were the definitive Catwoman/Selina Kyle. In addition, Ms. Hathaway does not readily look the part, nor does any of her previous work suggest she would be the best overall choice for the role. But, just like with Heath Ledger, Chris Nolan saw something that not many others could or did in her.
Anne Hathaway is splendid in the role. She never quite rises to the levels of the aforementioned Mr. Ledger, but she still is simply so much fun to watch. It is clear this Selina is molded after the character from Frank Miller's Year One, but even viewed through that particular lens Hathaway just nails it. She balances the toughness along with the equal mix of playfulness and menace that defines this character. Her interactions with Bale's Batman were some of the best in the film. She is sexy, yet dangerous, sympathetic yet cold hearted. Hathaway portrays her exactly as the anti-hero she has been in the comics.
Did it bother me that they never refer to her as Catwoman in the film? No, not really. It is just a name. She is the character in every other way, so not calling her by name does not seem like such a slight. The costume? Fine with that two. It fits in with the universe that Nolan has built. It is functional, practical (minus those heels) but yet looks quite a bit like its comic book counterpart.
Bane and Batman's first fight. As those who are familiar with the comics know, Bane is famous for only one thing really in the DC universe: Breaking the Batman. In the comic series Knightfall, Bane breaks out all of Batman's rogues gallery from Arkham, as well as the inmates of Blackgate Prison. Batman spends weeks nonstop hunting them all down and recapturing them. Then he returns to the Batcave, utterly exhausted, and finds Bane waiting for hm. Bane proceeds to break Batman's spine and that leads to a new story with a young man named Jean Paul Valley assuming the role of Batman while Bruce is gone.
Things don't play out exactly the same here, but the obligatory back breaking does. Of course, Bane doesn't literally break Bruce's spine, but rather just puts a vertebrae out of alignment. But with that said, this fight is brutal from start to finish. I loved that there was no music playing during this scene. It is just two titans squaring off in close quarters with a handful of people watching. I liked that they go blow for blow in their fight and it always seems like Bane is holding back, letting Bruce wear himself out before delivering the final devastating series of blows.
And boy are those blows devastating. In particular the part where Bane breaks Batman's mask with just two punches was pretty great. You could feel each of those hits as they landed. I love how Bane shows Bruce how they are going to use his own technology to destroy his city, right before lifting him into the air and breaking...ahem...dislocating his spine. It was a brutal fight and certainly worthy of comparison to the one found in the Knightfall series.
Some have complained that Batman didn't use his surroundings more or that he did not deploy his utility belt more during this first fight. I really have no problem with that at all. I like that all involved decided to make this more of a street fight than a game of tactical advantage. Sure it would have been more interesting if Batman had used his environment more. But the thing to keep in mind here is that Bane and Bruce were both trained in The League of Shadows. So there is no tricks Bane has not seen or is not aware of. So, it makes more sense for the two men to go toe to toe and see who is indeed the stronger of the two.
The Dark Knight Returns. I liked a great deal the whole sequence which showed Bruce returning to Batman after his eight year break. There was a dashing sense of adventure to it all, something that has been missing from this series to this point. While I had issues with how Bruce overcomes his physical ailments, more on that later, I still found Bruce's return to Batman to be fun and exciting.
I particularly liked the humor in this section of the film, especially during a scene where Bruce goes in to the hospital for an examination. I always wondered if Bruce Wayne ever went into a doctor for physicals and if so what those exchanges were like. This sequence attempts to show how that would play out and for me it was great and a welcome addition.
Technically Speaking...From a technically standpoint, I do feel the film was well shot. Wally Pfister certainly did an amazing job with the cinematography for this, his last film as a DP. I felt alot of the compositions were quite strong and overall the film was great to look at. Unfortunately I have yet to see the film in IMAX, so I cannot comment on how well the IMAX sequences do indeed look. But it is clear that Pfister is ready to direct and I am sure his films will be quite striking to look at.
Now with some positives accounted for, I wanted to really dig in on what I disliked about the film overall. Here I am going to go into some detail and offer up my own ideas of how these shortcomings and mistakes by the film could have been corrected.
The endings. Now that is plural and as many of you know there are indeed multiple endings to this film and to the series as a whole. Unfortunately to discuss this all properly I cannot limit my discussion to just one ending but have to touch on all of them.
