Is It a Good or Bad Thing That ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Is Set Eight Years After the Last Film?

By now, you've probably heard the news that "The Dark Knight Rises" director Christopher Nolan gave an interview with Empire where he revealed one important tidbit about the new Batman film: It's going to take place eight years after "The Dark Knight." That might seem like a minor detail, but it's actually a pretty important plot detail. When "The Dark Knight" ended, Batman (Christian Bale) was driving off into the night, accepting his fate as Gotham's villain. Obviously, we know nothing about "Dark Knight Rises," but we're gonna take a second to speculate about the potential pros and cons to moving the story so far ahead into the future. We look forward to these all proving to be totally off-base when he finally see the movie next summer.

Pro (No. 1): Sequels never do something that ambitious.
From the start, we've loved how Nolan has been willing to be bold with his Batman trilogy. Before "Batman Begins," the idea of making a superhero (especially one who needed to be rebooted) a dark, brooding character with an elaborate backstory wasn't commonplace. Now you see it everywhere. After the terrific 2008 sequel, what could Nolan do with "The Dark Knight Rises" to keep us on our toes? Setting the story that far into the future is definitely one way.

Con (No. 1): What's "the future" going to look like?
We feel rather confident that Nolan would never, ever do this, but there is a slight concern that he might decide to get "creative" with his depiction of Gotham in eight years. Although it's never really been said, we assume the Batman movies are set in the present time. And while eight years isn't that far into the future, technology and design will have definitely evolved, which leaves the door open for lots of cool effects and imaginative architecture. We just don't want it to be too high-tech or sci-fi. Sure, Nolan's Batman films have always been about the hardware, but we hope he doesn't focus on that too much in the new film.

Pro (No. 2): This is a great way for Nolan to keep exploring Bruce Wayne as a character.
With franchises, more often than not the characters take a backseat to bigger set pieces once the sequels start. That was just one reason why we loved "The Dark Knight": Nolan developed and expanded on Bruce Wayne to make him more three-dimensional and resonant. (That's why the ending hits you in the gut.) And it sounds like this leap forward in time for "Dark Knight Rises" is partly character-motivated. "[H]e's an older Bruce Wayne," Nolan told Empire, "he's not in a great state." We saw how destroyed Bruce was at the end of "The Dark Knight": The love of his life was dead, he couldn't save Harvey Dent, and now Batman was a pariah. Imagine how much worse things might have gotten for him eight years on.

Con (No. 2): They'll lose the momentum from "The Dark Knight."
One reason we couldn't wait to see "The Dark Knight Rises" is that the last movie's cliffhanger ending made us wonder what would happen next. Obviously, placing the sequel eight years in the future is a way to play with expectations -- Nolan probably assumed most people would think the new movie would occur soon after "The Dark Knight" -- but it also risks derailing a story that was really cooking. Joker's been sent off to prison, Commissioner Gordon has to put the city back together, and everybody hates Batman: That's a great place to start a new movie. By comparison, there's no guarantee the new story -- which features Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy as the villain Bane -- will flow as smoothly. In a way, Nolan is almost starting from scratch, which, again, is incredibly daring but also kinda crazy if it doesn't work.

Pro (No. 3): This is a way to incorporate Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" graphic novel.
Film critic Scott Mendelson has a theory about "The Dark Knight Rises" that makes some sense: It's being set in the future to tie into Frank Miller's series "The Dark Knight Returns," which finds a middle-aged Bruce Wayne dusting off the old Batman costume one last time for a new menace. As Mendelson points out, "Batman Begins" drew inspiration from Miller's "Batman: Year One," and "The Dark Knight" recalled different Batman comic book series. We don't want to say what happens in "The Dark Knight Rises," but there's some grim stuff that goes on, and it's one of the most acclaimed graphic novels of all time. If Nolan decided to set in "The Dark Knight Rises" in the future so he could play off Miller's story of a Bruce Wayne looking for redemption, we're all for it.

Con (No. 3): It's going to just be a big gimmick.
There's an argument to be made that Nolan too much enjoys his own cleverness, a charge that's been hurled at his puzzle movies "Inception" and "The Prestige." We understand that argument although we don't buy into it. (Seriously, we love this guy's films.) But there's no question he's a filmmaker who digs pulling sleight-of-hand tricks on his audience. Could this gambit with "The Dark Knight Rises" be the one time he trips himself up? In our heart of hearts, we just don't see it. He hasn't stepped wrong once with this franchise, which is even more impressive when you consider the hundreds of moments along the way when he could have. We're giving Mr. Nolan the benefit of the doubt: He's earned it at this point.

News On The Dark Knight Rises [Empire]