We Warn you, this article contains spoilers to “The Dark Knight Rises.” If you’ve yet to see the film, display caution.
As is the case with most blockbuster films, many movie fans around the internet are basically picking apart and dissecting what the film means as a whole. Even with “The Avengers” being a fairly straight forward action science fiction blockbuster, fans have spent months since its release trying to decipher what some of the story themes and plot points meant and what they hold for future films.
The much lauded and brilliant Batman film trilogy as led by director Christopher Nolan has led movie buffs a plenty trying to figure what, if anything, the finale to “The Dark Knight” meant and what it’s intent on relaying to the audience once they’ve left the theater. Nolan’s ahead of its time adaptation of the dark knight has garnered much discussion on the ambiguities and symbolism ever present in the final scenes and we’re offering our own interpretation.
In the final scenes of the film we get Robin as a slew of movie lovers have always wanted, but not in the form we initially expected. We didn’t get an acrobatic kid in red and yellow tights and a cape bouncing off of walls and spouting one-liners while knocking down big thugs. And we don’t get Batman putting a child in danger in order to fulfill his mission of vengeance.
We get Robin on Nolan’s terms and Nolan’s terms only. What Nolan delivers is a hefty amalgamation of Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, and Jason Todd. A young boy who lost his parents and eventually grew up to become a hero of his own while leaning the basics of survival in the streets. This is the entire scope of the Robin mythos bunched in to one new character who is old enough to battle Gotham’s worst criminals and is completely void of camp.
That’s just how Nolan works. “If we have to have something, I’m doing it my way or no way,” Nolan tells us. So we learn that the valiant Detective John Blake, whom we follow throughout the course of “The Dark Knight Rises,” is actually named Robin Blake and he’d eventually either become Batman’s sidekick, or Batman himself.
In the tragic climax people have complained that the last scenes are incredibly upbeat. Alfred goes away on vacation shortly after Bruce Wayne’s funeral, and while at a local cafe, he sees Bruce in the next table a with a smile. Commissioner Gordon has a new Bat signal to play with to boot, and Lucius Fox knows Bruce is alive in some form. But is Bruce alive?
We never saw Bruce come back from the atomic blast from the bomb he carried away on The Bat from Gotham City, but we never actually saw him die either. Perhaps Bruce did survive, or perhaps Alfred was so grief stricken that he imagined master Bruce, and the new bat signal was for the new Batman e.g. Blake.
Or maybe, just maybe, it’d be a Batman Beyond situation where Blake is his own version of the dark knight and Bruce would occasionally come to his aid to guide him in his crime fighting.
It’s up to you to decide.
People I have read on the net have been whining “It’s such a cop out how Bruce survived and the film has a happy ending.” It’s not really a happy ending, it’s not really a sad ending, it’s an ending you choose to have.
Perhaps Bruce died in the atomic blast, Batman is dead and a new man has taken the mantle.
Maybe Bruce is retired and alive, and a new Batman has taken the mantle.
Throughout the entire film Bruce continues saying to Blake that “Anyone can be Batman,” and “You don’t need a costume to fight crime.”
The climax is meant as a two fold closer to the trilogy. For one, Christopher Nolan shows that Robin Blake is taking the mantle of Batman and becoming the new Dark Knight, the hero Gotham deserves. Blake is a valiant and courageous man who was orphaned and believes in the spirit of Batman. He’s learned all he could about crime fighting and the law from his years as a cop and a detective and now that he’s quit the force after the events with the League of Shadows, he has the heroism he needs to steer the dark knight in to the savior of Gotham once and for all.
But, Robin Blake is also the every man. Robin Blake is the blank slate for the next actor to take over for Christian Bale. director Christopher Nolan is metaphorically handing the keys over to Warner as if to declare with boldness. “I’ve done my job, I’ve told my story, you can steer the mythos from here on in.” John Blake’s awe aspiring ascension is meant to symbolize that any man i.e. and actor can be the Batman, so Nolan leaves it open for the next great actor to take over for Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan to tell their own story of Batman and provide their own spin for the Dark knight for a new audience of movie lovers.
Maybe we’ll get a dark gritty continuation from Nolan that’s just as grim. Maybe we’ll get a radical fantasy re-imagining like Burtons, or maybe we’ll get a PG family friendly version of Batman with a lot more laughs and simplistic storytelling and less doom and gloom. Especially now that Warner is revamping their new properties to prevent any parallels to the horrific Colorado theater shooting spree.
Who knows? Christopher Nolan has performed his job, and now he’s on his way to bigger and better things.