Leading up to the release of the film, Team Nolan was very adamant that they were ending the film bravely and doing something never before done in any superhero film series, give it a definitive end. After, there were rumors that flew all around the interwebs that suggested that Nolan initially wanted to kill Batman. Message boards on fansites debated endlessly whether Nolan would do it, would he actually kill Bruce Wayne, kill Batman. The answer is yes and no. And that my friends is one major thing that infurates me about the endings to this film.
You can't go out there and say that TDKR is a definitive end to this story and then actually end the film in a way that leaves everything completely open. Nothing is truly closed out in any completely definitive way. Bruce Wayne is still alive at the end of the film, enjoying life abroad with Selina. Blake has found the Batcave and one presumes will become the new Batman for Gotham. Alfred is alive and also traveling abroad. Wayne Enterprises still exists and most disappointing the citizens of Gotham still do not know that Bruce was Batman. Basically it all makes it so very easy to make a fourth film in this series, which makes the endings of this film and the series as a whole not definitive at all.
That just plain pisses me off if I am being honest. I really did think that Nolan and company would give the audience a true fitting end to his series. I felt strongly that he would have Bruce reveal he is Batman to the citizens of Gotham in order to truly undermine Bane's class warfare platform. I hoped that Nolan would have Batman sacrifice himself publicily for the city and its people. Nolan does do that last part but in a way that makes little sense and does not carry nearly the dramatic weight it could have.
Let's start there. So here is Batman flying the thermonuclear bomb away from Gotham in The Bat. Due to The Bat not having a functioning auto pilot, established ad nauseum in the film, it is certain that Batman/Bruce will indeed sacrifice himself for the city. In fact, Nolan shows a close up of Batman right before showing the timer on the bomb at 5 seconds. Then the explosion. Batman is dead...but wait...he escaped somehow. We next see Bruce, alive and well, with Selina at a cafe in Paris.
WTF, really? There is no way Bruce could escape the Bat and get enough distance to avoid the effects of a nuclear blast. Nolan shows us a close up of Batman seated, presumably in The Bat. If he is not in The Bat at that moment, where the heck is he then? Some have suggested that Bruce had a sub waiting for him out at sea. He ejected and swam to the sub. It submerged and Bruce was safe. I cry BS. Not to mention that nothing in the film itself suggests this to be the case at all.
Rather, Nolan decided to have his cake and eat it too. He would show us Batman being killed but then give us the happy ending the fans of this series have wanted- a content Bruce who has moved on from being Batman. Well I am sorry, but that is such a cheat and it completely undermines the sacrifice that Batman makes at the end. In addition, while Bruce is very intelligent, there is no way he could have anticipated that he would need to fly the bomb out to sea. In fact their whole plan leading up to that point was to take the bomb back to the reactor room and flood it. The only reason that does not work is that Talia floods the room first, before they could get the bomb there. But Batman had every intention of flooding it and not flying it out to sea. So there is no way he could have planned to do what he did. It is just sloppy and certainly not something I have come to expect from Nolan in this series.
In addition to the above, why Selina? It completely betrays the relationship between these two characters in the comics. Granted there was always sexual tension between the two, but neither party (as far as I know) ever comsumated it. No, Selina and Bruce are best portrayed as unlikely allies and foils, not lovers. Again this felt like fan service more than any true ending to the film and this series as a whole. Much like the aforementioned happy ending Bruce gets at the end of the film, this development does not feel earned at all.
That leads to the other major issue I have which is how everyone is so well off, financially, at the end. Alfred and Bruce both seem to be comfortably wealthy at the end. That is a problem as we were told that Bruce lost all his fortune earlier in the film. How is it that he can live so well abroad with Selina when he is broke? And also how can Alfred live so well for that matter? Did Bruce have some special place he stashed his cash in case of losing a large majority of it, an emergency fund of sorts? If so, the film does not say that is the case and there is no effort made to explain Bruce's continued wealth. Again a plot hole like this is not something we have seen from Nolan in this series. One throwaway line about secret accounts Bruce had would have been enough to explain this away.
Moving on, I will say that I initially had all kinds of issues with Blake assuming the mantle of Batman. But after some thought, I like this idea quite a bit. The key to my change of heart is a re-examination of what Nolan perhaps was trying to establish in this film and the series overall. The idea that Batman is a symbol and in being so can be inhabited by anyone worthy of the responsibility. Thinking of the series in this way, you could argue that the title of this film applies more to the rise of one John Blake, who starts as beat cop and ends as the heir apparent to the Batman legacy. Blake is The Dark Knight Rising and not Bruce.
