Rorschach II
Must investigate further.
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It has come to my attention that many fans are convinced, for a number of reasons, that Bruce Wayne will die in the last chapter of Nolan's Dark Knight saga.
Now, after reading this article -http://www.cracked.com/blog/advanced-batman-theory-why-nolan-will-kill-bruce-wayne/, and this one http://collider.com/dark-knight-rises-ending-prediction/167755/, plus the countless other articles and forum discussions throughout the internet asserting that, yes, Batman will die in The Dark Knight Rises, I am here to tell you that I firmly believe he WON'T.
First of all, I don't think DC or Warner Brothers will allow it. Yes, Nolan has made them a lot of money and yes, I'm sure he has a large degree of creative freedom because of his pedigree as a director. But he's no Batman. There's no director on the planet whose name is as well-known as the word "Batman" or whose face is as recognizable as the sharp black bat outline inside a yellow oval. Batman is simply too iconic to kill, and I just have a feeling the execs at WB wouldn't let a story that killed Batman get to the scripting stage. This is the same company that did not allow fatalities in DC vs MK because they didn't want to see their iconic characters brutally murdered in a video game. Now they're going to turn around and let the same thing happen with their biggest franchise of all? No way.
Secondly, word of mouth. A movie as expensive as The Dark Knight Rises has to make a TON of money, and after the box office performance of The Dark Knight and The Avengers just this year, I'm fairly certain WB won't settle for less than $1 billion global box office take for this film. For that to happen, this movie not only needs to have a strong opening weekend but a strong word of mouth, too. Audiences are fickle. They go into certain types of movies, such as gangster movies, crime movies, murder mysteries, etc, with no expectations of who should come out alive, or who should "win" at the end. But, at the end of the day, Batman is a superhero. This is a superhero film. However seriously Nolan treats the source material (making TDK resemble Heat much more than any previous Batman film, for example), it doesn't change the fact that people go to these movies to escape from the real world, to see a battle between Good and Evil, and to see Good triumph.
Now, that doesn't mean you can't do different or unique things or make meaningful statements about the human condition, such as in the previous two films in this trilogy, but at the end of the day, people want to see Batman emerge victorious - one way or another. If he doesn't, this movie won't get the glowing reviews and positive word of mouth that The Dark Knight or The Avengers had. Fanboys may not care, but the general public will. And without the general public going out in droves to see this movie, it won't make the money WB wants it to. They won't allow that to happen.
But forget the studio execs. Let's talk about Nolan for a moment. One of the major reasons why I think Bruce Wayne won't die in The Dark Knight Rises is because Nolan, the cast & crew, and the marketing team have all been TELEGRAPHING the fact that Batman dies. The poster says "THE LEGEND ENDS". Bale has gone out of his way to tell everyone he's never going to be Batman again (which I believe, but doesn't necessarily mean his Batman is killed - just ask Michael Keaton). Nolan has said, repeatedly, that TDKR ends in a way that brings his trilogy to a conclusion and leaves no room for sequels. Clearly, everyone involved with TDKR wants you to think Bruce Wayne meets his demise at the end of it - and that's exactly why I think it WON'T happen.
Look at Nolan's track record. He is infamous for keeping secrets, and for not allowing studios to show any footage from the last act of his films in marketing. Why would he all of a sudden not only allow but TAKE PART IN an effort to telegraph the ending to the biggest movie he's ever made? He wouldn't. And that's why it doesn't make any sense. Nolan & Co want you to think Bruce Wayne will die. They want you to sit in the theater and wait in suspense for the moment it happens with the same mix of certainty and anticipation you have for the moment he dons the cowl in the Batman Begins. And they'll give us something completely different.
As for his assertions that The Dark Knight Rises will close out the trilogy in a way that requires no follow-up: think of it from a writer's point of view. He may not be saying, necessarily, that a fourth picture would be impossible because the protagonist is dead, but that it will not be necessary because he's completed the story arc he wants to tell. Take another Nolan picture, Memento, for example...
SPOILER ALERT Leonard Shelby, the protagonist of that story, survives the film... but it never received a sequel, and never will - because it told the story it needed to tell. That could be what Nolan means about TDKR - it concludes HIS Bruce Wayne story, but not necessarily in a way that requires Bruce's demise. END SPOILER
So there you have it. I'm sure many of you will disagree vehemently with me, and a few of you might agree with everything I've said. But I've been reading quite a bit of fan speculation on this movie, and I have to say, there's not much dissent - the popular opinion is that Bruce Wayne will die in TDKR.
