(this is a long read so grab a drink and a snack.) The ending of TDKR was one of the greatest endings to a movie/series that I have ever seen. It was absolutely beautiful, everything from Blake inheriting the persona of the Dark Knight, Gordon smiling upon finding the restored Batsignal, and Alfred, Bruce, and Selina sitting in the café. It was especially awesome and fulfilling to learn that Bruce survived and found happiness with Selina. Easily one of Nolan’s happiest and most uplifting endings. Bruce Wayne finally got the happy ending he deserved.
That being said, here’s the big problem: we never got the sense that Bruce WANTED to live again, that he wanted to move on, that he wanted a life free from all of his pain, or that he was looking to live in a place away from Gotham. For the first half of the movie, Bruce was almost suicidal as Alfred pointed out. He didn’t care if he lived or died. He was depressed and lost in his own grief. Heck, he was moping around his mansion wearing his father’s robe, a significant thematic expression of how sad, depressed, and stuck in time he was. He becomes Batman again, largely because Batman was the only thing Bruce was looking forward to (waiting, hoping for things to go bad again as Alfred said), and takes on Bane. He ends getting broken by Bane, and dumped in the pit.
It was here in the pit that I thought the writers should have expanded on Bruce’s thoughts more. His time in the pit was spent worrying about saving Gotham, which obviously makes sense, but Bruce’s psychology and state of mind were largely ignored. You could say that he rediscovered himself when he made that final climb and the bats popped out. That was the moment he truly became Batman again, the moment that he regained the fear of death. But this connotation only went as far as him trying to get out of the pit so that he could go save his city. Bruce didn’t really start loving life again, or at least this was not shown or implied. All it would’ve taken was a line like “I want my own life” or “I’m gonna save this city one last time” or something to that effect, to let us know that Bruce really was craving an end to his superhero life and the beginning of a normal life. Yet not once do we see him desire any kind of peace.
Of course, we see that he did eventually find such a life when we see him in Italy with Selina at the end, but we never saw him overcome all of the things that plagued him throughout the trilogy. It all happened off-screen. How/when/where did he actually get over his parents death? We don’t know because we didn’t see it and it wasn’t implied or hinted at. Again, we know it happened since we saw Selina wearing his mother’s pearls, but I would think that Bruce getting over his parents’ death should have been addressed in some capacity since that grief, that “impossible anger”, is pretty much what has driven Bruce Wayne throughout his seventy year history. Yet there was no such catharsis in this movie. When did he want to start living again and stop being suicidal like he was in the beginning when he wore his dead dad’s clothes? It’s tough to say because it was never hinted at. The only answer I can think of to this would be that final facial expression we see when he flies the nuke away. Maybe that was him realizing he wanted to live, yet I don’t think it was, since the main purpose of that shot was to make us think he was gonna die in the blast. Surely that shot wasn’t shown to portray Bruce overcoming his grief or wanting to live. And how or at what point did he find true love? He and Selina flirted throughout the movie but there was never any true “love” or genuine affection, just a lot of flirting/banter and a goodbye kiss.
Regarding the theoretical effect of the audience knowing that Bruce wanted to live a happy life by the time he returned from the pit, IMO the climax of the movie would’ve been stronger due to enhanced emotional gravitas: not only would he have been fighting to save Gotham as usual, but for the first time he would have been fighting for something more – his own life, his own freedom (not just Gotham’s), and his right to live a normal, happy life. This would’ve raised the stakes even more by giving Bruce a more emotional story arc than just a broken man trying to save Gotham (which I realize is understating how TDKR played out, but you get my drift.) As such, Bruce’s “death” would’ve been sadder, because he wanted to live but couldn’t (until of course we see him at the café.) The last good reason for giving Bruce his want of life back would be to make it easier for both fans and the general audience to accept Bruce Wayne permanently retiring and leaving Gotham – people wouldn’t have been as ticked off upon seeing Blake replace Bruce had we known that Bruce desired some sort of means to a peaceful end. The faking his death scenario and entire end of the movie still could’ve remained exactly the same – that’s the important thing about what I’m saying – no plot alteration would’ve been necessary.
I hope I’ve made this issue clear and that it makes sense. It’s just that it was never implied, hinted at, or made clear that Bruce wanted to live his own life. He climbs out of the pit, stops Bane/the LOS, and retires. That’s great. Yet three of the biggest questions surrounding the personal state of this trilogy’s Bruce (wanting to be able to move on, getting over his parents’ death, and finding love and happiness) were not addressed thematically. They were only confirmed due to us seeing him and Selina alive at the end. I’m probably gonna get an answer like “it doesn’t matter how he moved on from his pain, it only matters that he did” but in this case the how, when, where, and why really do matter. For every year of his life after his parents’ murder, he was bothered by those three issues, and we never see him in the process of overcoming any of them, or more importantly, WANTING to overcome any of them. You can’t help but feel that, as an audience who loves and cares for Bruce/Batman, it would’ve been nice to see, experience, or at least understand that Bruce wanted to move on. We know he did end up moving on, but not that he wanted to. I thought that it was this issue that truly prevents Bruce’s character journey from being perfectly complete.