But again Blake becoming Batman would be so much better had Bruce really honestly died while saving Gotham. Then, the idea of a legacy and the passing of the torch, as it were, would be so much more powerful and interesting. As it stands now, the next creative team could make a Batman Beyond film or have an older Bruce come back to mentor the new Batman. Either way, it is open ended and not terribly satisfying.
Look if you are gonna say that you will end this series in a way that does not allow any more films to be made in this universe, then DO IT! Make Bruce reveal himself as Batman for all to see. That would certainly prevent any further films in this series. Or have Bruce be last seen married with children, certainly another ending that puts a definitive period on things. Don't tease us with a so called "definitive" ending and then chicken out at the end because Warners wants some options when they look to move on with Batman after. I mean David Goyer swears this was the original ending he and Chris Nolan came up with from the begining. But I wonder just how much of this ending is what they originally intended. I am sure they always wanted Bruce to move on from Batman and live happily far from Gotham and all it represents to Bruce. But it is clear that what Bruce goes through before this happy moment was changed. The tragic death of Heath Ledger being the main reason. It is also clear that Bruce was not meant to be with Selina as Catwoman as she was later added by Nolan, long after he and Goyer came up with the ending to this series. Again why Selina? Why not make it an unknown woman, her and Bruce in love and happy.
At the end of the day this ending is pure fan service in many parts and doesn't really put a satisfying end on this series. It was very disappointing to me as I had hoped to see something different out of Nolan with this film. Not the same old formula used in every film series. Just kill the damn Batman Nolan! Make it a tragedy and color outside the lines, be brave and end the series for good. No open endings, no opportunities to return to this particular playbox. It is such a profound disappointment to me that Nolan decides to leave things the way he does.
John...err...Robin? So we were just talkng about fan service, well this is one of Nolan's biggest offenses in that regard. Near the end of the film someone mentions to John that he should use his real first name more. That name is...let eye rolling commence...Robin! Yep, John's real name is Robin John Blake. Really? Nolan has stated in numerous interviews that he hates the character of Robin. But yet, he makes John Blake a combination of the three people who were Robin in the comics and then gives him the first name of the character he supposedly hates. It is just confounding to me.
Listen if you want to give a nod or wink to the fans in regards to John Blake, that is fine. But why not make his first name be Richard? Or how about imply that John Blake is not his real name, hint that it could be Richard Grayson or Tim Drake, etc. That would be a nice way to wink at the fans and also leave some food for thought.
But to have his name literally be Robin is just pandering and really more fan-fic than major Hollywood blockbuster. Certainly you could do better Nolan?
Alfred leaves. This to me is one of the biggest mistakes Nolan makes in this film. In a scene about a good quarter of the way into the film Alfred confronts Bruce about his returning to being Batman. Alfred tells Bruce he no longer can stand by and watch him put himself on a course to certain death and ruin. Bruce disagrees and at that point Alfred drops the bomb about a certain note Rachel wrote Bruce in TDK.
Now as written, that is a very compelling and emotionally charged scene. But the way it is executed in the film is just horrible. Sir Michael Caine is quite good in parts during this exchange. But the whole thing feels rushed and is never given the proper time it needs. This should have been a key scene in the film. Alfred has finally had enough and is determined to convince Bruce that he can do more good as just Bruce Wayne than as Batman. Unfortunately this wise advise comes at a time when Bruce is so happy to have a purpose again that he doesn't care what danger that sense of purpose puts him in.
This should have been an all out argument and when Alfred in his frustration drops that bomb about Rachel on Bruce, it should have been devastating. Bruce should have been more angry than he ends up being in the film. Alfred kept this secret from him and allowed him to suffer for many of those eight years while lamenting the happy life with Rachel that was stolen from him by the actions of the Joker.
In addition, I don't believe under any circumstances that Alfred would leave Bruce. That seems really completely out of character for Alfred, both in this film series and in relation to his portrayal in the comics. It would have been alittle more believable if the fight leading up to it was more emotional. But as it stands, Alfred's decision to leave appears both neurotic and also completely out of character.
My theory is that the Brothers Nolan did not know what to do with Alfred once Bruce gets sent away to prison after being beaten by Bane. So instead of trying to figure that out, they decided to just send him away. But I argue how much more interesting would the film have been if, for example, Bane kills Alfred publicly in order to cause Bruce further pain and suffering. Or if too dark, perhaps have Alfred coming into contact with Gordon and offering to help him in any way he can. Anything would be better than what they do with the character here. Alot of missed opportunities due to this puzzling decision by the Brothers Nolan.
