Christian Bale as Batman in "The Dark Knight Rises" Media Credit: KRT Campus
By Kate Drexel –
“There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne,” the seductive Anne Hathaway whispers into the ear of British actor, Christian Bale. Cut to the final scene,where a city is crumbling into the shape of a bat symbol. The next words that come onto a white screen: The Dark Knight Rises. This riles up the audience in the dimly lit theater.
The film is set eight years after the events that took place in the previous film, The Dark Knight. Batman has disappeared and when the city of Gotham thinks they are finally at peace, they are proven wrong when well-known comic-book villain, Bane, emerges from the depths of the darkness.
Bane is said to be a physical threat to Batman, due to the fact that he is dependent on a drug that gives him monstrous strength, but bears painful and devastating side effects. Along with Bane, another character emerges from the shadows, the mysterious Selina Kyle, or more commonly known as Catwoman.
These were the only specific details that have been released to the public, due to the fact that the director of the franchise, Christopher Nolan, is what Entertainment Weekly calls a “spoiler-phobic.”
Judging from his previous works such as The Prestige and Inception, Christopher Nolan is notorious for using a lot of impressive stunts in his movies, and requiring his actors to drastically change their physiques. This will be no exception to The Dark Knight.
Tom Hardy gained 30 pounds of muscle to play the role of the malicious character, Bane. Anne Hathaway prepared by pouring through the old Batman comic books that featured Catwoman and had a physical trainer teach her all of the stunts.
The shooting of the film began in England in the early spring of 2011 for 115 days, and it wrapped up in New York City this past November. Locations of the shooting include India, Glasgow, New Jersey, and Pittsburgh.
Nolan used IMAX cameras for much of the filming to enhance the quality of the picture. Fans have questioned whether Nolan will be releasing the film in IMAX 3D, but Nolan refuses to shoot his work in 3D, claiming that it is too overdone.
This film stars the original actors from the other two previous films, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman.
Christopher Nolan invites three alums from his 2010 film, Inception, to join the cast, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Marion Cotillard. Joseph Gordon-Levitt portrays John Blake, Gotham City’s beat cop who works for his idol, Commissioner Gordon (Oldman) and Cotillard portrays a potential love-interest for Bale.
Seeing both the teaser and theatrical trailer makes me really excited to see the film, because I am a huge fan of Nolan’s work. I feel that with the Batman trilogy, there cannot be any more remakes, because Nolan has done it. He made Batman come to life in every sense of the way. In my opinion, I think this is going to be the movie of the year, and I know Nolan will not disappoint, because every movie he makes keeps getting better. If you like Batman, you’re bound to enjoy this, however, the film may be unsuitable for audiences under 14, due to the movie’s violence and suspense.
The legend ends July 20, 2012 in IMAX and regular screening.
