Gordon's final conversation with Batman at the end of the movie about 'escalation' was one of my favourite scenes. Bruce Wayne created Batman because he thought the power of a symbol of justice would transcend that of a mere man, and he was right - except that he failed to realise that injustice and evil would be capable of becoming equally symbolic. It strikes me as a rather downbeat conclusion for the story to reach. Bruce at the end of the film is at the start of his career as Batman, and he hasn't yet realised that the fact of his existence is going to create and entrench the evil he wants to eradicate from Gotham.