Nolanverse: Exploring the Greatest Illusion in Movie History: An Unauthorized New Analysis of The Dark Knight Rises by Robert E. Eliot

On The Table Read Magazine, “the best entertainment eBook magazine UK“, delve into the enigmatic ending of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises with Robert E. Eliot’s thought-provoking book Nolanverse, which challenges conventional theories and uncovers hidden depths in the iconic trilogy’s conclusion.

Written by Robert E. Eliot

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Nolanverse

Years before winning an Academy Award for Best Director for his acclaimed biopic Oppenheimer, the renowned filmmaker Christopher Nolan solidified his status as a living legend in action cinema with the mega-blockbuster Dark Knight trilogy, which offers a captivating depiction of Batman, one of the world’s most widely recognizable fictional characters. 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises serves as the conclusion to that iconic trilogy. And undoubtedly, one of the most remarkable things about that film is the way that it concludes.

A Contradictory Climax

Whereas the first two entries in the trilogy wrap up in a straightforward fashion, Rises sees fit to close out the whole saga with two seemingly contradictory plot details. (Spoiler alert!) On the one hand, at the film’s climax, we see Christian Bale’s Batman piloting an aircraft with a deadly time bomb away from his city of Gotham, and then we witness a dramatic explosion erupting over the distant sea. And yet on the other hand, the film closes out with some startling imagery of Bruce Wayne, who is alive and well in Italy. Clearly, in ending in this way, Rises has been designed to be discussed at length beyond the movie theater.

As a fan of the trilogy, I vividly remember that when Rises came out, people around me were eager to debate and talk amongst themselves about the ending. And certainly, one general theory became tremendously widespread: Based on the imagery of Bruce Wayne in Italy, many viewers assumed a simple happy ending in which the hero has survived the climax and goes on to live a contented life ever after.

Facing the Facts

The problem with that theory, however, is that facts are stubborn things. If we’re willing to go back and watch the film’s climax, we can see that the hero of this tale was near the very center of a giant explosion, so he couldn’t possibly have survived. In my view, we must continue to take seriously the suspicion that any attentive person would harbor upon viewing that tense scene: Nolan has given us a film in which Batman dies.

The Dream Theory Dismissed

Now, I also remember that there were other viewers who resorted to a different theory, which asserts that because he couldn’t possibly have survived, the imagery that we see of Bruce Wayne in Italy is simply taking place in somebody’s imagination—a fantasy or a dream—and therefore ought not to be taken seriously as an actual event in the plot of the film. However, in 2014, actor Christian Bale did a media interview in which he expressed disagreement with that viewpoint, and I think it’s fair to say that that particular theory holds relatively little sway by this point.

Beyond Unsatisfactory Explanations

So to summarize, neither one of those conventional explanations is satisfactory. And rather than limiting ourselves to two thoroughly unsatisfactory options, we must strive to pursue a better way of explaining all of the facts at hand. We need to find a better way of making sense of the seemingly contradictory details that close out the film.

Unveiling Nolanverse

And that’s exactly what my nonfiction book Nolanverse endeavors to do. As we work toward arriving at a solution in Nolanverse, we can see that it’s essential that we maintain a thoughtful focus on salient patterns that exist within the auteur’s overall filmography.

Within Nolan’s entire body of work is a treasure trove of common themes and motifs, and over the course of the book I manage to reap indispensable insight and evidence from films like Tenet, Memento, and everything in between. This is an area where my book shines. Even though my work is an independent analysis and I am not speaking for anyone other than myself, you can rest assured that I’m speaking as someone who has studied each and every entry in the directors’ oeuvre.

This book is the culmination of a project that originated as early as 2012—and as subsequent works from Christopher Nolan and/or Jonathan Nolan, like Interstellar and Westworld and Tenet, proceeded to be released over time, my instincts about my innovative new perspective on the plot of Rises were greatly affirmed and strengthened.

Drawing from a Broader Canvas

And certainly, an additional key component for me in my effort to formulate my argument in this book is a collection of compelling reference points that extend out beyond Nolan’s cinema. Devoted fans will know that in addition to being a connoisseur of film, Christopher Nolan has an educational background in literary studies, which helps to account for the characteristic depth and intelligence of his work. It makes sense, then, that analyzing theme and meaning in Rises can propel us into the varied fields of prose fiction, philosophy, and the visual arts. (For example, my analysis of Bruce Wayne’s all-important surprise appearance in Italy throws light on an undeniable visual allusion to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.)

Breathing new life into familiar content in this way not only enhances our appreciation of the story’s thematic depth for its own sake; it also provides us with supporting evidence that loosens the soil for us as we strive to make sense of our film’s most troublesome plot intricacies.

The Greatest Cinematic Illusion?

Ultimately, we find that we may have reason to assess that given the Dark Knight trilogy’s prominence as a franchise, and given all the years that have gone by since its premiere, Nolan has pulled off perhaps the greatest whopper of an illusion in cinematic history. So many people have no idea what they’re missing in the final installment in one of the most monumental trilogies in popular cinema. It’s just a matter of who is willing to pay attention and take another look–and who is willing to start thinking and perceiving in a new way.

Robert E. Eliot

Robert E. Eliot is also the author of an equally groundbreaking book analyzing the plot of Quentin Tarantino’s film The Hateful Eight. His books are available on Amazon and other online stores.

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