[Reaper16]

My biggest beef with the film re: thing-being-included-only-to-set-up-twists is the whole pit prison deal. It seemed to be doing 2 things: 1.) show how tough Bane was because he alone escaped, and 2.) teach Bruce that if he no longer fears death then he can save Gotham from Bane (which would reinforce the sacrificing-himself-by-flying-the-nuke-out-to-sea bit, which was somewhat undone by the cop-out reveal that he somehow lived and he and Selina got clean slates and moved to Italy.

But the twist that it was Talia that escaped, not Bane, does harm to the film, IMO. Because...why was Bane tough then? Or smart? Bane couldn't figure out -- like I'm sure many of us did very quickly into the prison scenes -- that the rope was the only thing preventing you from escaping. He didn't escape through some sheer force of will. He was rescued, in fact (albeit after contracting whatever painful plague thing he got).

So Bane goes down like the chump that he was (accidentally) revealed to be as soon as Bruce next encounters him. Bruce doesn't learn any secret to beating Bane, because that lesson about fear-of-death doesn't end up applying to anything.

It all was working for me as the film went along...until the needless twist.