The Dark Knight Rises Anyone else not like the 8 year exile plot?

[KalMart]

The idea of an 8-yr absence is really bold and interesting...but how it felt like in the film was kind of arbitrary.

 

[Spuzz]

It was perfect and not at all arbitrary. Just my opinion.

 

[ComicStalker]

I think the 8 year thing was unnecessary. They could have made the same point with him being out of action for 2-4 years. Its not like Bane had to wait for Batman to get old and depressed to implement his plan. To think that no one else would have tried anything in those 8 years is ridiculous. Batman's greatest enemies have always been the "freaks" They started to pop out of the woodwork with Joker/twoface and then just stopped. The Freaks never needed the mob to exist or as a reason to commit crime themselves. They were a reason unto themselves.
Also this film had too little Batman in it. I know a lot of people on these boards like to say that this trilogy has always been about Bruce Wayne. But Batman had what 10-15 minutes screen time in a 2 hour and 40 minute movie? Hells No!!!
While I did like the Broken Batman angle in the first act of the movie. I did NOT like how once they emphasized that, they showed him magically healing up like he had dipped himself into a Lazarus pit off screen.
They also missed an opportunity to hang him upside down from his feet to fix his back in the jail. Would have been a cool Bat moment. But then he's jumping for the top of the pit with a rope tied around him and falling 30-40 feet at least and yanking and slamming hard on the wall twice without even mentioning his back ever again...
Sloppy

 

[KalMart]

Again, I think the 8 years would have been great...and very bold...if we really felt like there was a substantial passage of time with a lot change. Something that he couldn't just step back into like he did. It just sort of felt like he stayed in his room the whole time, slept late, and then just decided to come right back after meeting Kyle. Didn't feel like it was any different being 8 yrs or just 8 months.

 

[Scooter]

It should have only been 7 years and 3 months.

 

[KalMart]

It should have only been 7 years and 3 months.

And 2.5 days.

 

[the amazing fro]

Recluse Bruce didn't seem as "broken" as I was expecting him to be. Instead of being a walking shadow, he was just the same old Bruce but with a beard and a limp. There wasn't enough a equilibrium at the start of the movie to demonstrate what Bruce's life like is now and how he is dealing with not being Batman. His change back should have been gradual and slightly reluctant but the first time we see him he's already starting to go back to Batman mode

 

[Scooter]

And 2.5 days.

And after a light lunch. 8 years is just stupid.

 

[KalMart]

And after a light lunch. 8 years is just stupid.

No, eight years can be really cool...if it's not executed stupidly.

 

[CapedCrusader14]

Recluse Bruce didn't seem as "broken" as I was expecting him to be. Instead of being a walking shadow, he was just the same old Bruce but with a beard and a limp. There wasn't enough a equilibrium at the start of the movie to demonstrate what Bruce's life like is now and how he is dealing with not being Batman. His change back should have been gradual and slightly reluctant but the first time we see him he's already starting to go back to Batman mode

But that's what I think the point was. Bruce has truly wanted to get back in the cape and cowl again this whole time, no matter how much he fights that desire. It seems almost straight out of The Dark Knight Returns.

 

[Scooter]

No, eight years can be really cool...if it's not executed stupidly.

That's my point. It would have been impossible to screw up a 7 year, 3 month exile.

It practically writes itself.

 

[Superboy-Prime]

8 years was fine in my opinion, Bruce was gone for 7 years in Batman Begins.

 

[KalMart]

That's my point. It would have been impossible to screw up a 7 year, 3 month exile.

It practically writes itself.

t:

 

[Golgo-13]

8 years was fine in my opinion, Bruce was gone for 7 years in Batman Begins.

Yet, so in totality Nolans Bruce Wayne has only been Batman for about a year..?

In BB from the time he dons the mask til the end is about a few weeks, the time from BB to TDK is about 8 months, then the events of TDK take place over several weeks, then he goes on a 8 year recluse, comes back as Batman for a few days gets his back broken, imprisoned, escapes and then saves Gotham as Batman in a day, then retires.

