Warbler said:
Gaffer Tape said:
EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot one more opinion. See, I like that they didn't name him Terry McGinnis or anything else like that because it seemed they were going for subtlety in regards to his role. Yes, I had a feeling he was in there to be a Batman successor before I even saw the movie, but with an innocuous name like John Blake, I couldn't be sure. And I liked that. The movie throughout gave just enough clues that he COULD be something like that, but he didn't necessarily have to be. You name him Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, or Terry McGinnis, and you're kinda locked into that, and so is the audience. That could be another reason I find naming him Robin such a mistake, because in a way it kinda undoes that concept, even though it was thankfully not there until the end.
I think you misunderstood me. I was not saying he should have been called Terry McGinnis for the whole movie. What I mean was that instead of it turning out that John Blake's real name was Robin, have it turn out that John Blake's real name was Terry McGinnis.
Not entirely. As I said, even him only being "Robin" at the end somewhat undid the subtle anonymity of the role, so I feel him being "revealed" to be Terry McGinnis would have the same effect. In fact, if it's just the same kind of reveal, it would be even harder to pull off that way. At least what Robin had going for it is that not everyone goes by their first name, so while it's still distracting, it's not implausible or requires any other explanation. If he goes by John Blake, but his real name is Terry McGinnis, well, then, why? Why did he change his whole name? And then the movie either has to stop and explain itself or just leave you hanging, all for the sake of a Batman continuity allusion that far fewer people would get. Hell, in real life, in case you didn't know, people call me Lance Rumowicz, but "Lance" is no part of my name at all. Does that confuse you? It confuses most people I meet and requires exposition from me when it comes up, and that's not even a whole name replacement.