I know that several threads have been made lately that have suggested changes to the movie which only ended up ticking some users off, but I hope that I’ve made it apparent that I thought Bruce’s character arc was somewhat incomplete, or at least partially flawed, for the reasons I listed above. I’m not saying that I’m better than Nolan or Goyer. And even if you don’t agree with all of my thoughts, do you agree with what I said about the absence of Bruce’s desire to move on?
That being said, here’s the big problem: we never got the sense that Bruce WANTED to live again, that he wanted to move on, that he wanted a life free from all of his pain, or that he was looking to live in a place away from Gotham. For the first half of the movie, Bruce was almost suicidal as Alfred pointed out. He didn’t care if he lived or died. He was depressed and lost in his own grief. Heck, he was moping around his mansion wearing his father’s robe, a significant thematic expression of how sad, depressed, and stuck in time he was. He becomes Batman again, largely because Batman was the only thing Bruce was looking forward to (waiting, hoping for things to go bad again as Alfred said), and takes on Bane. He ends getting broken by Bane, and dumped in the pit.
It was here in the pit that I thought the writers should have expanded on Bruce’s thoughts more. His time in the pit was spent worrying about saving Gotham, which obviously makes sense, but Bruce’s psychology and state of mind were largely ignored. You could say that he rediscovered himself when he made that final climb and the bats popped out. That was the moment he truly became Batman again, the moment that he regained the fear of death. But this connotation only went as far as him trying to get out of the pit so that he could go save his city. Bruce didn’t really start loving life again, or at least this was not shown or implied. All it would’ve taken was a line like “I want my own life” or “I’m gonna save this city one last time” or something to that effect, to let us know that Bruce really was craving an end to his superhero life and the beginning of a normal life. Yet not once do we see him desire any kind of peace.
Of course, we see that he did eventually find such a life when we see him in Italy with Selina at the end, but we never saw him overcome all of the things that plagued him throughout the trilogy. It all happened off-screen. How/when/where did he actually get over his parents death? We don’t know because we didn’t see it and it wasn’t implied or hinted at. Again, we know it happened since we saw Selina wearing his mother’s pearls, but I would think that Bruce getting over his parents’ death should have been addressed in some capacity since that grief, that “impossible anger”, is pretty much what has driven Bruce Wayne throughout his seventy year history. Yet there was no such catharsis in this movie. When did he want to start living again and stop being suicidal like he was in the beginning when he wore his dead dad’s clothes? It’s tough to say because it was never hinted at. The only answer I can think of to this would be that final facial expression we see when he flies the nuke away. Maybe that was him realizing he wanted to live, yet I don’t think it was, since the main purpose of that shot was to make us think he was gonna die in the blast. Surely that shot wasn’t shown to portray Bruce overcoming his grief or wanting to live. And how or at what point did he find true love? He and Selina flirted throughout the movie but there was never any true “love” or genuine affection, just a lot of flirting/banter and a goodbye kiss.
Regarding the theoretical effect of the audience knowing that Bruce wanted to live a happy life by the time he returned from the pit, IMO the climax of the movie would’ve been stronger due to enhanced emotional gravitas: not only would he have been fighting to save Gotham as usual, but for the first time he would have been fighting for something more – his own life, his own freedom (not just Gotham’s), and his right to live a normal, happy life. This would’ve raised the stakes even more by giving Bruce a more emotional story arc than just a broken man trying to save Gotham (which I realize is understating how TDKR played out, but you get my drift.) As such, Bruce’s “death” would’ve been sadder, because he wanted to live but couldn’t (until of course we see him at the café.) The last good reason for giving Bruce his want of life back would be to make it easier for both fans and the general audience to accept Bruce Wayne permanently retiring and leaving Gotham – people wouldn’t have been as ticked off upon seeing Blake replace Bruce had we known that Bruce desired some sort of means to a peaceful end. The faking his death scenario and entire end of the movie still could’ve remained exactly the same – that’s the important thing about what I’m saying – no plot alteration would’ve been necessary.
I hope I’ve made this issue clear and that it makes sense. It’s just that it was never implied, hinted at, or made clear that Bruce wanted to live his own life. He climbs out of the pit, stops Bane/the LOS, and retires. That’s great. Yet three of the biggest questions surrounding the personal state of this trilogy’s Bruce (wanting to be able to move on, getting over his parents’ death, and finding love and happiness) were not addressed thematically. They were only confirmed due to us seeing him and Selina alive at the end. I’m probably gonna get an answer like “it doesn’t matter how he moved on from his pain, it only matters that he did” but in this case the how, when, where, and why really do matter. For every year of his life after his parents’ murder, he was bothered by those three issues, and we never see him in the process of overcoming any of them, or more importantly, WANTING to overcome any of them. You can’t help but feel that, as an audience who loves and cares for Bruce/Batman, it would’ve been nice to see, experience, or at least understand that Bruce wanted to move on. We know he did end up moving on, but not that he wanted to. I thought that it was this issue that truly prevents Bruce’s character journey from being perfectly complete.
I know that several threads have been made lately that have suggested changes to the movie which only ended up ticking some users off, but I hope that I’ve made it apparent that I thought Bruce’s character arc was somewhat incomplete, or at least partially flawed, for the reasons I listed above. I’m not saying that I’m better than Nolan or Goyer. And even if you don’t agree with all of my thoughts, do you agree with what I said about the absence of Bruce’s desire to move on?
.