Hollywood figure shows vitality in storytelling, world surprised.

Christopher Nolan will always outsmart you, maybe not in the turns of the plot, but in the ingenious purpose behind his story choices. He's set the next Batman film eight years after The Dark Knight, which, if you think of the implications, is a piece of brilliance. It frees him up from hanging questions overshadowing the film and lets you resolve them as backstory, it changes the dynamic to keep things delineated from what you've done before, and in doing so allows you to focus completely on the story you're trying to tell and the character and power relationships at the centre of the thing. Honestly, too, I think almost no-one would have called it - for whatever reason it seems unusually bold. Centering a movie on Bane, with a plot that seems to focus around armed uprising is a very vigorous Batman plot. An additional 8 years to set future movies in, should that be desired, and it still allows him to complete his arc for Batman and Gotham city with a proper conclusion. Works for me.

Clever boy, that.