 

[Gotham22]

If it were a burden on Bruce, he would have brought it up, but he didn't. Only Jim Gordon was bothered by it and he kept on as Commissioner. The whole hermit sub-plot was caused because of Rachel and Bruce not having a life beyond Batman. But, after 8 years, it just seems silly. Alfred would never have taken so long to motivate Bruce to get out there and continue to find happiness. As I said, 1 or 2 years should have been the gap. Not 8.

And 8 years is a long time to seek vengeance on Batman/Bruce for Ra's death and ruining is plan.

 

[the amazing fro]

Actually thinking about it, I think I would have preferred it if, instead of giving up being Batman, he had gave up being Bruce Wayne. After the end of TDK he completely throws himself into his work as Batman which with the Dent Act in full force, is slowly becoming more and more obsolete. He becomes a far more tortured and monomaniac Batman at the start which eventually leads to his crushing defeat by Bane. I think this would have made his arc a little more cleaner and direct as he learns to be Bruce Wayne again. Also his eventual rise from the pit and his retirement at the end would have had much more of an impact since he didn't have to both "rise" or "retire" twice in the same film.

Also Alfred's departure would have made a hell of a lot more sense if he was trying to shake sense into a disturbed Batman who is trying to push everybody away rather than Bruce Wayne who was trying to become Batman again for the good of the bloody city. I mean seriously Alfred what the hell?

 

[jmc]

I actually didn't mind it because Bruce had this Howard Hughes vibe going on.

 

[Conundrum]

Actually thinking about it, I think I would have preferred it if, instead of giving up being Batman, he had gave up being Bruce Wayne. After the end of TDK he completely throws himself into his work as Batman which with the Dent Act in full force, is slowly becoming more and more obsolete. He becomes a far more tortured and monomaniac Batman at the start which eventually leads to his crushing defeat by Bane. I think this would have made his arc a little more cleaner and direct as he learns to be Bruce Wayne again. Also his eventual rise from the pit and his retirement at the end would have had much more of an impact since he didn't have to both "rise" or "retire" twice in the same film.

Also Alfred's departure would have made a hell of a lot more sense if he was trying to shake sense into a disturbed Batman who is trying to push everybody away rather than Bruce Wayne who was trying to become Batman again for the good of the bloody city. I mean seriously Alfred what the hell?

Yes. That would have been fantastic.

 

[\S/]

I'd been hoping for a "Mask of the Phantasm" type scenario (or various Batman storylines in the comics, not the least of which is "Year One") that sees The Batman hunted by the Gotham PD with extreme prejudice.

I thought Nolan was going to use the wear and tear of Bruce being hunted by the police while also fighting crime as the reason Bane is able to defeat him when he arrives in Gotham. This would have been a cue to how Bruce was worn down in the comics pre-"Knightfall." He was already in bad shape when Bane made it to Gotham and began watching him before breaking the Arkham inmates out to further weaken him.

Instead, he's given up and is a recluse for eight years...with a fully restored cave. I don't get it.

 

[Nevincer]

The idea of an 8-yr absence is really bold and interesting...but how it felt like in the film was kind of arbitrary.

Exactly how I felt. There was something off about it in the film imho as much as I liked the idea. It's one of those times again where I blame the pace.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

I feel that Bruce being a hermit was just because of how the Joker utterly broke him. He broke Batman being a symbol of hope, which was why Bruce became Batman at all. If he couldn't inspire people as a wanted criminal, there was no point in him being Batman. He only became Batman again to inspire the city to fight a great evil.

As for him being a hermit, that's because the Joker took everything away from him. He had trouble trusting people thanks to Harvey going nuts, he had nothing to live for thanks to Rachel dying, and he had nothing to feel passionate about since Batman was gone. It makes the Joker even more of an influence on the plot because of how much he ruined Batman.

