7 Problems I Have With The Dark Knight Trilogy

In the short time I've been on this site I've made it quite clear that I love Christopher Nolan's take on Batman (as if my avatar could fool you there). In fact I love this franchise so much that I ended up in a little debate with some readers in the comment section on my last article. There they attempted to prove that the films failed because they based their opinion on the modern Batman comics. This complaint doesn't bother me but I will admit there are things about these movies that I don't like. So I've constructed this list to show that even though these are great movies in my eyes there are problems I have with them.

Now how I'm doing this list is that it isn't a straight forward top 10 list. Instead I'll analyze 2 problems I have with each individual movie as well as a single complaint I have with this take on Batman as a whole totaling 7 (I would have made it 99 but I've been too busy having a life). Also keep in mind that I'll talk about the movies in great detail so SPOILERS may be present. So sit back and enjoy my list of problems I have with the Dark Knight trilogy.

BATMAN BEGINS

1) TOO TRADITIONAL SECOND HALF

This is a common complaint with this movie and one I'm bothered by as well. In the movie Nolan was sure to take his time developing Bruce Wayne showing his training and the motivation that it took for him to eventually decide to become a crime fighter...then for the second half they rush to get him in the Batman costume. It almost feels like Tim Burton threw in a couple of pages of his next Batman movie into the script. The problem becomes more apparent when you factor in how distinctly different the movie feels compared to the rest of the franchise as well.

Now a lot of this was probably studio interference since they wanted Batman to have a significant role in the movie (for obvious reasons). But the final product feels like they gave up on an original movie idea and just changed it to a traditional Batman movie.

2) THE ACTION

This sort of goes along with the other point but it's worth mentioning as an independent complaint. The action is hard to make out and ridiculously up-close causing us to have a hard time making out exactly what was happening. Nolan showed us that this was his first attempt at an actual action movie and it shows with how he staged these action sequences.

Many of you are probably wondering why I'm including this as a point for Batman Begins and not the entire trilogy, well that's because I felt Nolan really improved over time with the action. In the Dark Knight it got to the point where it served the purpose that action scenes are supposed to (not great but ok) and by the Dark Knight Rises it got pretty impressive. But I'm complaining about the franchise here so I'll say that in the first movie it is a major fault.

THE DARK KNIGHT

1) LAU KIDNAPPING SCENE

I'm not talking about the scene itself but rather questioning it's point in the overall movie. On its own it's actually pretty well done and shows Batman can use strategy instead of just going in all ninja like. What I'm complaining about is that it's only in the movie to create a subtle reference to Guantanimo Bay.

Really think about it, it starts off with Lau moving to Hong Kong where the Gotham police have no jurisdiction (fair enough). But then they send Batman after him, which makes no sense as they don't know he has the resources to do it. Then the movie devotes a good length of the movie to show us all the steps it took for them to get him back, and only the fact that Lau is now in the custody of the police and Lucius established the sonar (I'll get to that but it could have been brought up anywhere else, especially since it doesn't do much in this scene) it adds nothing to the movie.

Now I don't know if that was Nolan's intention to make a statement of Guantanimo but considering all the comparisons between this movie and the war on terror it's pretty hard not to see that statement.

2) BAT-SONAR

Here's an example of when a more realistic interpretation can make your job as a writer much harder. During the Lau scene Lucius shows Bruce a device that can use a cell phone signal to create a sonar effect for mapping a room. By the climax of the movie Batman applies this to every cell phone in the city which enables him to spy on all of Gotham.

The problem is that pretty ridiculous for the more realistic Batman. The idea itself is sort of cool as it gives Batman a gadget that works the same way that bats operate in the wild. In a more sci fi version of Batman that could allow other heroes like Superman and Flash to exist this would work but here it sort of removes suspension of disbelief for a while.

Not to mention it makes the ending action scene a bit nausiating as you have the constantly vibrating sonar on screen for the action. Maybe if they did it like detective mode in the Arkhamverse it would of been cool and easier to watch but it still would be out of place in the Nolanverse.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

1) BRUCE CRIPPLED

Here's something I never understood about the movie. In the Dark Knight Rises, one of the reasons Bruce can't immediately don the cape and cowl is that he damaged his leg beyond repair and needs a cane in order to get around. It's also rendered pointless when he slaps on a robotic brace that enables him to run around and kick brick pillars (those evil evil pillars). It's just a time waster that amounts to nothing for the rest of the movie except maybe to make him look like old Bruce from Batman Beyond.

Now this has nothing to do with how quickly Bruce gets healed from his back breaking (I just amounted that to a lack of indication on the time it took to recover). I'm just saying that if they at least had Lucius talk about the brace and how it works (or you know let him not be crippled) or even if they just explained what happened to his leg since he seemed fine by the end of the Dark Knight it would have been fine.

2) THE TWIST ENDING (SPOILER)

Anyone who saw this movie knows this twist all too well. At the end of a second epic fight with Bane it's revealed that he was actually working for Talia Al Ghul who was under the disguise of...Miranda Tate, who we barely got to know up to that point. Not only that and the fact most fans were able to see it coming but it also made Bane look more like a henchman then a great antagonist (though I do still believe much of the plan he came up with).

Also this reveal didn't do that much since in order to keep her cover at Wayne Enterprise there's really nothing she could have done to effect the plan. Bane was talking to Daggett about ruining the company while she was trying to get it up and running. Her role couldn't have been to tell them where the weapons were stored since those were off the books and she couldn't have given too many orders since she had a full time job as a cover then after the bombs blew up she was spending time forming a plan with the police with Lucius. She couldn't have contacted Bane without raising suspicion.

A much better twist in my mind would have John Blake as the double agent (though not turning out to be Talia, we don't want kids thinking about how that would work). Think about it, his back story is only what we are told, he's become close to Bruce with only knowing him for a few weeks, and his operation of planning an escape for the cops would have worked with Bane's plan to raise hope in Gotham before having it crash down.

ALL IN ALL

EXPOSITION

There's really not much to say here that hasn't been said before but Nolan has a tendency to show rather than tell. Pretty much everything is analyzed by the characters in these movies. It leads to great speeches like when Alfred talks about the man who stole the gems but others feel like conversations the audience should be having at the end of the movie. Again many people bring up this complaint but it's also something that Nolan hasn't had too much of an improvement on.

And those are my complaints for the Dark Knight trilogy and you know what, I still love these movies. All movies have pretty major plot holes from the submarine scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark to the fact that no one was in the room when Kane said his last word in Citizen Kane. Even contrived moments can be forgiven since these movies need to add those moments to make them exciting.

The concept of whether you like the movie or not is if you can forgive these mistakes and leaps in logic to enjoy this fun movie. Anyone can find a multitude of errors in movies but none of that should matter if you as an individual enjoys it (except if it's Batman and Robin in which case I don't know you). Keep this in mind the next time you read a negative review on your favorite movie.

There's my list on complaints of the Dark Knight trilogy. Like if you like and comment below on your thoughts. Also please make some suggestions about what kind of articles you'd like me to write. See you next time.