I absolutely love THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY.
And those ending scenes! BATMAN BEGINS, THE DARK KNIGHT, and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES…all of ’em are awesome.
However, the ending to THE DARK KNIGHT is not only the best of the three from the TRILOGY, it’s probably the greatest ending to a comic book/superhero film ever.
Hell, it’s one of the greatest ending in the history of film — not simply “comic book/superhero movies.”
OK, that may be a bit hyperbolic…but is it?
Regardless of where it ranks in terms of the endings of the TRILOGY, comic book/superhero movies, and in the history of cinema, it’s tremendously powerful and tremendously Batman.
Before I continue, let’s give it a look…
If you’re a diehard Batman fan, there’s NO WAY while watching that you didn’t…
- Get goosebumbs.
- Tear up.
- BOTH.
I first saw THE DARK KNIGHT in late June of 2008 at a press screening in Los Angeles. I remember watching that ending and then sitting in stunned silence afterwards as the credits rolled. Finally, my wife — “Announcer Rachel” — asked me what I thought. The only word I could muster up at that moment was “Wow.”
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Even while milling around the theater lobby afterwards with other members of the press, folks weren’t doing much talking. All I noticed were these blank faces of people who had just been blown away by a film.
Yes, we were all left speechless by THE DARK KNIGHT.
But again, that ending. I don’t know if using the term powerful to describe it does it justice.
Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.
So we’ll hunt him, because he can take it.
Because he’s not a hero.
He’s a silent guardian.
A watchful protector.
A dark knight.
10 years and an uncountable number of viewings later, this scene — even reading those words — still gets to me.
Wow. – Bill “Jett” Ramey
