The Dark Knight Rises (Post-Release Discussion)

quote XxSkelterXx

Ok, I haven't seen the movie yet. I live in Puerto Rico, and I have to wait another week. I need to know, how the hell does Batman get his back broken, yet still fights and runs, and walks for the rest of the film..This is bugging the shit out of me, I have to know.

My understanding of it was that he doesn't actually get his back broken; it's more like he got a vertebrae dislocated...that way, Nolan still gets to include that awesome "breaking the bat" imagery without having Batman spend months in traction. Anybody else get that impression?

quote Etidiot

I agree with the people who said that they felt BW should have died. It just seems like it would have been a more cohesive ending to what the last few minutes of the film were building up. Also, he moved away from Gotham because he didnt want to be Batman anymore? I did not at all get the notion from any point in the movie that he was tired of Batman. Thats why I felt uncomfortable with him ending up being alive. Throughout the whole movie, he wanted Gotham restored and Bane's reign to end and thats what was shown. There was never really a clear indicator that he wanted to hang up the cowl.

Ok, a lot of people here seem to be asking "Why didn't they just kill him for real?", and there is a very simple, pedestrian answer: No way DC/Warner Bros. was actually going to let Nolan kill Batman; that's just how it is. Most companies guard their intellectual property fiercely, and obviously Batman is DC's most valuable piece of IP right now. No matter how much of a masterpiece Nolan's trilogy is, I believe there was one rule that he absolutely HAD to follow: You can't kill Batman. Simple as that. So kudos to Nolan for finding a way to kill him without killing him, you know?

As for Etidiot's post above, that there was no indication Bruce wanted to hang up the cowl? I disagree, in fact, the seeds were sown in The Dark Knight, in the scene where Bruce and the ballerina are having dinner with Rachel and Harvey...they're discussing Batman, and Harvey says something like, "I don't think he wants to be Batman forever, I think he is waiting for someone else to step up" or words more or less to that effect. I think this had an impact on Bruce and really got him thinking about getting out, as in his later conversation with Rachel he's talking about how he could give it up if she would be with him (more or less, don't remember the exact dialogue). Then, of course, we see in TDKR that since Rachel's death, he has gotten out, been retired for 8 years. Of course we know he's only been hiding from himself. Now when he meets Selina Kyle, who is in many ways a kindred spirit, she tells him "we could just leave together, go somewhere far away..." I think this gave Bruce the hope and incentive he has been missing since Rachel's death, the promise of a life outside of Batman with a woman who understands him. Anyway, that's my take on it.