Christopher Nolan's DC trilogy got off to a critically-liked and = well-received start in 2005's Batman Begins. Then, The Dark Knight was released and blew its predecessor out of the water. Even still, both movies have led to viewers hopping on Reddit to pinpoint scenes and aspects that feel out of place.
Nolan's trilogy-capper, The Dark Knight Rises, has probably received more of these complaints than both of its predecessors combined. It was a box-office hit, but some Redditors think it's indicative of the trilogy's problems as a whole.
Liam Neeson As Ra's Al Ghul
One Redditor started a thread about their long-delayed first viewing of Batman Begins, mostly to question its reputation as Batman's best origin story. One thing they took issue with was the casting of Irish actor Liam Neeson as the Arabian Ra's al Ghul.
As fauxhb wrote, "Liam Neeson is not Ra's. I had a hard time accepting that Batman isn't just this Earth-bound story of a rich guy with expensive armor jumping off rooftops...and that there's this immortal dude from the East with a radical attitude to one small specific city, but wasn't he supposed to be Arabian?"
The Fighting In Batman Begins
Even if it is one of the best superhero movie origin stories, Batman Begins does suffer from having its lead character in an extremely rigid suit. Bale does appear uncomfortable when he's in it, and Redditors noticed.
Rdditor Wealthy_Gadabout posited that "The fighting in Batman Begins could be called 'expressionistic', emphasizing movement and showing how Batman appears to the thugs he's beating." This is an excellent point and is a rational middle-ground for the filmmakers to have chosen in order to work around the suit's restrictive nature. They then continue with a theory: "I think one huge problem was the decision to put three deadly razor-sharp blades on his wrist guards. In every fight, you can see Batman trying to work around them...."
Bruce Wayne's Disguised Voice
People are hit-or-miss when it comes to the voice Bale chose to use when wearing the cape and cowl. Lines like "Swear to me!" depending on the viewer, come across as either intimidating or scary with no real in-between.
User Baramos_ wrote that "It's just that specific Batman voice that people don't like. If it hadn't been so grating people probably wouldn't bring up that he uses it even with people like Lucius Fox who know who he is." A fair point, when Bruce Wayne is in his Batsuit he uses the gravel voice with even Lucius Fox. It's not necessary, and it apparently pulls some people out of the movies.
The Boat Scene
The prisoner boat scene in The Dark Knight does a great job of showing how fear can consume individuals, but it doesn't always win out.
User Crumpgazing thinks it's worse than the remainder of the movie, saying, "It was such a generic comic book movie set up, and the trilogy as a whole is full of these moments. People try to act like they've elevated the superhero genre...they do have a lot of those generic superhero film elements to them."
The Tone Of The Joker In A PG-13 Movie
Heath Ledger's Joker is one thing about The Dark Knight Trilogy that gets better over time. The vast majority of viewers and critics were impressed, and perhaps even frightened.
Ultimately, ANewMuleSkinner doesn't disagree about the performance's strength but thinks the character is out of place in the PG-13 film to a jarring degree. "I thought the truly terrifying and psychologically complex characterization of the Joker clashed with the rest of the movie's PG-13 tone."
A Weak Rescue Strategy
One of the more traumatic moments of The Dark Knight Trilogy comes in the second film, with the death of Rachel Dawes. The Joker has orchestrated it so Dawes is in one bomb-laced location, while Harvey Dent is at another. Batman takes Dawes, Gotham PD takes Dent.
A now-deleted user thinks this was a strange and ill-advised technique: "Really? And you mean to tell me there are no cops out patrolling closer to both these locations, and that Batman can get there first but 'every available unit' cannot get to the other location in time?"
No, I Came Here To Stop You
When some Redditors started diving in on The Dark Knight Rises, there was a general consensus about the lack of memorable action sequences. However, the dialogue received an even bigger backlash.
In The__Ugly's words, "Lol. Not to mention that...awful script. 'You came back to die with your city?' 'No, I came here to stop you.' Wow rekt." RetConBomb then chimed in with, "He could have said nothing and it would have been cooler than that." Very true, had Wayne said nothing back to Bane's taunt, it actually would have been a bit more effective.
The Dark Knight Rises' Fight Logic
A chief complaint with Nolan's Batman films is how they're blockbuster films with seemingly little interest directed towards individualized action sequences. The_aura_of_justice wrote, "I really love Nolan's Batman movies, but fight choreography was a definite weakness of his in those movies."
Redditor Dgiven91 added, "Or fight logic. Like the big battle at the end of TDKR where the cops with guns get into a fistfight with the mercenaries who also have guns. Makes no sense." If there's any chief complaint to level against the trilogy as a whole, it certainly would be fair to level it at The Dark Knight Rises' overly convenient finale.
Poor Alfred
As one of the most intense scenes from The Dark Knight Trilogy, the bomb dump has its consequences. Batman saves Gotham, but he doesn't tell some key people in his life where he's going.
That's when Batfan007 made an excellent point about the well-established dynamic between Wayne and Alfred. "In DKRises, Bruce lets Alfred think he is dead, and doesn't bother to mention to him that he is still alive, he lets the only man in the world who cares about him go through hell, when he could have just picked up the da** phone after the threat was over / Gotham was saved." The Redditor goes into more detail on their opinion, but it is absolutely true that Alfred should've been made aware shortly after the blast. There's an argument for Jim Gordon, as well.
Batman Doesn't Even Try To Outsmart Bane In TDKR
The Dark Knight Rises goes for action sequences where the viewer can feel each punch. In fact, most of the film's action pieces are just standard fistfights.
Redditor Stkbayfield thinks there should have been something a bit more: "I always thought the final fight in DKR would have had him outsmart Bane somehow. Either by subverting his tactics or doing something outlandish. Instead, he just needed to use the world's greatest detective brain to punch the weak spot on his face. A lot." Wayne is supposed to be a detective, so it's fair to wish the scripts had focused a bit more on Batman's brains.