The Dark Knight Rises Is Undoubtably the Most Overrated Batman Film Ever

The Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy will go down as one of the best series of films in history, let alone films based off of a comic.

We’ve seen Batman portrayed in various lights, like the classic Adam West TV show and film. They introduced darkness to the film with Michael Keaton starring in Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns, and then the more recent brutal Ben Affleck, or “Batfleck” as some may call him, in the DC Extended Universe. Even the nipple suits are worn by Val Kilmer and George Clooney in their less popular movies — I liked these movies, if I’m being honest. These were all great in their own way, but most will say they don’t compare to Christian’s Bale take on Batman.

As a Batman fan, I remember seeing the trailer for Batman Begins and realizing, outside of comics or the animated series, we have never seen a Batman origin story unless you’re not counting the fantastic animated movie Mask of the Phantasm. In that case, I’m only excluding due to it not being a live-action film. Knowing that we would see a young Bruce train and build himself into The Batman in front of our eyes made me so excited to see it first hand, and when I did, it exceeded my expectations. It was a great start to the franchise, but it can barely be compared to its sequel.

The Dark Knight, the first live-action Batman film that doesn’t include the character’s official name, hit the theaters and shocked everyone. Before the release of TDK, Jack Nicholson was considered the one and only Joker for most millennials and modern fans — that’s excluding Mark Hamel’s voiceover work. People didn’t know what to expect when it was announced that Heath Ledger was donning the purple suit and green hair. It goes without saying that if we expected one of the most outstanding performances in cinema, it would have still been an understatement.

Bale did a fantastic job as Bruce and Batman in the two films. Bringing you into the world of Batman shows how dark and lonely it can be, which is something no Batman has done before him. With these two films having such a cultural impact, when the third and final installment, The Dark Knight Rises, was announced, we believed another TDK or better was on the way

After the release, the world had their minds blown. “Why so serious?” was replaced with “Ah, you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark” as viewers’ favorite quote from a Dark Knight villain. TDKR felt like a perfect ending to the trilogy, but I began to second guess that conclusion as time progressed. It dawned on me that this movie may actually be a terrible movie.

I was a huge fan of the movie, and I still find some joy in rewatching due to nostalgia. Still, when I sit back and think about the film, I have to admit that it is pretty overrated. The movie was saved by Bane’s one-liners and the hype of The Dark Knight. Now hear me out, I have my reasons for thinking this, and after I share, hopefully, you’ll see where I’m coming from.

1) Annoying Batman Voice

This one is plain and simple. Batman’s voice in the first two movies was dark, rough, and mysterious, but by TDKR, it just felt like Bruce had a chest cold and couldn’t find any throat lozenges.

2) Plot Armor/Plot Holes

I know it’s a superhero movie, so we should expect some things to be illogical, but the Dark Knight Trilogy was great because of the realism. It felt like Gotham was a real place because of the plots and characters. However, we have to draw the line somewhere. Bruce received a doctor evaluation that tells him he probably couldn’t play a pick-up game of basketball, let alone fight crime. So we can get past that, sure. Now tell me how this man gets his back broken by Bane, heals in a cave, and climbs out. Might I add that one of the attempts to climb out, he fell several feet with only the support of a rope around his waist, and it somehow didn’t cut him in half. He then gets back to Gotham with zero resources. I guess we can just say the reason this is all possible is that he’s Batman.

3) Useless Bane

Bane was great as a villain. Intimidating with excellent fashion sense. I mean, did you see that coat? There’s only one bad thing I could say about him — he was horrible as Bane. I am not a comic book purist, but I appreciate when an established character is portrayed in a way that does right by the base material. Having no form of “venom” was the first thing that ticked me off, but I felt I could look past that. They gave him a different storyline than the original by tying him to the League of Shadows, but it was close enough and gave a new perspective that I could appreciate. By the end of the film, that small amount of appreciation was destroyed after they revealed that Bane was nothing more than a lackey for Talia al Ghul. Even the origin story we heard was really hers instead of his. That watered down both of their backstories and did a complete disservice to who Bane really is.

4) Lazy Robin Plug

There are so many options for Robin with a multitude of ages, genders, and backstories. Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Damien Wayne, and Carrie Kelley are all Robins. We didn’t even get into his other sidekicks and members of the Bat-family. Going with an adult police officer with the middle name “Robin” as some form of an easter egg is just plain lazy. It felt cool at the moment, but it didn’t add much to the story besides a semi-mysterious memory. Again, I may come off as a comic purist, but I just would expect more out of a franchise that has contributed so much to the story of Batman.

5) Senseless Bomb

The final scene featured a fusion reactor that was made into a nuclear bomb. The issue with this is the reactor had a failsafe that would submerge the reactor in water so it wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands, BUT THEY DID NOT USE IT and never gave a reason why they chose not to. They just turned it into a bomb for Bane to use. Going back to plot holes and plot armor, we all love that Bruce Wayne got away and could live his life, but in what world would he have had the time to escape from that plane and not be in the blast radius? Writing off the explanation to Lucius Fox discovering that the autopilot mechanism was fixed before the incident just doesn’t sit right.

I know this movie is one that everyone may love, and people reading this may curse my name for attempting to ruin a piece of American film history. Still, it was time someone called a spade a spade. The feelings I had the first time I watched this movie still exist and I still quote Bane to this day, but in my heart, I have to admit that this movie just isn’t as good as it once seemed. Hopefully, I didn’t anger anyone too much. Feel free to let me know your thoughts. I’m always down for a good movie discussion.