Note: This is a preview for The Dark Knight Rises. Read next week’s issue of the Globe for the review of the film.
In the spirit of “The World’s Greatest Detective,” we’re piecing together the information that is available regarding Christopher Nolan’s final Batman film The Dark Knight Rises.
The Story
The film takes place eight years after The Dark Knight. Batman has been run out of Gotham City after assuming responsibility for crimes committed by Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face. Bruce Wayne’s late night escapades have taken their toll on his body. The appearance of Selena Kyle played by Anne Hathaway and the ruthless mercenary Bane played by Tom Hardy force the Batman out of hiding.
Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman all reprise their roles in this film as Bruce Wayne, Alfred, Lucius Fox, and Commissioner Gordon respectively.
The concept of a “retired Batman” has been explored in comics, and to a lesser extent in the television series Batman Beyond. This brings up questions that they tried to bring up in Superman Returns. The primary questions being whether or not the city needs its hero and how far the hero is willing to go for the greater good.
The Villains
Bane is a villain whose portrayals in film and television have done him little to no justice. Most people usually think of Joel Schumacher’s Batman and Robin, which feature a less than dignified portrayal of the character. His portrayals in the animated series have also ranged from a Hulk-like brute to typical muscle-for-hire.
The character was created in 1993 as a sort of anti-thesis to the pulp fiction hero Doc Savage. As a boy in the fictional country of Santa Prisca, he was forced to serve out his father’s prison sentence in the Peña Dura prison, where he strengthened his mind, body, and survival skills. As an adult, he was used as a test subject for the drug Venom, which heightens a person’s physical capabilities, but leaves the user a permanent addict with near-fatal withdrawals if the drug isn’t taken every 12 hours. The character’s arrival in Gotham is followed by a carefully laid out plan to gain control of the criminal underworld, leading to a fight with Batman.
The other notable member of Batman’s rouge gallery is Selena Kyle, better known by her moniker, Catwoman. This is definitely a character that has been passed around and altered time and again. While most alterations still kept her as a dangerous femme fatale, only two films explored her origins. The first was Batman Returns, where the character was played by Michelle Pfeifer. The second was the poorly received Catwoman starring Halle Berry.
Extra speculation for good measure
Miranda Tate and John Blake are two notable characters featured in this film that have fueled a lot of speculation. The former is described as a member of the Wayne Enterprises board of executives who reaches out to Bruce Wayne providing a ray of hope and optimism to counterpoint Bruce’s darker persona. The latter is a Gotham City police officer who is promoted to special duty under the command of Commissioner Jim Gordon. He is described as representing the ideals once held by Batman and the commissioner.
These characters are being played by Nolan’s go-to actors, Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who were both in Nolan’s Inception. The speculations included Cotillard playing Talia al Ghul, daughter of Batman Begins villain Ra’s al Ghul which resulted from various on-set photos and an interview with a child actress let it slip that she was playing a “young Talia.”
In the case of Gordon-Levitt, the speculation has ranged from being either a new Joker, a member of the League of Shadows, to even being Robin or Batman’s replacement. As it stands, John Blake is just John Blake, but who knows what Nolan has up his sleeve?
In closing
The film’s storyline has been compared to three major Batman story arcs. The first is Knightfall, the story which debuted Bane. The second is Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, where Batman returns to Gotham City after a ten-year absence. Finally, there’s No Man’s Land, in which Gotham is overrun by gangs.
With all of the footage we have seen thus far, there is no doubt that that Nolan has a grand finale planned for his last Batman film. Be sure to pick up the paper next week for the full review of The Dark Knight Rises.
