Realistically, the goal of the Batman mythos was, as I understand it, that one man can make a difference. However, it was that he kept making a difference and, specifically, that copycats were bad, mmm'kay. Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, etc. were given a pass because they were "family" and always aligned with Bruce. Bruce literally has no one in the Nolanverse; the love of his life was killed by the Joker and the rest of his colleagues are either older, mentor figures or not capable (Gordon; plus older). However... I have theories on the film; very similarly to Cabin in the Woods' trailer/commercials where we're decidedly not seeing even remotely the coolest bits of the film or the true story of the narrative. And those theories do not involve Batman dying.
That trailer was kriffing awesome! It does seem that they are angling for the death of Batman with that one line, though. And does Bane sound different to you? Like, more understandable, I guess?
I'm a bit more optimistic than you, but am still quite tepid to TDKR. I think for me its the fact that we will never know the movie that could have been had Heath Ledger not passed. TDKR will be a good movie...but compared to what came before, it will fall far short. It is the Jedi to TDK's Empire.
Well, I think the more fundamental problem is that Bruce Wayne should have been revealed a long time ago. It is public knowledge that a Wayne Corp accountant was able to discover the identity of Batman, and that Batman at one point worked closely with the District Attorney's office. They also know he is male, relatively young, and athletic. That narrows the list of candidates considerably. More than enough for someone who really wanted to (ie the mob) to hack into Wayne Corp's databases, retrace that guy's work, and discover Wayne was Batman.
I think TDK in the first place is overrated because of the erstwhile Ledger-mania, so I think this movie is bound to disappoint. Jabba-Wocky, is even all of that sleuthing really necessary? It seems quite obvious that someone who has all the ultra high-tech gadgets Batman has must have incredibly deep financial resources. That along with the fact that Batman came onto the scene more or less right when Bruce Wayne came back from the dead seems like it would put him on a very short list from the get-go. I just choose to suspend disbelief on the whole "secret identity" thing.
I never said that's the only way to do it. I just think it would be the best way to do it. He could do a perfectly good ending that kept Batman alive. I don't however believe that there's no way they could effectively kill him off as the end of the story. Which is what you said. Yeah he's still in fighting condition, but not his prime. As he gets older and older, he starts to feel every year, and it becomes harder and harder to keep up with young criminals, and a brute like Bane.
Condition2, fair point. I was mostly inclined to do it myself, but Nolan made such a big point of it in the last film that I don't see how he could call it unreasonable for the audience to ask similar questions next time. It would have been better to let sleeping dogs lie.
While I don't think it would ruin anything to have Batman die in the end, I doubt Nolan kills him off. I think DKR is about redemption and I think in the end Batman will have that. Maybe not total redemption (He'll still be classified a vigilante by most), but he'll be cleared of Harvey Dent's murder and with grabbling hook in hand fly high over Gotham as an appropriate end to the Nolan trilogy. But then again, I didn't think they'd kill Harvey in Dark Knight, so I could be wrong.
Are you serious? Unless you've been to some kind of early screening, you have not even seen the film yet.
A few things come to mind: 1. This is one of the DC Universes we are talking about here, the denizens of which can be fooled by Superman donning a pair of Buddy Holly glasses. Even to Lois Lane doesn't pick up on the fact that Superman is Clark Kent....even after having sex with him. 2. There are also a bunch of Batman copycats running around in hockey pads and rubber Bat-masks. 3. There are enough people who have been saved by or paid off by him that they are more than willing to keep their mouths shut. Between ordering the pieces to build the cowl in Batman Begins and hiring pilots to rendezvous with and then pick him up in China, Bruce Wayne is leaving a big glowing paper trail a mile wide. 4.The fact that Bruce Wayne has cultivated a public persona as a hedonistic drunken playboy. Basically he's the Paris Hilton of Gotham City. And in the words of Christopher Walken: "Bruce Wayne? Why the hell are you dressed up as Batman?"
Okay, but again, I wouldn't have done this myself. But in-universe, Nolan raised the issue himself, by having some guy figure out Bruce Wayne's identity. He publicly announced that he had figured it out. All someone has to do is retrace his steps to reach the same conclusion.
I'm the first to admit I have no idea what's going on in that trailer, but it's given me chills both times I've watched it. Whatever the hell is happening, it looks fantastic.
I actually agree with Jabba-wocky. If I had one crtique of TDK, it's probably that paper trail storyline. It just really seemed upon re-view, to take away from the main action and overall story. The overall story seemed to slow to a crawl when they got back to that guy trying to blackmail Bruce. If there were hints that it might mean something in the third movie, like maybe linking him with a villian in TDKR that wants the information, I wouldn't have mind it it. As it stands looking back, it's like a sore thumb on an otherwise perfect film.
Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and agree with that. The first three or four viewings I was so enamored of the film overall that I just waded through the failed-blackmail-attempt scenes without really thinking about them, ever anticipating the next scene with Joker or Dent or the (Bat)man himself. But on recent viewings I've grown impatient with them, wondering what the point is. I think they could be excised from the film without any damage to the narrative, and their deletion would certainly enhance my enjoyment.
Is that Robin who keeps showing up in the trailers? (The young guy, who looks like he's with the police or something)
That's John Blake, a young police officer. We don't really know anything about him, and this is the first trailer he's gotten significant face time in. It's possible he's going to somehow end up being Robin, but I really doubt it. If I had to guess, it looks more like he's Gordon's protege/Batman's ally and a guy to do the police legwork role that Gordon won't be able to do as commissioner. Do you think Lucius Fox, after being made aware that this guy got into them, wouldn't make sure all those old files disappeared completely? And how would anyone know how to retrace his steps? He claims he knows who Batman is. Okay. Is it somebody he works with? Is it his neighbor? Is it his brother-in-law? Is it someone stealing supplies from Wayne Enterprises whom he traced in the course of his job? Is it his boss? Is it Harvey Dent and he saw him changing out of the Batsuit at the Y? Is he a complete and total crank trying to get attention or deflect the Joker's threat to the city? The fact that he refuses to say who it is afterward would certainly suggest the last possibility, and there's little reason he wouldn't have been quickly dismissed as an attention-seeker, but in any case it's impossible for anyone to "retrace his steps" because nobody knows what steps he took to "find out" Batman's identity. Jumping on the Bruce Wayne paper trail is not exactly the first instinct when he hasn't revealed anything about the basis of his claims. Anyway: I like the trailer. I'm undecided on Hathaway as Catwoman, but we've finally gotten a good dose of her and she doesn't look like a weak link yet. I really like that they're keeping Cotillard's character almost completely under wraps; she's been in about five seconds of cumulative trailer footage so far.
