I think at this point, spoiler tags are no longer necessary in this thread.

So be it then!

In answer to Magnus. I'm unsure what you mean by escaping being Batman. I mean it can work from a religious afterlife perspective I guess, or if you choose to believe that scene at the end in Florence is real but otherwise its escape via suicide, not really the actions of a man who fears death for me. Sure you escape being the Bat but its a bit severe.

I honestly don't, I felt it was just Alfred projecting. Is the Florence is real view the dominant one?

Although I just remembered that offhand line about the missing necklace........ Hmmmm ok rethinking this.

Plus, why would Alfred imagine Selina at the table? He only knows her as a thief Bruce is investigating in hopes of finding his mother's pearls.

My overall sense of the film: Christopher and Jonathan Nolan are not as engaged and inspired this time around, so they try to compensate with unprecedented technical magnificence and self-conscious "complexity." The film has so many characters and diversions and incidents and themes, but a few of the core elements (the nuclear bomb, for instance) are just not very creative or interesting. It's superior if regarded as the end of Bruce Wayne's journey (which is important, of course), and those last moments are indeed very poignant. It falters when regarded as an action suspense superhero film unto itself.

Tom Hardy's physical presence is awe-inspiring, and he rivals Heath Ledger’s Joker for an hour or so, but after his first fight with Batman, Nolan loses interest in the character or seems to at least. Bane never crescendos, he peters out. Anne Hathaway is convincing, sexy, and, it's clear, having a blast; I was not a big fan of her casting at first, but she shines. Marion Cotillard is under utilized for most of the film and then relied upon too heavily for the third act; she's beautiful and always interesting, but the character is very poorly written.

I'm pretty sure the Florence scene was meant to be real.

BTW, I like the fact that you don't know wether John Blake will decide to become another Batman or if he will try to become a new superhero, inspired by Batman (which is what the concept of "Robin" refers to).

Not to brag about anything, but I did call that Blake might become Robin at the end.

(ok I,m bragging)

Couple of scenes reminded me even of Avengers(though were not exactly similar).

1. One the scene between Bruce and Selina at the ball. After would call out about brazen costume for a cat burglar, selina asked so what are you hiding beneath yours. Bruce replied something like Billionaire/philantropist(I am not sure about exact line.
2. Scene at the end when he takes of with the bomb.

I would prefer WB make a Batman movie with JGL than rebooting batman. But that will not happen for sure.

This also shares with The Avengers a fast, unceremonious "end" of the main villain. Though the Hulk/Loki moment in The Avengers is fresh and hilarious. Catwoman shooting Bane is just...mediocre. A moment of deflation and disappointment.

Happy birthday.

As you already mentioned, Lucius Fox found out that Bruce had fixed the autopilot thing with a software patch 6 months before.

Though, it doesn't make sense that Bruce would lie about it to Selina, when he ended up with her. Also, Alfred's grief at the grave seems a bit over the top if he knew that Bruce was alive. Unless, of course, he found out afterwards.

I suppose Bruce could have decided to fake Batman and Bruce Wayne's death in case there were any other League of Shadows members out there who knew that Bruce was Batman.

I knew from imdb.com that they had cast a young Talia, but, I had forgotten about it before I watched the reveal that she was the child. Regardless, while I liked the way Selina was handled and written, I was not fond of how they handled Talia. She was written as a criminal mastermind, not as someone who had genuine feelings for Bruce (like in some of the comics). What criminal mastermind is going to ride in a truck with a nuke about to go off? She uses underlings for the bulk of the movie and then goes to ride in the truck with the nuke, willing to die along with everyone else. WTH! Not a particularly intelligent criminal mastermind.

Bane's end didn't bother me. I thought it was realistic.

My grade - B

The way I see it, she didn't expect Batman to beat Bane. It wasn't in her plans to reveal herself as Talia al Ghul and ride the truck with the nuke. But when she saw that Batman was beating Bane, she had to improvise, desperately trying to achieve her goals, even if it means dying for it.

I'm not sure why Bane and the League toyed with with Gotham for months on end if their ultimate plan was to detonate a nuclear bomb downtown. The Joker's motive was to show how brutal and cynical instincts lay right below the polite surface of modern society, but the League of Shadows just hate Gotham's corruption and want to level the city to 'restore balance.' So why wait? Other than the film needing time to show Bruce's physical and spiritual recovery.

To give them hope. Obviously you weren't paying attention?

Maybe he was busy trying to find flaws.

Gotta go with this.

Interesting. I do remember now how Ra's was going to use the fear gas to drive Gotham mad, so I s'pose this is an extension of the same plan.

Thanks for giving a helpful answer.

I've been thinking about this whole thing: is Alfred really seeing Bruce and Selina at the end or is he just imagining that. I remember when I saw Titanic with my parents back in 1997. At the end (I think?), when the old lady goes to the edge of the boat and throws the jewel in the sea, I remember my mom thought it was real, and my dad thought that she was imagining that right before dying.

I guess that's the same kind of thing here. It's cool that Nolan left a few things up for interpretation at the end. It will make people talk about the movie.

There's no reason to think it's an imagination from Alfred.

The more I allow it to marinate the more I enjoyed it.

Kudo's Nolan.

I loved it and give in an A. I am glad I rewatched BB and TDK because it made the experience even better. I agree about Hathaway. She really surprised me and gave a great performance. I also enjoyed Levit's performance as well, but of course Bale was great and did an amazing job.

Bane was such a complete badass.

Let us remember all the nay-sayers who claimed that Hardy couldn't play Bane because he was not muscular enough, not tall enough, not big enough. The way Nolan made the movie, Bane looks and feels like a badass far more imposing than Batman. Even if Bale is fairly muscular too and is taller than Hardy.

I don't remember anyone doubting Hardy... Ledger, yes, (many seemed convinced only Johnny Depp or Crispin Glover could play the Joker) but not Hardy, who was a total beast in Bronson and was familiar to Nolan fans from Inception. Not even trying to argue with you. I seriously don't remember the choice of Hardy inspiring anything but praise.

The only problem with Bane is how poorly Nolan utilizes him during the last hour.