I hope you guys are wrong, if only for the twenty dollars I have riding on it.
Now, after reading this article -http://www.cracked.com/blog/advanced-batman-theory-why-nolan-will-kill-bruce-wayne/, and this one http://collider.com/dark-knight-rises-ending-prediction/167755/, plus the countless other articles and forum discussions throughout the internet asserting that, yes, Batman will die in The Dark Knight Rises, I am here to tell you that I firmly believe he WON'T.
First of all, I don't think DC or Warner Brothers will allow it. Yes, Nolan has made them a lot of money and yes, I'm sure he has a large degree of creative freedom because of his pedigree as a director. But he's no Batman. There's no director on the planet whose name is as well-known as the word "Batman" or whose face is as recognizable as the sharp black bat outline inside a yellow oval. Batman is simply too iconic to kill, and I just have a feeling the execs at WB wouldn't let a story that killed Batman get to the scripting stage. This is the same company that did not allow fatalities in DC vs MK because they didn't want to see their iconic characters brutally murdered in a video game. Now they're going to turn around and let the same thing happen with their biggest franchise of all? No way.
Secondly, word of mouth. A movie as expensive as The Dark Knight Rises has to make a TON of money, and after the box office performance of The Dark Knight and The Avengers just this year, I'm fairly certain WB won't settle for less than $1 billion global box office take for this film. For that to happen, this movie not only needs to have a strong opening weekend but a strong word of mouth, too. Audiences are fickle. They go into certain types of movies, such as gangster movies, crime movies, murder mysteries, etc, with no expectations of who should come out alive, or who should "win" at the end. But, at the end of the day, Batman is a superhero. This is a superhero film. However seriously Nolan treats the source material (making TDK resemble Heat much more than any previous Batman film, for example), it doesn't change the fact that people go to these movies to escape from the real world, to see a battle between Good and Evil, and to see Good triumph.
Now, that doesn't mean you can't do different or unique things or make meaningful statements about the human condition, such as in the previous two films in this trilogy, but at the end of the day, people want to see Batman emerge victorious - one way or another. If he doesn't, this movie won't get the glowing reviews and positive word of mouth that The Dark Knight or The Avengers had. Fanboys may not care, but the general public will. And without the general public going out in droves to see this movie, it won't make the money WB wants it to. They won't allow that to happen.
But forget the studio execs. Let's talk about Nolan for a moment. One of the major reasons why I think Bruce Wayne won't die in The Dark Knight Rises is because Nolan, the cast & crew, and the marketing team have all been TELEGRAPHING the fact that Batman dies. The poster says "THE LEGEND ENDS". Bale has gone out of his way to tell everyone he's never going to be Batman again (which I believe, but doesn't necessarily mean his Batman is killed - just ask Michael Keaton). Nolan has said, repeatedly, that TDKR ends in a way that brings his trilogy to a conclusion and leaves no room for sequels. Clearly, everyone involved with TDKR wants you to think Bruce Wayne meets his demise at the end of it - and that's exactly why I think it WON'T happen.
Look at Nolan's track record. He is infamous for keeping secrets, and for not allowing studios to show any footage from the last act of his films in marketing. Why would he all of a sudden not only allow but TAKE PART IN an effort to telegraph the ending to the biggest movie he's ever made? He wouldn't. And that's why it doesn't make any sense. Nolan & Co want you to think Bruce Wayne will die. They want you to sit in the theater and wait in suspense for the moment it happens with the same mix of certainty and anticipation you have for the moment he dons the cowl in the Batman Begins. And they'll give us something completely different.
As for his assertions that The Dark Knight Rises will close out the trilogy in a way that requires no follow-up: think of it from a writer's point of view. He may not be saying, necessarily, that a fourth picture would be impossible because the protagonist is dead, but that it will not be necessary because he's completed the story arc he wants to tell. Take another Nolan picture, Memento, for example...
SPOILER ALERT Leonard Shelby, the protagonist of that story, survives the film... but it never received a sequel, and never will - because it told the story it needed to tell. That could be what Nolan means about TDKR - it concludes HIS Bruce Wayne story, but not necessarily in a way that requires Bruce's demise. END SPOILER
So there you have it. I'm sure many of you will disagree vehemently with me, and a few of you might agree with everything I've said. But I've been reading quite a bit of fan speculation on this movie, and I have to say, there's not much dissent - the popular opinion is that Bruce Wayne will die in TDKR.
I hope you guys are wrong, if only for the twenty dollars I have riding on it.
