If you haven’t seen The Dark Knight Rises, do not read what is about to follow. Seriously, don’t ruin it for yourself – it’s an awesome movie and deserves to be watched without spoilers.
For those of you who have seen it, I’m sure that you’ve been asking yourself the same questions that I have. Is that really the end of Batman? Will Robin continue the series? Is Bruce Wayne really dead at the end of the movie, and Alfred’s just imagining that he see him happy at a cafe with Selina Kyle? I wouldn’t put it past Chris “I’m not going to tell you if the top stops spinning at the end of Inception” Nolan to have it be a dream. But if you’re anything like me, you left that theater absolutely elated and wanting to see more. I mean, hearing Detective John Blake answer to Robin? Seeing him find the Bat Cave? It was an amazing ending -one that left me a very happy fan.
But now that The Dark Knight Rises has been knocked from the top spot of the box office, it’s time to start talking about the future of the franchise. I went into the theater knowing that both Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale had said it was their last Batman movie. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the series has ended, especially in the current climate of re-boots and sequels. While I feel hesitant about trusting anyone but Nolan in the director’s chair, I still really want to see what Joseph Gordon-Levitt can do as Robin. He ‘s one of my favorite actors at this point, with great roles in (500) Days of Summer, 10 Things I Hate About You, Inception, and Angels in the Outfield (I had to throw that one in for the 90s kids). The fact that he’s really cute doesn’t hurt either. I want him to continue on as Robin, because I KNOW he’ll be AWESOME.
Apparently I’m not the only one wondering about what will happen after The Dark Knight Rises. Jimmy Kimmel Live had Joseph Gordon-Levitt on the show and Jimmy asked him point blank, “would you be Robin in your own movie?” Gordon-Levitt could only respond with “I don’t get to decide those things man”. I suppose it’s nice that he’s being honest about it, considering the only way he’ll be Robin is if Hollywood fits the bill for a script, a new director, and (hopefully) some returning cast members from Nolan’s trilogy. Earlier in the interview, Gordon-Levitt geeks out a little bit and gushes about how awesome it is that he’s Robin. It’s really fun to hear, and it points to the fact that if he’s asked he might actually sign on to do another installment. Here’s the interview if you want to watch it for yourself:
If you watched that, you probably spotted the problem with the hopes that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will continue on as the Boy Wonder. When talking about the ending of the movie he goes on to say, “I don’t think it’s necessarily a set-up. I think it is the great ending for that trilogy. Even if you go back to Batman Begins, he’s talking about how Batman is more than a man, it’s a symbol, and a hero can be anybody and we all have heroes inside of us. And that’s a theme that runs throughout the entire trilogy.” Way to kill my dreams Joe. If I’m honest with myself, I can sort of see how it is a perfect ending for the trilogy – giving fan boys and girls something to get excited about while ending the franchise on the same high note that it began (by giving us a hero we love). I guess we won’t know the answer to our questions until the studios decide what to do. Here’s hoping they figure it out fast (the suspense is killing me).
I love this picture from ’10 Things I Hate About You’.
In the mean time, we can still enjoy seeing Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Bruce Willis in Looper (you read that correctly, Gordon-Levitt plays a younger version of Willis in the time-travel action movie). They recently gave us another international trailer to help explain the plot a little better. Try ignoring the french subtitles:
Looper certainly looks like it’s going to be an awesomely complex action movie along the lines of (surprise, surprise) Inception. I can’t wait to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt kick his own ass. It comes out September 28th.
How do you feel about Joseph Gordon-Levitt continuing as Robin without Christopher Nolan? Do we need another Batman movie? How excited are you to see Looper? Let’s start the discussion below!
