Bane's death was anti-climactic

You didn’t like how practical Catwoman’s solution was?

common complaint

Kind of hard to stand out when the climax contains several different threads of action. That being said, I specifically took issue with how Bane was dispatched in a such an abrupt manner, and not really serving as a payoff like how Joker and Ra's were defeated in the prior films. Those prior instances demonstrated a bit of hero character growth that felt discernibly lacking with the Bane battle (regardless of who was revealed to be pulling the strings).

After some rewatches, I think there's a way to build a better climax with a few changes to the film's second half.

Bane is to some degree a twisted version of Batman. Both are masterminds who have honed their bodies to the pinnacle of performance and carry out their work whilst wearing masks. Both employ high-tech gear, and both are driven by their strongly held individual beliefs on justice.

The difference at the beginning of Rises is that Bruce has retreated into the shadows and let his body deteriorate. He's soon able to resume his Caped Crusader identity with the assistance of new tech which includes some sort of bionic knee brace that helps him kick through solid brick walls. More later on that last bit.

After getting tossed into prison, Bruce has to build himself up to defeat Bane. Here's where I'd introduce changes.

Instead of a very bare bones sequence on rebuilding his back, I would have broken it up into a couple distinctive goals: body and mind. Not only are his back, knees, etc. completely shot, but Wayne has got to also figure out how to outwit Bane himself. Rather than a sequence of him getting back treatment, I would show him undergoing multiple forms of physiotherapy, training and maybe some herbal treatment with medicinal aids that the League of Shadows used besides the blue fear flower. Also some cutaways to him becoming respected by his fellow prisoners before the part where he makes the leap of faith. Maybe Bruce learns how to win at some sort of cup and dice game that the inmates are really into. Maybe it involves bluffing or another form of deceit.

Anyway, after regaining his physical and mental prowess in a sequence that mirrors Wayne's ninja training in Batman Begins (and maybe a quick inspirational scene where he sees Bane ruling Gotham on the TV and then notices a bat in the corner flying up out of the well, giving him the solemn resolve to finally climb out of the pit), he gets out of there.

From this point the story goes pretty much the same way with a few other tweaks, but the major change is to the end fight with Bane.

Rather than Catwoman straight-up killing Bane, I would have had her instead severely injure him to the point where he can't stand up (whatever a PG-13 rating can get away with), then Batman says something cool like "Hasta la vista, Bane-y" or "F*ck ya'll" or whatever before using his AFOREMENTIONED BIONIC KNEE BRACE to kick Bane's mask into his face. This should be a special effect accomplished with Batman's leg is a pneumatic piston and Bane's face is an animatronic recreation of Tom Hardy. It should look cool that Bane's mask is destroyed.

His breathing weakened, Bane struggles to maintain his bearings as Batman and Catwoman make their exit before some of the cops or whoever else is on Batman's side in the riots storms the place and ultimately corners Bane. Gotham City takes itself back from the brink of destruction, what have you. Blah, blah, blah, they leave the scene.

Then the ending plays out mostly as before. I know it's not a total fix, but I think it resolves a few narrative issues of a movie that has a lot going for it already yet falters when compared to its two predecessors.

I remember posting this right around the film's release and getting torn to shred by rabid Nolanites who were informing me to "go watch Transformers and Twilight" because "not every death needs a big blood explosion" or something. Ah, the memories.

I saw the film a few months ago and actually laughed at how anti-climactic his death is. Just...BOOM! Dead! Shot a single time by the Batmobile. He doesn't even get shot on screen, and he doesn't even get shot by Batman. I'm sure getting shot by the batmobile thing probably would reduce you to pulp, but it's film 101 that a big villain deserves a big finale.

Imagine if in Spider-Man 2, instead of the dock climax, a cop just comes up behind Doc Ock and shoots him in the back of the head. Realistic? Maybe. Would it kill him in real life? Sure. But is it a good ending? Fuck no.

Taken out of context it might be but imagine if they shoved another dramatic scene into the middle of everything else going on. I’m not sure it would’ve helped.

A bomb was going off in 11 minutes. There wasn’t time for a drawn out and dramatic death. If there was you’d bitch about them spending too much time on banes death while a bomb was counting down. Stupid

That's part of why I like to read and why I hate how books and reading get so much crap lately (no one has time for it and stuff). If you read the tie-in novel, there is better build to Bane's death. Well, no deleted scenes and stuff. It's just that the novel allows you to get into Selina/Catwoman's head and know what her thoughts are. After Bane defeats Batman/Bruce in the sewers and Bane breaks Bruce's back, Selina/Catwoman becomes absolutely terrified of Bane. We sort of get that in the movie with her trying to flee Gotham, but the novel does a better job at going into detail. So throughout the novel it's just slowly building in her head and then finally when she kills Bane, it's more of her facing her fears. I always like reading tie-in novels as much as I can. The novel also goes into the whole thing that Bruce is crazier about Selina than you think. When they kiss at Miranda/Talia's charity ball (where Bruce goes to get the necklace back), he can't stop thinking about that kiss. It's brought up several times in his thought process. I think once or twice when he's in the pit recovering and training to get out. So yeah. That was a little fun fact to discover. That's why I still like to read and also why I try to read tie-in novels. They add stuff. But the novel helps out with Bane's death. It's a slow build because an internal struggle Selina has that the novel can go more into.

Thanks for ruining it for me. Now everyone knows Bane dies in this. Stop spoiling this movie