Chris Nolan holds the crown when you talk about flawless superhero films. The Dark Knight was a masterpiece, and not just because it was a great superhero movie. It was a fantastic heist movie, has one of the best opening sequences in all of film (EVER), and cast the perfect method actor to play the Clown Prince in Heath Ledger. He is the only actor to ever win an Academy Award for a role in a superhero film. The pacing of the film is great, and the anticipation that builds throughout the entire film is successful in a way that I have seldom seen.
This was a film franchise that Nolan himself only came back for Dark Knight Rises to zclose the trilogy. Nolan wanted this to be the perfect finale to his real-world Batman movies. Although most people criticized Rises for not coming close to its predecessors, it closed out Batman’s character arc. It also finished the trilogy in a way that didn’t lead to multiple sequels. It finished the series, but left the idea open that even though Bruce Wayne was no longer going to be Batman, someone else could take over the cowl. Batman is an idea, a symbol of Justice, and the suit could be worn by anyone upholding the standards of the role.
Out doing rounds for his upcoming film Snowden, Joseph Gordon-Levitt was asked if he ever wanted to see Blake become Batman. He simply says ‘no’, and that any other sequels would just be unnecessary:
“I know we’re all used to the sort of Marvel movies, which are just kind of endless series. They don’t really have a beginning, middle, and end. But I think Nolan very much thought of that movie as a conclusion, and there’s a theme that runs through all three of those movies that begins in the first movie, runs through the second movie and it concludes in that moment where he says that Batman is more than a man, Batman is a symbol. And so to have another man other than Bruce Wayne kind of becoming Batman at the end of that trilogy, I think that’s the perfect ending to that story.”
I was certain that we were about to see Gordon-Levitt become Nightwing or Robin at the end of the film. The ending that is there does leave these ideas open to interpretation.
Snowden, directed by Oliver Stone hits theaters on September 16th.
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