This obviously will contain spoilers
So the road to actually seeing both the six minute prologue and new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises was a long one for me. I went to see a screening of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, the movie the prologue is attached to in IMAX theaters, this past Wednesday but we were informed the prologue wasn't attached. Upon arriving to that screening, I learned that they had two screenings of the prologue the night before and even handed out those awesome Batman and Bane T-shirts that are floating around, but they didn't let critics know of it ahead of time. Then a "quick return trip" to the mechanic turned into an all day thing and pretty much ruined my plans to check out both the trailer and prologue in theaters on the same day. Thankfully, I was able to plan around it and things managed to work themselves out in the end. $16.75 just to see less than eight minutes of footage. Luckily, I had a free movie ticket lying around but it didn't cover IMAX and I still had to pay $8. One dollar a minute? Those are basically phone sex operator wages. I hope you're proud of yourselves, movie theater executives. Making me feel all dirty and junk.
I had also already watched both the prologue and trailer online in bootleg format, but those are terrible first impressions. The quality was horrendous and it's difficult to compliment anything with something so low in quality. Seeing the prologue in IMAX gave me some extreme chills, which doesn't happen all that often. Bane is also a hell of a lot easier to understand in theaters than any of the videos making their way online. While it does still bother me you can't quite understand what he says at all times, it'll be something that will make repeat viewings mandatory. What you can make out though is incredible. That sharp, menacing dialogue you loved in Nolan's first two Batman efforts are very much alive and well this time around. "Now is not the time for fear. That comes later," is probably my favorite. They certainly seem to have been able to establish Bane being both a monster and a criminal mastermind, which is very very good. The Bane sequence is also pretty damn unique. Can you name another plane crash like this one? The way they rip the tail off the plane and the shot of Bane and Dr. Pavel hanging in the air after the last piece of plane drops the to the ground is just extraordinary. Seeing Josh Pence in there will also probably make you raise an eyebrow since he's playing a young Ra's Al Ghul. Will the Lazarus Pits be used? The conclusion of the sequence was also reminiscent of when Batman went to Hong Kong to retrieve Lau and used Skyhook to take him back to Gotham in The Dark Knight. You're then shown quick flashes of several different scenes; Batman holding a very interesting looking weapon, quick shots of both Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bane and Batman fighting, riots, Bane's tumblers, and the Batwing chase. The last shot is a close up of Batman's broken mask in Bane's hand. After seeing the Bane segment, it's easy to forget the fact that the prologue started with Commissioner Gordon giving a eulogy at Harvey Dent's funeral.
The trailer was just as exciting. Mostly because it featured all new footage compared to the prologue other than the final twenty seconds or so, which looked to be almost identical to the quick flashes during the end of the prologue (other than a quick shot of Marion Cotillard). The football stadium explosion is what you'll be talking about the most, but there are some other really interesting clips in there. Alfred telling Bruce that he made a promise to his parents to protect him and he hasn't, Selena Kyle putting on a necklace and whispering some pretty incredibly dialogue in Bruce Wayne's ear at a dinner party ("You think this will last? There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. Even your friends want to batten down the hatches. Because when it hits, you're all going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us."), talk of Commissioner Gordon being let go by the mayor, and the meaning of that chant during the prison riots. Bane is kind of lurking in the trailer the entire time making his presence known. The last line of the trailer is spoken by him and it's epic ("When Gotham is in ashes, you'll have my permission to die.")
I was skeptical of Bane's look at first and I hated the way he sounded when I first watched that bootleg, but seeing it in the theater and in IMAX just completely changed my mind about the character. I'm a big Tom Hardy fan anyway and I was already really anticipating this film, but it feels like I NEED this movie now in the worst of ways. What's interesting is we didn't get any glimpses of Commissioner Gordon in the hospital this time around. The other thing to keep in mind is Christopher Nolan is making this a definitive end to the trilogy. So does that mean Batman is going to die? Will Bane break his back? Will Gotham finally be destroyed? There's that eight year gap to keep in mind. After seeing the prologue and the trailer and thinking of the possibilities, it's not only overwhelming but it's ridiculous to think how excellent this third and final entry has the potential to be. What was once thought practically impossible after seeing The Dark Knight is washed away in the span of eight simple minutes to reassure you that something just as great or greater is coming.
The Dark Knight Rises will be released in conventional and IMAX (not 3D!) theaters on July 20, 2012. Christopher Nolan puts an end to his trilogy as Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman return and newcomers Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt join the cast.
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