I agree and it makes me mad that Nolan didn't even bother to give the audience some closer on Joker's fate. I mean I know Heath was a great person and he took is death hard, but no actor no matter who they are is greater than the character and Joker is Bat's defining villian. That was a fail on Nolan's part BIG TIME.

 

[DaveMoral]

I think 8 years was only necessary because that's how far into the future they decided to make it and didn't want to tease fans with the possibilities of Batman being active in a time gap between films. However, the wear and tear angle would have worked much better IMO had Bruce been active as Batman for 3-5 years between the films(which gives him and Gordon time to really be "in this together" in the process of executing the Dent Act and keeping the "hunt the Bat" thing alive for while too). If he'd have been accumulating injuries off screen I could accept that much more easily. I don't accept that after 1 year as Batman that he's accumulated all those injuries that he'd have NO cartilage in his knees. And I never got the sense in TDK, and this is most important really, that Bruce was so devastated by the loss of Rachel that he was going to hang up the cape and cowl as he rode off into the night. Rather the impression was that he continues on, as a fugitive, because Alfred told him to endure and that's the decision he has to make.

I get it, to an extent, but it is stretching my suspension of disbelief(and this is a funny thing to use here really) that Bruce would be gone for so long. It's not just that the Bruce of the comics is more driven and obsessed than that... it seems to me like the Bruce of BB and TDK is more driven and obsessed than that. I have my doubts that the Dent Act could possibly have empowered the GCPD to such an extent that Batman wasn't needed to help Gordon from the shadows... and I also have a hard time believing that the combination of Batman and the Joker wouldn't have inspired other unstable individuals from donning a "theatrical" motif and commiting crimes. So it seems more logical to me that other copy cats would come out, especially once Batman is vilified, and Batman would be the most capable of dealing with these guys.

Nolan wanted to tell TDKReturns to some extent, and it shows. The thing that makes TDKReturns so powerful, however, is that the events that drive Wayne to retire(after having been Batman for 15 years at least) happen off screen. Jason Todd's death had not happened in comics yet and was 4 years away from happening. Fans didn't know it happened. So between Jason dying, and the federal government passing an anti-superhero law, that drove Batman into retirement. And that Bruce wasn't a hermit. He's shown driving some experimental car and talking to Carol Ferris while he's doing it.

The scenes of Bruce in his Hughes phase are great. I love them. But it doesn't fully work because of how little time was spent as Batman, I feel it stretches the credibility of what I'm asked to believe considering what I know of this man's character. Let alone the amount of time I think it would take to accumulate the kinds of wear and tear we are talking about here.

 

[DieSmiling]

I didn't like the idea of an 8 year absence (IMO it shows a lack of understanding of the Batman character) and nothing about the execution changed my mind.

 

[Robin91939]

O.K, i get that he had to go into hiding after the Harvey Dent incident..but why 8 years?

And why is Bruce walking around with a cane 8 years later, as if his ordeal with Joker and Two-face happened last week.......? He's been injured for 8 years? What kinda injury lasts that long?

Plus, wouldn't ppl put two and two together that Batman has disappeared and so has Bruce Wayne.....

I would have liked it better if during those 8 years they would have mentioned bats facing off against Penguin and Riddler,etc...it saddens me that Nolans Batman has only faced off against Crane, Ra's, Joker, Bane and Catwoman...

8 years seems way too long of a hiatus...

We don't know for sure if the LAST time he donned the cowl was the night Dent died. We know that that was the last KNOWN sighting of the Batman.

For me, it seems like he continued until the Harvey Dent Act was signed -- probably a month or two after The Dark Knight.

When he is in the batcave, Alfred says "You haven't been down here in some time" (something to this effect) -- and seeing as how the cave was re-built AFTER The Dark Knight I'm lead to believe that he was Batman for at LEAST a little longer after that film...

-R

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

He felt guilt over Rachel and Harvey, so he quit. Gotham City did just fine without him thanks to the Dent Act.