I've read Knowles since about '97 I think. The first thing I remember seeing on AICN was a pic of one of the bugs from Starship Troopers. So I have an awful lot of time, and indeed respect, for him. The amount of haters he gets having a go at him in Talkbacks for being fat, ginger, in a wheelchair, and opinionated (or combos of these) is stupid and depressing. This is why I've never become involved in contributing to online geek forums, because it always just descends into a slanging match of who's nerdier and more insulting than the next loser. Hence, I believe in Harry Knowles.
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| Hey folks, Harry here. |
Therefore it felt like a real shame to read of his "profound disappointment" with Nolan's final chapter. I hadn't read anything before seeing the film for the first time at an early morning IMAX screening. A perfect way to experience this apocalyptic vision of Gotham being dragged into a dictatorial hell.
Knowles' biggest gripe is essentially he doesn't believe the film depicts how Batman would act. He calls bullshit on Wayne hiding away for eight years, hates the reveal of Talia al Ghul as a convenient plot twist, and feels the ending is a cop out designed to leave the way open for any future U-turns made by Nolan and Bale on returning to the franchise.
Now, what's often Knowles' greatest strength as an entertaining nerd writer, is his undoing here. It's too much about him. What he wants to see happen in a film about The Batman, is neither here nor there when engaging with what Nolan has produced. It seems to me that Batman is the comics character most open for multiple stylistic interpretations. Be it the 60's campiness, the kids animated adventures, the Burton Burtonisms, Batman Beyond, that cartoon about the dog Batman - all are as valid as each other as ways of depicting the character. Obviously it's then entirely legitimate to get into debates on quality and coolness within these depictions, but to seemingly dismiss the film out of hand because it's not what you, or your friend Paul Dini, want Batman to be getting up to, is redundant.
And as a kind of mash-up of Knightfall and The Dark Knight Returns, it's not even as if Nolan has particularly removed Batman from any pre-established world he's not already inhabited in other (revered) stories.
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| OK so Nolan left out the dinosaur, but Bane still breaks the Bat, in a wince-inducing Knightfall inspired moment |
Lazy criticism is also levelled about so called plot-holes. Ooo, how long must have it taken Bane to take Batman to the prison? Ooo, how did he get back onto the isolated Gotham island? Simple answer is, I don't know. And more importantly I don't care. Presumably at some point Bruce Wayne also had his tea and did a wee. Don't need to see that either.
And as for the ending, admittedly I expected and would've felt it appropriate to finish as Alfred looked up and smiled in the restaurant. The reveal though can surely be read like the Inception ending. Take it to mean what you will. It's either real or it's his fantasy. Either is cool. The fact that Nolan is prepared, and indeed allowed, to end a summer comic franchise movie in such an ambiguous fashion, should be something to treasure and applaud.
Personally on both viewings I was in pieces from when Blake gets the kids to get back on the bus. The combination of a beleaguered hero (apparently) sacrificing himself, kids being in awe of a man dressed as a Bat, Michael Caine blubbing and blaming himself for failure, and the promise of a new hero rising, is going to kill me every time.
DKR is a triumphant and glorious ending to a trilogy which we as Batman fans have been privileged to enjoy. It's sad that Harry Knowles couldn't find a way to appreciate Nolan's achievement, hankering as he does for a version of the character from out of his brain. But who knows, when DC inevitably reboot in a couple of years, maybe he'll get that - and inevitably that'll be cool by me too.
