Can Batman escape the "Third Act Curse"?

[Batman4ever]

With Nolan directing. Yes! Easy. It's possible the third act will be better than the first 2.

[Chris Wallace]

Possible but not guaranteed.

[The Manly Torch]

This is most likely my opinion, and my opinion only, but I didn't really see any of the X-Men movies as being all that good anyways. Enjoyable, yes, but not in the sense to which people seem to be alluding. X-Men was more focused on just having a bunch of X-Men on screen fighting and whatnot and less worried about strict plot structure or good storytelling, which seems to be the same exact case with X-Men 3, except X-Men 3 wasn't afraid to kill key characters (although I don't know how Fox allowed them to go through with it). Don't get me wrong, the Nightcrawler scene in X-Men 2 is one of my all-time favorite scenes, but honestly... After decades of living with mutants and whatnot, I'm sure there would have been precautions set in place long before anything like that could happen, and in fact something like that probably, in my logic, would have already been attempted.

I don't claim to be all-knowing or all-intelligent; I'm merely making observations as I see them. I always felt that Wolverine was being given the chick flick treatment, instead of being portrayed in the fashion to which I was accustomed, even in the movie of his namesake. Allow to expressly iterate that I'm not saying I don't like any of the X-Men movies, because I do. And I, in fact, feel that X-Men 3 was the worst of them--at least of those three, now I feel like X-Men Origins Wolverine is the worst of them--but I'm not so sure that narrowing the blame for this can strictly be set upon the fact that it was a different director. In fact, I don't think that changing directors for sequels automatically equates to a bad decision. I just wanted to point that out. Maybe the script could've gone through just a few more drafts, maybe a producer strongarmed this or that, honestly we don't know; we just make suppositions, and even some of us THINK we know.

I just wanted to clarify all that.

[Temple Fugate]

Did someone say...



escape?

[LightningFlash]

Let's see...you have Christopher Nolan, who's one of the best directors of our time. You've got the same writers from the very beginning. You've got a great core cast. And you've got a ton of Batman villains that have never been used before that'll be great assets for a third and maybe final film of Nolan's series(Black Mask, Hush, Deadshot to name a few besides the already-rumored Riddler and Catwoman).

And, again, you have Christopher Nolan who is not worrying about making the third film more epic than The Dark Knight, but to only keep the emotion and suspense that the last two films had, while keeping a strong theme(s) in the film and bringing Batman back out of the shadows and as the hero once more.

Yes, I think this film can escape the third film curse. Of course it can; I have no doubts about that.

[imsuperman]

Unfortunately I don't think it can top TDK. I went into that movie with astronomically unrealistic expectations and it met or exceeded every one. I think it was bolstered by Mr. Ledger's legendary performance and sadly, untimely death as well.

I remember catching all the trailers and clips online well in advance, as early as the previous December. I was counting down the release date months beofre. It was an event. An experience, you know?

I think the third film can be a very good film. I just think it's not going to be as well-received because it will live in the shadow of TDK.

Like how, as great as BB is, (and I REALLY LIKE IT) it just kind of feels like an appetizer to TDK. The third film will be a nice dessert that leaves everyone satisfied. But you'll still have the taste of the Bar-B-Q ribs in your mouth when it's over.

Made you hungry just now, didn't I?

[Squidboy]

I think it'd be very hard to top a movie starring the Joker in general, but in my possibly unpopular opinion, Batman Returns was a much more enjoyable film than Burton's Batman, so I have faith that Nolan could blow The Dark Knight out of the water. Even if he uses Killer Croc, if he sticks to his strict standards in film-making, he may just break the curse.

[Chris Wallace]

I find Croc unlikely. And I hated Returns, but I think that's the unpopular opinion.

[luke1234]

Originally Posted by imsuperman

Unfortunately I don't think it can top TDK. I went into that movie with astronomically unrealistic expectations and it met or exceeded every one. I think it was bolstered by Mr. Ledger's legendary performance and sadly, untimely death as well.

I remember catching all the trailers and clips online well in advance, as early as the previous December. I was counting down the release date months beofre. It was an event. An experience, you know?

I think the third film can be a very good film. I just think it's not going to be as well-received because it will live in the shadow of TDK.

Like how, as great as BB is, (and I REALLY LIKE IT) it just kind of feels like an appetizer to TDK. The third film will be a nice dessert that leaves everyone satisfied. But you'll still have the taste of the Bar-B-Q ribs in your mouth when it's over.

Made you hungry just now, didn't I?

lol, love the food analogy you got going on here, and I must agree. I dont think this film needs to be as cluttered as TDK was. I just need a satisfactory conclusion with a very stable story and interesting characters.

[Chiroptera]

He's Goddamn Christopher Nolan!!

[Chris Wallace]

Originally Posted by luke1234

lol, love the food analogy you got going on here, and I must agree. I dont think this film needs to be as cluttered as TDK was. I just need a satisfactory conclusion with a very stable story and interesting characters.

I think the need to "conclude" is part of the problem we've experienced in the past. Everyone says wrap it up and the conclusions keep coming out feeling forced; rushed.

[ALP]

That whole 'third act curse' thing is just a load. In the 80s, Return of the Jedi and The Last Crusade were both terrific trilogy enders. There are a load of bad 'third' films but really, there is just as many series that have flat out bad second sequels as well. And Toy Story 3 was already mentioned in here, it's one of the most well received films of the year thus far.

