The Dark Knight Rises has not aged well

As the title says, I find myself unable to watch The Dark Knight Rises anymore. The lens of time has not helped this movie, nor has Matt Reeves’ more cinematic interpretation of the character. There are just so many poorly thought-out moments where I get frustrated that no one was there to reign in Nolan and give the trilogy a satisfying end.

There’s been a lot of speculation on this sub and from others that Nolan was somewhat checked out by this time. Whether it was because he was burned out from his “one for you, one for me” deal with the studio, or because he felt uninspired in the wake of Heath Ledger’s death, the film feels like it lacks focus. It also seems like some major plot points would have worked better had the Joker been pulling the strings rather than Bane or Talia.

Here are a few things that really bother me:

• Talia and Bane’s death scenes are both laughably bad. They skew what should be the most climactic moments of the film toward unintended comedy. Bane, after all that buildup, gets taken out by Catwoman with some high-caliber guns and a sarcastic quip? Don’t even get me started on Talia. Marion Cotillard is a fantastic actress, and she deserved better. Both from a scripted and a directorial standpoint, Nolan basically hung her out to dry.

• This one gets stated a lot, but it’s hard to ignore: All the police officers going into the sewers at once? It’s like something out of Game of Thrones—a tactical blunder on the level of throwing the Dothraki at the enemy with no support. It makes no sense and undermines the tension.

• Nolan struggles with large action set pieces and fight scenes. Th evidence highlighted in the ending of Tenet as well.  The choreography looks bad, with extras obviously punching air in the background. On top of that, Batman’s solution to getting wrecked by Bane in hand-to-hand combat was to come back and fight him again? Why ignore the most interesting part of the character—his intelligence? This could have been a great opportunity for Batman to outsmart Bane rather than just go for round two.

• One of my biggest gripes: Who decided to have Batman, in full costume, fighting in the streets in broad daylight? This decision baffles me. It goes against everything that makes the character visually compelling. It’s almost like Nolan didn’t care at that point.

I’m curious to know if others feel similarly. I love Batman Begins and find it to be the most interesting of the series. The Dark Knight is elevated by Heath Ledger’s performance and remains a comic book classic. But The Dark Knight Rises? I basically treat the trilogy like the third film doesn’t exist. I just can’t bring myself to watch it anymore.