The prison in a land far, far away. As I have written above, I really did like the first fight between Bane and Batman in the film. But then Nolan decides to have Bane send Bruce away to some exotic prison. Now I agree with Bane wanting to send Bruce, a man who is his greatest threat (even when injured), away some place far from Gotham. I even like some aspects of the prison itself.
However this entire part of the film, taken in its entirety, just does not work for me at all. First, there is no suspense to it. We know Bruce is not paralyzed and we know he will find a way to heal and then escape. It is very much a case where we are marking the time until Bruce goes back to Gotham to fight Bane again. I actually found myself becoming bored during these parts as what was shown was not particularly interesting or really that compelling. And as I have written about in prior blog entries, Nolan chooses to once again not allow Bruce to be the great detective he is in the comics.
During this section in the film, Bruce is told a story of a child born in that prison and what happened to that child while there. This child was one of the only known people to escape this prison. The story is told by an old doctor who is in the cell next to Bruce. We are initially led to believe this child is Bane. However, it is revealed in what is probably the most unexciting twist ending that the child actually was Talia Al Ghul, known through much of the film under the guise of Miranda Tate.
It is all a bit convoluted and not worth untangling here. The point here is that Bruce does not use any detective skills to uncover Bane's past. He is told a story and through that gains some understanding of Bane. But as established above it is a false understanding as it is Talia's history and not Bane's he is learning. It is disappointing that Nolan could not have had Bruce work during this sequence to learn all he could about Bane and his time in the prison. In the comics Batman always worked to understand the enemy he faced and be one step ahead of them. Nolan's Batman is not this way, he is very reactionary and less proactive. More street fighter and less master detective.
The time spent in the prison would have been much more compelling if we see Bruce work to rebuild his body while also working to understand all he can about Bane, knowing he must be much more prepared for the second meeting than he was the first. Then if Nolan could have thrown in horrific images of Gotham in ruins on the television provided Bruce, this sequence could have been so much more compelling.
I don't even want to really comment on or analyze the strange dream sequence involving Ra's Al Ghul, wrong beard and all, with Bruce while in the prison. It is just shockingly out of place and completely unnecessary. If Nolan wanted Ra's to come back, then have him come back from the dead or use him in flashbacks. Otherwise, why show him literally? Why not just allow his presence to loom over the entire film as one of his former followers and his daughter attempt to finish his work. I kept staring at the screen during this thankfully brief section wondering aloud why they brought Liam Neeson back for THIS. But alas they did and the whole sequence is better left alone and forgotten.
The citizens of Gotham. In Batman Begins, we see the citizens of Gotham represented by the people in peril in the Narrows and the high society types in the restaurant with Bruce. In The Dark Knight, we see much more of the people of Gotham. There are again the high society types at Dent's fundraiser. The people at the hospital. There are the masses trying to escape the city after Joker makes his final threat and then there are the average citizens and criminals on the ferries. The point to all of this is that in the previous films in this series we saw the citizens of Gotham. They were important to the film and them being shown in peril led weight to the proceedings. Gotham felt like a real city in both of the previous films in the series, it felt lived in. By showing the people of Gotham, Nolan reminded the audience truly what the stakes were.
And then Nolan takes an odd turn in this film. We no longer see the citizens of the city, Nolan no longer shows us their peril. Sure there is the scene in the football stadium. But once that is completed, we don't see the people of Gotham again. We see plenty of the police officers of Gotham in the sewers. But we never really get any scenes once Bane has taken over Gotham of the people in peril, of them starving, scared, alone. I really would have loved to see people rising up in revolution as Bane advocates.
Or perhaps see families in their homes, scared and clinging to their televisions as their only remaining tangible connection to the outside world. The scenes that focused on the people of Gotham were, in my opinion, some of the strongest and most important in the series. They again reminded the audience that this was not simply about Batman and the villain, but that there were regular people who were in danger, people who were in fear and could die.
Bane takes over the city and then the city becomes a ghost town. We see glimpses here and there of people in buildings huddled, but other than the orphan boys the people of Gotham are no where to be found. It is such a missed opportunity, another one by Nolan. The people of Gotham are the heart of this series and they were curiously not well represented in this film, which is truly a shame.
