One of My Least Favorite Scenes in The Dark Knight Rises

[Winter]

I think it's fair to say that The Dark Knight Rises is the most polarizing movie in the The Dark Knight Trilogy and it's not hard to see why; it's overly long, a lot of ideas go nowhere, characters make some pretty questionable and stupid choices (why did Gordon keep that letter on him for a few days) and it seems more interested in the themes then the characters.

It's by no means a bad movie but it could have been better.

But one scene always stood out to me as just a true face palming moment that is the culmination of a character and character arc I don't much care for, Blake on the Bridge. To summarize and I'm going in with full spoilers cause I'm pretty sure you've all seen this film, it's the final act of the film and Batman and his allies are trying to defuse a nuke (some days you really NEED to get rid of a bomb) and Blake has been given the task of getting as many people as he can to get out of the city and as far away from the blast radios as possible.

Now one thing to keep in mind is that the rest of the world and more specifically the cops guarding the bridge have been told that if anyone leaves the city the nuke WILL be activated and kill everyone in the city and likely outside of it.

Now that we have all the context here's the scene. Blake arrives and tries to convince the cops guarding the bridge that the situation has changed and that it's now safe to leave the city. The cops don't believe him and try to get him to not cross the bridge, giving him warnings, firing off warning shots before destroying a bit of the bridge itself. Blake yells at the cops, calling them idiots and that they've gotten them all killed.

This is meant to be the final straw for Blake, where he loses complete faith in the system and law enforcement and goes off to be either Batman or Nightwing I'm honestly not sure and frankly my dear I don't give a damn. And the reason I can barely muster no damns to be given is that I am 100% on the side of the cops here.

Look at this scene from their perspective, all they know is what they've been told and what they have been told is if anyone leaves they all die. As Blake himself says their orders are out of date the thing of it is NO ONE HAS SENT NEW ORDERS!!! As far as we know neither Batman nor Gordon made any effort to contact the outside world to inform everyone that the bomb would soon be out of commission.

No one in the outside world has seen what's happening right now and the only thing that they do know is that the CIA went in and was killed and that Batman is now in the city again.

And now here comes some random guy, who they don't really know, who's been in the city all this time, trying to get across the bridge and all he has to convince them that everything is fine is his word. For all they know this is just someone trying to get out of the city and using the kids on the bus as hostages to try and make himself look heroic. They have no reason to trust him and Blake gives them no reason to change their minds. He just keeps trying to insist that he's being honest and that he's not a someone just trying to get out of the city.

So, based on the information they have, at this moment, they have no reason to trust Blake and if he leaves then they and everyone else in Gotham will die in nuclear explosion. In this moment they are making the best choice based on the information they know to be factually true vs. some random fellow cop has no proof to back him up just his word.

Further compounding this is a scene set earlier in the film when Bane reads a letter that is Gordon's confession about what really happened the night Harvey Dent died.

Blake is angry at Gordon for lying to everyone and framing Batman, his personal hero BTW, for a crime he didn't commit. The problem here is a point that the film never calls attention to, at least in this moment, this was Batman's idea but the film frames it in such a way that makes it seem like it was all Gordon's idea and also ignores the fact that at the time it was the only real option they had cause it was either keep Harvey's good name intact and also keep all the criminals he put away locked up or let the world know the monster he had become.

Yet the film clearly wants us to side with Blake on this and condemn Gordon and later the cops who keep him from leaving to show why the system is broken and that he needs to leave to become Batman. Seeing how a broken system that leads to good people making bad choices is fine but in this film it side with Blake and leaves out key details or refuses to acknowledge that the people he's angry at either might have a point, that his own hero had a part to play in the things he doesn't approve of, or that those he's deems stupid are making the best choice with what little information they have.

Blake is by no means the worst character in this series but he's such an author's pet. The film makes it so he's in the right even though he's really not.

I'm honestly on Gordon and the cops on the bridge side and Blake is an self righteous ass who barely does anything of note in this film besides being able to figure out that Batman is Bruce way because of his fake smile.

Oh and then there's that, the way he goes to talk to Bruce for the first time, he goes to see Bruce and asks to talk to him but Alfred tells him that Bruce doesn't see anyone without an appointment. Blake follows this up by threatening to get a warrant and that Bruce will be investigated for the murder of Harvey Dent.

Remember this is the guy who looses faith in the system yet he himself uses that same system to threaten someone that, as far as anyone knows, is innocent and has not committed any crime which is a clear abuse of power and is a crime. Sure it's a bluff but the fact that his response to this is threatening an innocent person does not endear him to me.

Part of the problem with this film is that it's trying to show the problems with the way the current law enforcement in Gotham is incompetent and has screwed priorities vs. Blake who is suppose to be seen as this great hero and worthy successor to Batman. Yet in the film the cops actions make more sense and they come off as so much more competent and rational then Blake.

This is almost as bad as Nick in Jurassic Park: The Lost World where we're meant to side with him on this subject and while I'm not against the points he brings up he ends up being more unlikable the people he's angry at.

Blake is a brash, hot headed, self righteous hypocrite who condemns people who are acting pretty rational when you get down to it.

Again, I'm not against the points he brings up but he is only right about anything because the writers bend over backwards to make him right and refuses to point out that those he's angry at have valid point or are making the best choices they can with the information they have.

[Thebestoftherest]

I think in most other Batman story, Blake would be a villain a corrupt cop that worship Batman for all the wrong reasons, and throw his shift when people don't follow his stupid plan.

[McAvoy]

I have alot of problems with the movie.

That was one of them. Just as you described.

The other is the trope that a hero or fighter after years of no training regains his ability to fight like he is back in his prime. The other implication is that prime Batman from the first two movies wouldn't have an issue with Bane in their first encounter.

[Nobody700]

I was about to give you a 0, Winter, but you called Blake a hothead, which he clearly is. What a hothead, get him out of this movie.

But in serious, yeah, Blake is... a character I forgot was in the film and NEED to be reminded. I remember almost everyone else... but NOT Blake. That is how unimportant he was, and I am baffled why Batman made him... the new Batman? Than again, I question a LOT of things... like why Batman got with Selina... when she SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Madner Kami]

like why Batman got with Selina... when she SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, she looks like Anne Hathaway and....well...

when she SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...this. You said it.

[Nobody700]

like why Batman got with Selina... when she SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, she looks like Anne Hathaway and....well...

when she SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...this. You said it.

... I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed

[Thebestoftherest]

like why Batman got with Selina... when she SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, she looks like Anne Hathaway and....well...

when she SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...this. You said it.

... I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed

You did give MK the benefit of the doubt.