[Chris Wallace]

One-the majority of 3rd acts don't go over well. 2-LOTR was pre-written decades ago, so it wasn't put upon Jackson to wrap it up. Tolkien already took care of it. 3-not one movie that you mentioned was a COMIC BOOK movie, which is where the "curse" truly applies. I know there's nothing saying that all 3rd films are destined to fail/be hated, but I'm referring to a pattern that has existed throughout the history of the genre.

[ALP]

Originally Posted by Chris Wallace

One-the majority of 3rd acts don't go over well. 2-LOTR was pre-written decades ago, so it wasn't put upon Jackson to wrap it up. Tolkien already took care of it. 3-not one movie that you mentioned was a COMIC BOOK movie, which is where the "curse" truly applies. I know there's nothing saying that all 3rd films are destined to fail/be hated, but I'm referring to a pattern that has existed throughout the history of the genre.

Well I suppose that is trueof comic book films.

Unless you were mystified by Richard Pryor's performance in Superman III

[Original Spawn]

Return of the Jedi was a great trilogy ender but it was not as good as The Empire Strikes Back, probably because of the Ewoks and because we didn´t have a big suprise like in the empire strickes back, but let me tell you, many hate the star wars prequels but i can´t say that because episode III was the reason why i really started to see the other films too, and episode III, if considered as a 3rd film then we can say that it was a great 3rd film, many star wars fans think that episode III was almost as good as empire stri Back,
And now returning to batman, i think that Nolan can pull it off, the script was already written, and so the story is already prepared, since i saw my first batman film, which was Batman Begins and not the older ones, i began to consider batman my favourite hero, i consider The Dark Knight and the future batman 3 an event.
It is going to be terribly difficult to make something better without the joker but i hope nolan can make it right, but some of you forget about mad hater, he and some other villains that appeared in the films, eccept the joker couldn appear in The Batman 2004 tv series because nolan wanted them in batman begins or it´s sequel, now it only remains him, and Killer croc, deadshot and firefly have already appeared in the gotham knight animation set in the nolanverse.
I like Batman Returns and many people also consider it as good or better than the original batman film, if batman 3 fails in least i can laugh in the face of those who want the green goblin in the spider-man reboot alá the joker in the dark knight.
But i hope that doesn´t need to happen.

[Chris Wallace]

What 2004 TV series?

[Original Spawn]

The animated one, i don´t know if it was from 1003 or 2004 but if it is close from the right number it´s easy to figure it out.

[Homer J. Fong]

There are a number of pitfalls third installments fall into, and I'm particularly thinking of Spider-Man 3 and X-Men: The Last Stand: shoving too many characters and elements into the film, placing fan service above proper plot construction, and emphasizing spectacle over character development, thereby forgetting what people loved about the previous movies. If Nolan and co. sidestep those mistakes, yes, they can overcome the supposed "curse."

[Chris Wallace]

Not disagreeing with Fong. The effort to try to give fans what they think they want has bitten the filmmakers in the butt. I would add Blade Trinity to that list, as i felt it suffered from some of those same mistakes.
@ ORiginal Spawn; If you're referring to "The Batman", the Joker WAS on that show.

[Hole Shot]

The only thing that doesn't bode well for this movie is that this is supposed to be the climax of the Nolans' arc and his three most climatic adversaries are gone. The most significant one being Joker, which was beyond their control.

[Team Andino]

The Dark Knight ended my streak of bad midnight premieres for me and I fully believe with Nolan and his crew returning we'll finally get a super hero trilogy we can be proud of

[Closerframe]

To answer this forum's question, yes! Nolan can easily escape the third film curse as well as surpass The Dark Knight. Not in terms of 'epicness', but a more personal story that takes Batman further into a realm of dark and twisted psychosis. Many people have failed to realize Nolan already made a more epic film, and it's called Inception.

[Chris Wallace]

Haven't seen Inception. But it has nothing to do with Batman, I'm sure. Superman Returns was made by the same guy who also gave us Usual Suspects, Valkyrie and X2. So what is done in one area has no bearing on another. We shouldn't deem Nolan infallible, no matter how well he's delivered in the past.
@ Hole Shot; his best adversaries aren't necessarily gone. They can do some amazing things with the likes of Riddler, Catwoman, some more recent baddie like Hush or Black Mask-the possibilities are out there. And I don't think they would have brought Joker back whether Ledger lived or died.

[Closerframe]

Originally Posted by Chris Wallace

Haven't seen Inception. But it has nothing to do with Batman, I'm sure. Superman Returns was made by the same guy who also gave us Usual Suspects, Valkyrie and X2. So what is done in one area has no bearing on another. We shouldn't deem Nolan infallible, no matter how well he's delivered in the past.

Bryan Singer wasn't consistent after he made Usual Suspects. X-Men was average at best, X2 is a little overrated, and Valkyrie was terrible. I can't fully compare Inception to TDK in terms of plot or possible action sequences given Inception takes place in the human subconscious. But it just goes to show Nolan can make a bigger film, with a grander story, and get even greater performances out of actors.

[LightningFlash]

Christopher Nolan isn't a pushover like Sam Raimi.

So...yah, the third film will break the curse.