I love the Nolanverse Batman movies, well except for the third. I have a tepid relationship with “Dark Knight Rises” and the awful light it chose to shine on Bruce Wayne. Christopher Nolan and screenwriter David S. Goyer’s take on the iconic vigilante sucks. I’m not talking about Christian Bale’s breathy performance as Bruce/Bats. What I’m referring to is the characterization of Batman. The Christopher Nolan Batman is a terrible hero. For proof of my assertion let’s take an in depth look at the timeline of Batman’s activities in canon.
2005-2006 – Batman debuts in Gotham and foils Ras Al Ghul’s plan to destroy Gotham for ummm…reasons. Bruce convinces himself that condemning a man to a fiery death, when he could have easily saved him, is not murder. Prior to his totally-not-murder of Ras, a full blown riot breaks out in the city and Batman only really helps a girl he has a crush on.
Cue movie dos. Bruce continues his nightly vigilantism until Rachel Dawes, the girl he knew but never dated, dies in an explosion. He hangs on long enough to beat the villain (Joker) and doesn’t actually kill him this time. Batman does however accidentally kill his former target of obsession’s fiance. He fakes being a murderer in order to help Lieutenant Gordon illegally clean up crime in Gotham.
On the run and convinced Rachel wanted to run away with him, leaving behind who he calls a “White Knight” in Harvey Dent, Bruce descends into depression and isolation. He no longer dons the cape and cowl. Somehow no super-villains attack Gotham in the wake of Batman’s disappearance.
2006-2014 – Bruce spends his time limping around his mansion, effectively disappearing from the public eye. This coincides with the sudden disappearance of Batman but no one thinks this is suspicious at all.
2014 – Entre vous movie trois. After getting a visit from a pretty girl Bruce decides to do the Batman just in time tonot foil a robbery that coincidentally costs him his fortune. He enlists the help of Selina Kyle aka Catwoman to find the villain known as Bane and she almost immediately betrays him. Batman’s back is broken and he is sent to the prison that formerly held his new-found nemesis.
Months go by as Bruce gets his back fixed in the most scientific of ways, by getting punched in the spine. He then makes a Jordan-esque leap of faith and escapes the prison. Opting for reasonable approach, he lowers a rope into the prison allowing unknown numbers of the world’s worst criminals to escape. World’s Greatest Detective he is not.
Bruce journeys home (somehow), arrives in Gotham and immediately trusts the woman whose actions led directly to him having his back broken. He then spends his time gasoline-painting a giant bat on a bridge, trusting another woman who literally stabs him in the back, getting rescued by Catwoman, flying a bomb away from the city and faking his own death. Whew, that’s a lot. Oh yeah and he somehow, in his unseen journey back from the hole, amended his will leaving his superhero-ing to an orphan who outed him as Batman by looking him in the eye.
Christopher Nolan’s Batman only patrolled the streets of Gotham for little over a year before leaving the city in the hands of a corrupt government. Only when his interests are in jeopardy does he come out of retirement. He is successful in saving his city but quits again to live out the rest of his days with a jewel thief. Also Catwoman is apparently a terrible cat burglar as she has a “long rap sheet”.
Commissioner Gordon’s prior actions in collusion with Bruce probably lead to a lot of overturned convictions, millions in legal settlements and every criminal convicted during Batman and Gordon’s reign being freed. Also Bruce lets all of his friends grieve over his “death” for months until the plot reveals to them that he is actually alive. Nolan’s Batman is truly a fucking dickhead.
The Batman character I have always liked is the one who tows the line between good and bad, he’s one bad act shy of being a super-villain The stories I was attracted to of Bats were the darker ones. Stories like “The Killing Joke” where Batman avenges Barbara Gordon’s paralysis at the hands of The Joker (see end of column for more on this). I can accept Batman as a do-gooder who doesn’t kill. However I prefer the version of Batman who is just shy of being a sociopath. I can get behind a Batman who plots and plans for ever his best friends to betray him. Batman is a crazy bastard but he’s awesome because he’s “The Goddamn Batman”!
CONTINUED at http://fillthevoid.net
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