2012 saw the final instalment to Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy in The Dark Knight Rises. While it came out to good critical acclaim, audience reactions were more divided, between people loving it, hating it, thinking it was a fitting conclusion, or not being able to hold up having to follow the preceding movie, specifically.
     The greatest place of divide amongst individuals when it came to this third film was, undeniably, the ending. I remember the film's release and how some people had very polarizing opinions on it; "it's a wonderful, understandable ending to the story we've been presented", one side would say, while the other half said "Bruce Wayne wouldn't give up being Batman, ever. It makes no sense." Whether it's loving or hating the ending, your opinion is yours, and no one can, or should, take that away from you. That's one of the best things about being passionate about something, the ability to have discussions about different ideas and outlooks you may have about a topic. Of course, I'm predominantly talking about logical conversations between level-headed people, and not the type of attempting conversations that we have been going through in regards to Warner Bros. newest DC films and the like.
     For the longest time, I have found the ending of The Dark Knight Rises worthy talking about, and wished to do so, as I took it in a very particular way in regards to the story not just as a whole, but what it means when it comes to things that have come before. I completely understand where people's dislike of it comes from, and feel as though it is worth those feelings, but for me, I had very specific views on it and emotions it made me feel.
     There is actually a reason why I decided to write about this now. I knew that I would eventually, it was only a matter of time, as I was looking into some quick things I could do; but the more I bounced it around in my head, the more I realized that writing about it now, early, made perfect sense. Why? Simple; I believe that the ending of The Dark Knight Rises works hand in hand with what I had written about when it comes to the character of Bruce Wayne in my Batman: Mask of the Phantasm piece.

     To cut to the chase, if the fact that I compared it as a great complimentary to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm doesn't make it clear, I do genuinely love the ending of TDKR. It made me legitimately happy.
     A lot of the arguments that had been posed against the ending of the film was the fact that "Batman doesn't give up". This I completely agree with, and why I fully understand why people would feel negatively to this conclusion. But to me, the final five or so minutes of the movie didn't necessarily mark the moment as 'Bruce Wayne has given up and walked away." To me, the ending of TDKR marked the moment where Bruce Wayne realized what we always wanted for him as a character, and the emotions we felt towards him in Mask of the Phantasm; it's okay to not be alone.
     Bruce Wayne has, in a lot of adaptations (especially in Nolan's trilogy), struggled with keeping himself away from everyone for one reason or another. He knows he can't be Batman and have anyone else in his life; it wouldn't work out well. He takes so much onto his own shoulders, alone, and feels as though this is what he must do. He can't have anything else while he is Batman as there isn't anything that could, or should, be more important. We see Alfred trying really hard to push against this over the last two films in the series. But Christopher Nolan's Bruce Wayne isn't simply someone who revolves everything around Batman. He knows that there are better ways that things can benefit, most importantly, the people. Worst yet, he tries, and it blows up magnificently in his face.

     The Dark Knight shows that he does know that the best bet for fighting crime would be someone with a face. The Gotham City population would be safer simply because they have someone they can point at and trust easily in Harvey Dent. When it seems as though Dent may be a legitimate option for the people of Gotham, he begins to make the plans for his life that he had wanted to for so long. He opens up about it to Rachel, and seems fully content in knowing that Dent is the right person for what he needs. Was Bruce actually planning on retiring Batman, like people think he had at the end of TDKR? That's an interesting discussion that I think ties in with what I took the third film's ending to be. But to push through why the conclusion of the trilogy made me happy, it needs to be noted that we are given a timeline for the events that happen in this universe

     We have been told that The Dark Knight takes place a mere six months after Batman Begins. That is something that puts events into a deeper perspective and thought. The plot of The Dark Knight covers the course of, approximately, a week. There is no massive jump in periods of time in the 2-and-a-half hours we personally go through. When taking those events into a big picture, Bruce Wayne goes from creating Batman, to getting a handle on villains, to losing the love of his life and having someone he believed could help the public fall victim to his own emotions and die in the span of six months. That is a quick turnaround for a lot of awful in a short time. Not only that, he understands, having not fallen down the path Dent did, what he must do, and takes the blame to create a common enemy and leave Dent's reputation unharmed.
     Since corrupt individuals in the police department have mostly been weeded out, and any major threats subdued, the police have a good handle on the situations in town eight years later, at the start of TDKR. After the events of the film, Wayne has been revealed to fake his own death, Alfred knowing his best friend is alive, and with Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character coming across the Batcave. So, what does this all mean, and where does it leave the characters? Or, more importantly, how did I take it that it made me happier and not upset or angry, like I mentioned was completely reasonable.

     Christopher Nolan's films have always been more about Bruce Wayne than they have been about Batman. They attempted to grow the character and have him go through certain human emotions and difficulties that would come with such a 'occupation' that we may not have seen before. Because of this, the finale of the trilogy is right to focus on him, and what he realizes is right, for himself, and proper ways to achieve it.
     I never took the ending of TDKR as Bruce Wayne giving up the Bat-mantle, or passing it on to Gordon-Levitt's character, who was rightly criticised, in that scenario, as not having any training to be effective in any crime fighting scenario. With the way things unraveled, Bruce Wayne had been able to secure Batman as, yes, a legend of sorts. In this universe, we have seen that massive threats of villainy along the likes of Ra's al Ghul, the Joker or Bane aren't too common. Any threats that may come, at any given time, would be from lower class criminals and the like. Therefore, if Gordon-Levitt were to show up along rooftops here and there in the Batsuit, it'd be enough scare the unholy hell out of any wayward people attempting to break into a car.
     The ending made me feel as though Bruce had simply realized that it is okay to allow himself to be happy. If it is needed, if any threats are critical and massive, he can return as Batman himself. He can even return here and there and train Gordon-Levitt a bit in anything that may be necessary. Bruce Wayne has succeeded in turning Batman into a symbol, like he had intended in Batman Begins. Not only that, with the possibility of hushed whispers over sightings on rooftops of 'The Batman', the symbol has become almost supernatural with the possibilities.

     I have always loved Bruce Wayne, as much as I've loved Batman. With this ending, I felt as though I was given a happy ending to a character that may be, many times, forgotten in the midst of bringing the character of Batman to the mass film-audience. He is someone who has been through an immense amount, to say the least, and though his work isn't ever done, it is still great to see him receive even a sliver of happiness and relaxation. There's only so much one person can do, and there's only so much they can allow themselves to carry alone. Bruce Wayne may never be rid of Batman, but that doesn't mean he can't spend some time actually being Bruce Wayne.