How much more dramatic would Bruce's return to form in the prison and then literal return to Gotham be if we had seen how the people of Gotham were suffering. How they were scared, how criminals were running free and terrorizing them. In this case, telling us that the people of Gotham were suffering is not enough, we need to see it, we need to feel it. It needs to be tangible.
Nolan calls this a war film, but yet I never really felt it was. I never felt the city was in any real danger, that its people were starving, scared, alone. I wanted to see the abandonment of the people, see how they cope when all of the sources they trusted, the government, the police department, and Batman, abandoned them. The best war films show how the average people, the non combatants as it were, suffer and persevere through horrific events. One or two scenes of this would have done wonders for the overall film and lending some backing to the real peril Gotham was in.
Ok, just a few lightning round nitpicks and then we are gonna wrap this up.
-Hated the way Catwoman took out Bane for Bats. Liked the idea of her crossing the line that Bruce could not, however it seems highly unlikely Bane would not have heard her coming. The BatPod does not run ultraquiet. Plus, Bruce is basically a real puss leading up to Selina saving the day. He gets leveled by both the three inch knife and the reveal of the secret of the woman holding it. Then he gets dragged around by Bane until Catwoman hits him with her best shot. It all totally defeats the great feelings of Bruce's triumph over this enemy who previously defeated him so viciously. What really did Bruce work hard to come back for? Throw a few good punches before being taken out by Talia's knife? Would have liked to see Bruce get back up after Talia flees and go right after Bane again and at the moment it looks like he might kill him, Catwoman steps in.
As I said, love the idea of Catwoman crossing that moral line that Bruce simply cannot. Great use of both characters and what they each represent both independently and to each other.
- Did not like the Talia reveal or the ten minutes she managed to live after she revealed her true identity. True, it was kind of the same for Ras in Begins, but there it felt more organic and appropriate for the story to that point. Talia's reveal feels just rushed and like the Alfred-Bruce scene I criticized earlier, it is not really given the time it needs. But what makes it worse is that she dies so soon after.
Then add to that Bruce's complete non reaction to her death and the whole thing just doesn't work. I mean we are led to believe Bruce fell in love with Talia, when she was Miranda of course. But then she reveals her true identity, which levels him emotionally, and her death does nothing to him? I am sorry, but he should have grieved her death even though she betrayed him. It just felt like once she was revealed to be the daughter of Ras, Bruce basically feels nothing for her anymore.
I know it could be argued Bruce wanted to protect his identity and it is presumed if he shows feelings of sadness upon Talia's death that it could reveal something. But to whom exactly? Catwoman knows who he is and with Bruce deciding at that point to sacrifice himself, then why not tell Gordon? It just all played wrong to me and doesn't really honor Talia and her character/history in the comics. It is sad that they got Selina so right while getting Talia so wrong.
- Bruce came back way too easily from his injuries both before the first fight with Bane and then after the beatdown Bane gives him. I don't want to hear the nonsense about Bruce's injuries prior to that first fight being more psychosomatic. Whatever. The doctor confirms Bruce has some pretty major issues. I would have liked Bruce to to be in pretty bad shape before even facing Bane, clearly not ready for a fight of that nature.
Of course, Lucius' magic box of technology helps Bruce's bad knee. But that seems like such a cheat. I would have liked to see Bruce struggling to run, having trouble landing his kicks, and see Alfred express the feeling of the audience that Bruce should not return to crime fighting.
With that written, I do believe we have reached the end of this review. There is so much more I could dig into in relation to this film. However, I feel this adequately explores my feelings on The Dark Knight Rises.
I am sure you are asking if I hated the film outright? The answer to that is a pretty solid no. However, I am so disappointed by the choices made with this film that I do believe it is the worst film in Nolan's series. It always felt rushed to me, even with a 2hr 45min runtime, and the scenes that were important were kind of pushed through and some felt outright half cooked. Then there was the cowardly open-ended finales. It was just okay to me and that is not a compliment when you look at what came before.
This film is ultimately light years better than either of the Schumacher films. However, given the amazing heights Nolan reached creatively in the films prior to this, particularly The Dark Knight, I believe this film should have been much, much better.
Now we move on to the rebooted Batman era. A new universe and a new creative team. The Nolanverse is now behind us and overall it has been a pretty great ride. From a childhood Batman fan, thank you Christopher Nolan for making Batman interesting again and bringing in many new fans to this character, young and old.
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