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The End Of The Dark Knight Rises: Did Nolan Cheat? (Spoiler Warning!)

 

“Theatricality and deception are powerful agents.”

For about ten seconds – maybe thirty – we believed that he’d done it. He’d killed the Dark Knight. When that nuclear bomb went off after five months of decay, we believed that Christopher Nolan had sacrificed Batman and Bruce Wayne upon the altar of heroism.

And then Alfred got a cup of tea.

And we learned about the auto-pilot.

And John Blake’s full name.

Not since a M. Night Shyamalan film have so many audience members reacted with such ire over an ending. And unlike some of Nolan’s other finales (MEMENTO, INCEPTION come to mind), THE DARK KNIGHT RISES has fans in an uproar over its apparent dishonesty.

Some of us feel cheated.

Were we?

Was the Ending Foreshadowed?

Nolan hints at both of the film’s big twists early on in the film. Not only does Miranda Tate paraphrase Ra’s al Ghul everal times (‘…in order to restore the balance…’ and ‘…do what is necessary…‘, both to Bruce), Nolan makes heavy investments in the final resolution. Alfred’s first ‘flashback’ about the café is a big one; John Blake’s relationship with Wayne/Batman, especially when Batman teaches him how to chuck a spike grenade, is another.

But the most obvious hint – at least upon a second viewing – is Lucius Fox’s admission that he can’t repair the auto-pilot of the Bat. Instead, he claims that it requires a ‘better mind’, or at least a ‘less busy’ mind than his, to make this fix. When the technicians later report that the auto-pilot was indeed fixed ‘six months ago’, it’s pretty clear: Wayne did some off-camera tinkering without telling anybody.

About All That ‘Off-Camera’ Stuff…

Nolan isn’t afraid to use the power of perspective in his films, and he has done it before – ironically – with Christian Bale.

Have you seen THE PRESTIGE?

For two hours of THE PRESTIGE the camera only reveals one of the Borden brothers – at least when the other isn’t dressed as Fallon. Some critics didn’t buy this film-making slight-of-hand, but it worked just fine for that particular story. THE PRESTIGE was about tricks, sacrifice, and the cost of greatness – and it was told primarily from Robert Angier’s point of view.

Like THE PRESTIGE, some off-camera trickery is clearly at work in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. For Bruce Wayne to have survived it must be, otherwise he learned how to teleport during his time at the League of Shadows. There’s no other explanation for his survival.

How did he get off The Bat?

Because He’s Batman!

This has become a popular explanation for some of Nolan’s narrative Swiss cheese – particularly to answer the question: ‘How did Wayne get back from the prison/pit?’

“He friggin’ Batman!”

True – there are a number of Bat-isms that Nolan needs us to accept. This is the superhero genre, after all. Batman is able to fly among the shadows like a phantom, he can plummet from rooftops without serious injury, and he can travel back from Hong Kong and India in 24 hours without any jet lag. It comes with being Batman.

But is it enough to escape a megaton nuclear blast? I don’t think so – otherwise the fans wouldn’t be howling. We needed more than that. We needed to know how he did it. Otherwise, we feel cheated.

The Shadows Betray You

There’s only one explanation for Batman’s survival that stands the test.

He didn’t eject in the ocean and swim several miles back to shore while nursing Talia’s stab to the kidney. Nor did he eject over the city – hundreds of witnesses would have seen it.

No. There’s only one way for Batman to eject undetected.

Watch the sequence carefully. Before clearing the city, the Bat unleashes a salvo of missiles that blow up the top of a building. The Bat then clears a bridge and heads out to sea.

This is the only moment when Batman could eject, undetected, and survive.

His craft – and the radiation-pissing bomb – were under heavy surveillance. A bus full of children were watching. You and I – our eyes bulging at the ever-massive IMAX screen – were watching. No ejection. No parachute. No black-clad figure doing a high dive into the Atlantic.

Batman ejected and used the black plumes of smoke to disguise his escape.

But this still doesn’t answer the biggest question of all. Did Nolan tell it true?

The answer lies in what the camera shows us.

Mr Nolan, Please Rise….

After that explosion, what did we see?

Batman. Sitting in the cockpit. Commanding the Bat out to sea.

After the explosion. After he must have escaped and is no longer inside the craft. Clouds and sky breeze by his pensive face. He grunts as he pilots the machine, the knife wound still bleeding him out. He’s in the ship.

Boom.

Theatricality and deception are powerful agents.

Indeed. But we are initiated, brother. The camera lied. There’s no other way.

And while Mr. Nolan gave us a fantastic film that is a cut above most, we still feel cheated.

Guilty.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is in cinemas now.

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. Sam Carey

    Aug 6, 2012 at 12:28 pm

    Nolan is guilty of giving his audience credit. He knows the film watching public are not stupid (Michael Bay take note) and is not scared to make us all think, and what a lovely job he’s done of it as well.

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  3. bhargav

    Aug 6, 2012 at 1:57 pm

    The ending was something very surprising to me, especially the JOHN BLAKE one. I absolutely loved the ending.

  4. a34

    Aug 6, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    “Nor did he eject over the city – hundreds of witnesses would have seen it.

    Maybe he didn’t ejected and just jumped out of the Bat. In a situation like that, I don’t think most people would be next to a window, waiting for the explosion.

    I think he gets out in the building he shoots. When we see him before the explosion, if you pay attention, you can see that what reflects in the glass is not clouds or water. It’s like he is in some kind of elevator, the movement is more vertical. A second later, when the bomb is about to explode, the Bat moves forward not down.

  5. Guy

    Jan 6, 2013 at 3:08 am

    Dude, it’s not real. Go have sex. ( I ejected you missed it.)

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