Film preview: what to expect from The Dark Knight Rises

We believe it is fair to say that when analysing the comic-book film franchise that rose predominantly at the start of the millennium, Christopher Nolan’s Batman had ignored the others and got on a different bandwagon: the “express” bandwagon. 

Unlike other Marvel/DC films where a lot of finance is spent on the CGI, the locations and who is playing the lead parts, this most recent Batman franchise began with Batman Begins in 2005 and has been created, driven and allowed to evolve under the guidance of the Nolan brothers. They chose to bypass the gaudy action sequences and focus on the ‘realism and humanity’ of the Batman story. On the day of release, critics could hardly contain their love for the film. Shortly after, the announcement for a sequel came and was set for July 2008. Almost four years to the day and we have our finale. What will be the fate for Bruce Wayne? Can Bane finish what the Joker started? 

On 20^th July, The Dark Knight Rises will be released in the UK and spells the end of Christopher and brother/fellow writer Jonathan Nolan’s Batman trilogy. The trailers portray a huge tank of a man called Bane who will seemingly sink the earth in order to stop Batman. To expect him to be in a similar mindset to the Joker though, would be a damning mistake. In interviews with the cast and production team, we are told that the Joker’s violence was more mindless violence, destruction for the sake of destruction. 

With Bane, he actually wants to see Batman suffer and so we are promised a more calculated but equally menacing character in The Dark Knight Rises. Judging by the cinematography and acting in the trailers, this film will have a very similar look to The Dark Knight. Just by casting Anne Hathaway as Catwoman is an improvement from Halle Berry’s 2004 flop.

True to form, the details of the plot are kept hidden and this has only added to the immense anticipation for the release. Like in Memento and Inception, Nolan likes to play around with the narrative, so expect the unexpected…

Richard Taverner

 

The Dark Knight Rises is released in cinemas nationwide on Friday 20^th July. 

Watch the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises here: