12 years after its release, I kind of wishThe Dark Knight Riseskept a brutal death scene that was ultimately cut from theDCmovie.The Dark Knight Risesis the third installment in Christopher Nolan’s timeless Dark Knight franchise and brought Christian Bale’s tenure as the Caped Crusader to a definitive end.The Dark Knight Riseswas the highest-grossingof the trilogy, raking in $1.08 billion worldwide afterBatman BeginsandThe Dark Knightestablished a grittier take on the hero that landed well with audiences and has defined much ofBatman’s live-action history.
This grittiness was perfectly embodied by Bane - a hulking villain whose brutality was just as memorable as his character design. The visceral scene in which he breaks Batman’s back remains one of the franchise’s most unforgettable and exemplifies the darker tone of the franchise. Nevertheless, Bane would later be sidelined by the movie’s true arch-villain: Talia Al Ghul. Turning Bane into a pawn in the movie’s final act would be divisive, not least because Talia Al Ghul had little time to establish herself as a truly threatening arch-villain in her own right; not in the final cut, anyway.
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The Dark Knight Rises' Lost Death Scene Helps Cement Talia Al Ghul’s Villain Story
Peter Foley’s Original Death Scene Was Cut From The Movie
After revealing Bane’s perfectly executed anarchic takeover of Gotham was all in aid of Talia Al Ghul’s plan to destroy the city, Talia takes off in a Wayne Enterprises Tumbler and mows down Deputy Commissioner Foley. The scene plays out with jump cuts, showing Talia aiming for Foley in her vehicle before cutting to Foley’s corpse on the concrete. This scene was nearly far more savage, however, showing the fatal point of impact and a brutal crash to the ground.The lostDark Knight Risesscenewas reportedly violent enough to make Christopher Nolan turn white.
It is no surprise, then, that this depiction of violence was omitted from a PG-13 movie. Nevertheless,I strongly believe that the short space of time in which Talia Al Ghul had to make an impact would have been significantly enhancedby this particularly brutal act. Instead, the alternative, sterilized version only helped cement Talia as an ephemeral presence whose position as the movie’s true arch-villain felt unearned, never being given the screen time needed to assert herself as a threat to be reckoned with.
The Dark Knight Rises' Deleted Death Scene Could’ve Helped It Compare With The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight Was Much More Violent
The Dark Knightwas a tough act to follow, particularly regarding Heath Ledger’s Joker. Several scenes throughoutThe Dark Knightcemented its gritter tones with Joker’s violence. These included holding a knife to Rachel’s cheek, Joker’s “pencil trick,” and the immolation of Lau atop a mountain of money, to name a few. The scenes were enough to warrant grimaces aplenty, cementing Joker as one of Batman’s most formidable villains because of the violence he is willing to inflict. Notably, these were all acts of violence in a movie that retained its PG-13 rating.
By comparison,The Dark Knight Riseswas far more restrained with its violence. The brawl beneath Wayne Enterprises was undeniably intense - especially as Bane breaks the bat - but no more extreme than Batman pummeling a crowd of nondescript goons. A no-holds-barred depiction of Talia Al Ghul’s murder of Foley would not only have broughtThe Dark Knight Risesto the same violent level as its prequel, but would have helped make her appear just as ruthless as Joker himself.
The Dark Knight Rises' Cut Death Scene Is Understandable (But Still A Shame)
Ultimately, if Foley’s unedited death scene was enough to turn Nolan white, thenits omission from a movie aiming for a PG-13 rating stands to reason. Most modern superhero movies rely on striking a balance between depicting realistic violence without precluding a younger audience, and while the Dark Knight trilogy sometimes treads a fine line, enticing a more prohibitive R-rating for the sake of one violent death seems senseless. This is even more prudent for the third installment in a PG-13 trilogy and ultimately will have helped it break the $1 billion mark.
Still, I wonder how much more of an impactThe Dark Knight Risesmay have had if it leaned into a more violent depiction of its main villains. One-upping Joker was always going to be a tall order, and turning both Bane and Talia Al Ghul into more wantonly violent adversaries would have made for a more memorable conclusion to Nolan’s trilogy, to say the least. Regardless, I’ll admit thatThe Dark Knight Risesstands on its own merits as one of the best superhero movies to date, and that the decision to soften Foley’s death was a wise one.
The Dark Knight Rises
Cast
The Dark Knight Rises follows Batman as he returns to Gotham City eight years after the death of Harvey Dent. Now pursued by law enforcement, he faces new challenges from Selina Kyle and Bane, a formidable terrorist leader who threatens the city’s safety, compelling Batman to defend a city that sees him as a foe.
