The thing is, this was a different movie than what Nolan was originally gonna make for his third one (obviously this can be debated, but hear me out). I know he only takes projects one at a time, never thinking about doing sequels until after his current project gets completed, and didn't plan on doing a trilogy, but there's no doubt that we would have gotten something different, possibly WAY different had Ledger still been alive. (And let's face it: Nolan was gonna do a third one after TDK. Neither he nor Warner Brothers would've wanted his Batman series to end with Batman himself running away as a murderer.) Y'all do realize that Ledger's death was one of the main reasons he made the ambitious decision to have TDKR take place EIGHT FRICKIN YEARS after TDK - so that the story wouldn't have to include or mention the Joker or the immediate after-effects of what the Joker did to the city.
Regarding Rises itself, it is a valid complaint to say that it was very much a rehash of Begins, specifically the climax of both films. To prove this point, guess what movie I'm talking about after reading the following plot points:
-The League of Shadows attacks Gotham.
-Someone who Bruce thought was a friend turns out to be Al Ghul who wants to lead the LOS in a quest to destroy Gotham.
-Al Ghul used a fake name while pretending to be on Bruce's side.
-This quest to destroy Gotham was attempted by using a stolen and subsequently weaponized Wayne Enterprises device as a weapon of mass destruction.
-The Al Ghul character accompanies the weapon on a vehicle.
-The climatic chase sequence of the movie involves Batman giving chase to Al Ghul + weapon + vehicle, with the help of someone else who rode one of Batman's other vehicles on the ground.
-Al Ghul character dies from vehicle dropping down onto low ground.
nolangoatdirector wrote: Y'all do realize that Ledger's death was one of the main reasons he made the ambitious decision to have TDKR take place EIGHT FRICKIN YEARS after TDK - so that the story wouldn't have to include or mention the Joker or the immediate after-effects of what the Joker did to the city.
Yeaaaa....no. Actually this is the reason: As for moving the action ahead eight years, Nolan said that it was a way to give true gravity to the events that were portrayed at the end of “The Dark Knight,” when Batman essentially took the blame for the crimes of Harvey Dent and became a fugitive from justice instead of a tacitly approved vigilante. “It will make a lot more sense to people when they see the film,” Nolan said of the leap forward. “But it’s not a great mystery — it’s the jumping-off point for the film — but it’s hard for me to articulate it. I think the mood at the beginning of the film will make a lot of sense. If I had to express it thematically, I think what we’re saying is that for Batman and Commissioner Gordon, there’s a big sacrifice, a big compromise, at the end of the ‘The Dark Knight’ and for that to mean something, that sacrifice has to work and Gotham has to get better in a sense. They have to achieve something for the ending of that film — and the feeling at the end of that film — to have validity. Their sacrifice has to have meaning and it takes time to establish that and to show that, and that’s the primary reason we did that. It’s a time period that is not so far ahead that we would have to do crazy makeup or anything — which I think would be distracting — but it gave them something to get their teeth into, particularly Christian in terms of [portraying] this guy who has been frozen in this moment in time with nowhere to go. He really has done an incredible job figuring out how to characterize that and express that.”
nolangoatdirector wrote: Y'all do realize that Ledger's death was one of the main reasons he made the ambitious decision to have TDKR take place EIGHT FRICKIN YEARS after TDK - so that the story wouldn't have to include or mention the Joker or the immediate after-effects of what the Joker did to the city.
Yeaaaa....no. Actually this is the reason: As for moving the action ahead eight years, Nolan said that it was a way to give true gravity to the events that were portrayed at the end of “The Dark Knight,” when Batman essentially took the blame for the crimes of Harvey Dent and became a fugitive from justice instead of a tacitly approved vigilante. “It will make a lot more sense to people when they see the film,” Nolan said of the leap forward. “But it’s not a great mystery — it’s the jumping-off point for the film — but it’s hard for me to articulate it. I think the mood at the beginning of the film will make a lot of sense. If I had to express it thematically, I think what we’re saying is that for Batman and Commissioner Gordon, there’s a big sacrifice, a big compromise, at the end of the ‘The Dark Knight’ and for that to mean something, that sacrifice has to work and Gotham has to get better in a sense. They have to achieve something for the ending of that film — and the feeling at the end of that film — to have validity. Their sacrifice has to have meaning and it takes time to establish that and to show that, and that’s the primary reason we did that. It’s a time period that is not so far ahead that we would have to do crazy makeup or anything — which I think would be distracting — but it gave them something to get their teeth into, particularly Christian in terms of [portraying] this guy who has been frozen in this moment in time with nowhere to go. He really has done an incredible job figuring out how to characterize that and express that.”
Speaking of which, there is one disappointing thing in the fact that he retired for eight years after TDK ended: Gordon said that "he can take it because he's not our hero, he's a silent guardian, a watchful protector, a Dark Knight." Yet Bruce really couldn't take it, could he? Rises proves this - he went into depression and removed himself from the world. For eight years, he WASN'T a silent guardian or a watchful protector. He was a depressed cripple. That's the problem with the end of TDK/beginning of TDKR - Gordon's "he's a dark knight" speech made it sound as if Batman would continue no matter what happened to him, but as we see in Rises that wasn't the case at all. At the end of the day, Bruce couldn't take it.
I don't agree with that OP, I feel Rises was perfect in how it ended the trilogy and tied things together, especially coming full circle with BB.
However, it's well known that Nolan originally was going to have the Joker in Rises, but of course that came to never be. So of course the story of Rises had to be slightly adjusted.
"Peace has cost you your strength! Victory has defeated you!"
