Are there people out there who have beef with the way Christopher Nolan wrapped up his Dark Knight Trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises? If so, send them my way and we'll have a little chat. Seriously, while the movie may not be perfect, Nolan wrapped up every single theme he introduced beautifully. Ideas on the legacy passed from fathers to sons and the enduring strength of Batman as a symbol came to powerful conclusions without catering to the audience's need for a happy ending. Honestly, Marvel and Warner Bros. could take a lesson from it.
One person who definitely agrees is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who was revealed to be Robin in the film's closing moment. While there were months of rumors afterwards that he would reprise the role in a continuation, obviously that never happened and the actor tells Cinemablend why he feels Nolan's trilogy ended in just the right way...
“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.”
Before you go nuts, he's not taking any shots at Marvel there. He's simply stating a fact of how they do things. Obviously I agree with his assessment here, and that Nolan fought to make sure his story could stand on its apart from any cinematic universes only makes it more special.
