I loved how Bruce smashed Talia, how they made that connection between the characters. I liked how they also established a romance with Selina, and even though it was kind of quick, it still didn't feel rushed or underdeveloped.

I like how the Talia twisted was pulled off, it was one of the most exciting parts of the movie along with Bane breaking Batman's back. Making Bane the son of Ra's would have been AWFUL, and not made a lot of sense. Same as the killing of Gordon in TDK. Same kind of twist, and both were fun as hell. I remember thinking at the time, when they were showing young Talia climbing out of the pit, that her protector looked awfully fucking big, and a lot like Bane. I like how they used Bane in that role, with that backstory, they definitely did his character justice.

Now that I think about it, I'm really not mad at the inclusion of Robin. Soon as I heard that orphan story, I suspected it. As I think about it now, it makes perfect sense the way they did it, if they had tried to make it closer to the truth, with a circus and Bruce adopting him and such, it would have felt WAAAAY off. It works with Robin being a grown-ass man, everything about it worked perfectly. I was expecting the name Richard Grayson instead of Robin, but like my boy said a lot of fans don't know that name.

I was really hoping Ra's was still alive, too. But just like venom, Lazarus Pits would have been too much to explain and too much of a stretch in this type of universe.

The thing I love most about this trilogy was how all of the characters, despite the changes, were done right. Their depictions in the films stayed true to the characters in the comics. Nolan never took any unnecessary liberties with any characters and it worked beautifully. I still can't understand why so many other films love to do that, and suffer for it. Why make changes to characters that have such long, rich backstories just for the hell of it? Nolan laid out a blueprint and no one can seem to follow it. X-Men First Class IMO was a step in that direction, which is why it was so good. Hopefully the new Wolverine will be as well. Zack Snyder nailed it with Watchmen. I guess it does happen, but not often enough, and never before like this particular franchise.

I hope Warner doesn't fumble this franchise going forward. It's not going to be an easy task by any means. I'm very hopeful (but doubtful) that they take it in a particular direction, that I think would be ill as shit, that I'm not going to say just now. I don't know if this topic could warrant it's own post right now (could it?) but there's definitely a lot to be said about the future of this franchise.

*edit: I definitely can say now, no doubt in my mind, GOAT movie franchise