What's wrong with the time jump? How many years Batman operated and took a hiatus has no bearing to the story at all, unless if you have preconceived notions how long each period should be. It works for the story and the overall realism Nolan aimed to achieve.
The race swap has little effect, really, because the villains are mostly political archetypes. Adding a race element would have added little to the characters. Unlike the comics were the geographical philosophies of the character are evident, Nolan's are more universal.
I agree that more time could have been spent in Gotham during the actual revolution before Batman's return, but it is adequate enough to not drag the quality of the film down. But I disagree that in portraying Gotham under Bane's rule only the side of the rich were shown. Gordon talking to Foley urging him to rise up. Catwoman saving a kid from two adults and watching the common folks loot rich people. Blake running around to make communications with the trapped policemen. And some others that I might have forgotten.
Did he really wanted another love? Just because he had sex with Talia or was enamored by both her and Selina does not mean he wants another love. That is clearly demonstrated when he refused Talia's offer to fly away from Gotham.
After 7 years, TDKR has grown in my eyes even more after so many CBMs having the same problems that it supposedly has.
The time jump doesn’t work for me, personally, for a number of reasons. One Bruce establishes Batman as a tool to strike fear into the hearts of the corrupt politicians and Gotham’s crime infested underbelly. This symbol is developed in Batman Begins, heavily implied to have grown in influence by TDK, and becomes the polar opposite during the 8-year hiatus until TDKR. This makes Batman’s ‘legacy’ chalked up to stopping a fear toxin, imprisoning an anarchist, and stopping a nuclear bomb from going off. Just one of these accomplishments would embellish anyone into the hall of legends, but for Nolan, he uses the time jump more as a method of showing how the lie surrounding Dent protected the city. But the very first few lines of dialogue at Wayne Manor during the anniversary of the Dent Act show that corruption is still rampant. I’m just suggesting Nolan could have had Bruce still operating to some extent during this 8-year period instead of being a hermit crab.
The race swap has little effect on the storytelling elements, sure, but I’m speaking more from a representation perspective which gets into an entirely different conversation. Nolan used these two characters to represent a different dynamic and philosophy to ones held by Bruce/Batman. These characters could still have been portrayed similarly by actors that are based on the regions in which these characters in the comics are linked to. I don’t see how ignoring these factors makes the character more universal. Ra's Al Ghul and Bane being of Middle Eastern and Latin American descent, respectively, wouldn’t require a deep dive into their motivations.
Batman Begins did a better job at truly capturing how bad crime in Gotham was affecting people--especially near Arkham. Showing quick scenes of a half dozen characters demonstrating they have a moral compass isn’t enough exposition. Showing citizens reacting to Bane exposing the lie should have carried more weight but the closest thing we get is Blake criticizing Gordon which was just an excuse for Nolan to use another line from A Tale of Two Cities.
We don’t know what Bruce wants with other women because it’s never explored. He spends BB and TDK obsessed with Rachel so by the time she’s no longer in the picture we actually don’t know what he wants. The assumption is once Alfred tells him the truth about Rachel wanting to be with Dent, he suddenly is ready to move on. One could even assume him being in Italy with Selina would imply some deeper romantic interest, right?
TDKR is not a horrible film compared to many other comic book movies that come to mind. I just think Nolan should have either taken his time or not introduced stereotypical trilogy tropes.
