After a weekend of being complete anal retentive dbs and pulling the copyright card, WB finally released the brand new The Dark Knight Rises trailer to the rest of the world. Thankfully I can now give a complete breakdown of the trailer after having to wait an excruciating 4 days. (Please note: WATCH THE TRAILER FIRST before you read my breakdown.)
First off the start of the trailer with the kid singing the national anthem absolutely gave me goosebumps. You could just tell there was this ominous undertone as the first chords rang out. FYI that is in fact Heinz Field, the Pittsburgh Steelers stadium, although in the trailer Gotham's NFL team are the Gotham Rogues.* Bane stalking through the tunnels of the stadium is an underlying part of the trailer, as the focus keeps cutting back to the stadium. Also during the opening 30 seconds Alfred (Michael Caine) tells Bruce in near tears how he hasn't protected him. What that implies is ambiguous because what exactly would Bruce need protecting from? He's obviously avoided the police (who think he killed Harvey Dent) since the last film. Intriguing.
Next we see a few Gotham officials commenting on how Jim Gordon is going to be removed from office in the Spring by the mayor. One of them says that in Gotham it is "peacetime." The fact that Rises picks up eight years after the last film implies an extended (and fortunate) time of peace.
Afterwards, we see Anne Hathaway (Selina/Catwoman) cutting Bruce and his rich friends down, implying there is a storm coming. What follows are scenes where criminals are attacking the rich in Gotham and also where hundreds are released by Bane from Blackgate prison or Arkham Asylum I'm not sure which. To me this implies an undertone of class warfare. Is this meant to be social commentary? Perhaps. A lot of people felt, as I did, that The Dark Knight examines the nature of terrorism through the Joker and how we as a society respond to it. I don't think it was anything intentional or overt, it just flows from the story naturally...as all good social commentary in movies tends to do. What with the economic crisis, occupy Wall Street, and the impending 2012 election, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if class warfare issues will be in the third film.
The next section is very interesting because we see Christian Bale at some kind of retreat/monastery sporting a large beard and hearing people (monks?) chanting a word that means rise. There's two possibilities here. One is that this is a flashback to when Bruce was training with the League of Shadows in Batman Begins. I suspect this because a young Ra's Al Ghul is supposed to be in Rises and he has an unknown connection to Bane. The other possibility (and I think this one is more likely) is that this is where Bruce has gone in the intervening years between the second and third film. At the very least it is where he goes to train and rediscover his inner Batman.
Following this we are treated to easily one of the coolest sequences I've ever seen in a trailer. Bane blows up the Gotham Rogues field while one of the players runs for a touchdown. That player incidentally just happens to be Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward. (Several Steeler players including Ward, Troy Polamalu, and Ben Rothliesberger were all in this film.) The effect is like a roundhouse kick to the groin.
However as cool as that action sequence was, it's nothing compared to the quick 5 second exchange between Bane and Bruce. Bruce appears to be lying on the ground apparently after being pummeled (back broken???) by Bane who calmly says, "When Gotham is ashes you have my permission to die." Chilling stuff.
After that the last 15 to 20 seconds or so are several cut action sequences involving chases and fights including one where strangely enough Bane and Batman appear to be fighting during the day. Now before Batman fans go all fanboy and raise an outcry that Batman never comes out during the day (I'm nerd enough to know that it is actually rarely before 11pm and it's usually 1am before he saunters out) let me point out that the Bane villain doesn't play by the rules. As the physical and mental match for Batman he's going to do whatever it takes to draw Batman out of his shell. If that means freeing prisoners in the middle of the day that's what he's going to do. In any case, seeing the new fangled Batwing right at the end dismissed any non-cannon complaints I might have had.
So my overall impression? While this trailer doesn't compare to the trailer for The Dark Knight four years ago, there's plenty in here to get the geek inside me screaming for joy. It seems that Rises draws heavily from the Knightfall arc of the Batman universe. (I'm not going to explain what that is. If you want to know check Wikipedia.) The action sequences, the new gadgets, and Bane in all his badass glory are only a few of the highlights. It would have been nice to see Hathaway in her Catwoman outfit, however her dialogue scene with Bruce was fantastic. Any doubts that the Academy Award nominated actress could pull this off are gone. My only complaint is that Bane's voice is hard to understand, but I feel that will be cleared up in post production.
July 20, 2012 can't come quick enough for this Batman fanatic.
*For those of you who may not have noticed the "R" in the Gotham Rogues sign that people are holding up in the stands, that is actually the same "R" symbol that Robin uses. Does that mean we will see the boy wonder in the final film? Guess we will find out.
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