The Dark Knight Rises Ultimate Collector’s Edition: A Celebration of Great Film

A new documentary attached to The Dark Knight Trilogy Ultimate Collector’s Edition–in stores now in a limited run of less than 150,000–focuses heavily on one idea that has been key to the widespread acceptance of the Christopher Nolan-directed films by the Hollywood establishment: The fact that they’re objectively good films from a technical, performance and writing standpoint and transcend the expectations of a popcorn action movie.In the beginning, various different people including Emma Thomas (Nolan’s co-producer and spouse) say in the documentary, Nolan met with dozens of potential Batmans, and many of them were reluctant to sign on for a superhero film.Of course, there wasn’t anything quite like the Dark Knight Trilogy at that point, and even the Marvel Studios films hadn’t got to where they are now–but it’s one of a number of film critics interviewed in the documentary who says it best: leaving the theater after Batman Begins, it wasn’t that it was a great superhero movie or a great action movie; he and many other critical viewers left thinking that it was a great film.