Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Dark Knight Rises trailer: Batman's best bits, but what else?

What is Christopher Nolan trying to tell us about his new Batman film? It's time to shed some light on the Dark Knight

Finally, The Dark Knight Rises has produced something tangible. Not weird internet rumours about Eddie Murphy starring as The Riddler, or Cher as Catwoman. Not incomprehensible viral videos full of static and chanting. Not a fake trailer featuring the voice of Robin Williams or a bootlegged trailer so shaky and unfocused it makes you feel seasick. Now there's a real, genuine, teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, and it finally gives us our first real glimpse of what we can expect next year. Let's plunder it for clues:

The Dark Knight Rises trailer opens with a recap of Batman's best bits. First we see a clip of him as Bruce Wayne from Batman Begins, as he ventures out to spend several months letting Liam Neeson boot him in the knackers and force-feed him hallucinogens.

Next we see another shot of Bruce Wayne as a youngster, this time realising his future persona by confronting his biggest fear. Luckily his fear was of bats and not, say, old ladies or the prospect of a snake leaping out of the toilet and biting you on the sphincter, because that would have arguably led to him becoming a less effective superhero.

Then we get a clip from The Dark Knight, just to remind you that it existed. It's good that Christopher Nolan only limited the trailer to showing clips from the Batman films he's made. It would have been weird if, for example, this clip was replaced with one of Adam West running around on a pier with a giant bomb held above his head.

Finally, we get our first piece of footage from The Dark Knight Rises. It's Commissioner Gordon in hospital, saying: "We were in this together, and then you were gone. And now this evil rises. The Batman has to come back." The figure to his left? Judging by the voice, it's either Batman or Mark Wahlberg's brother from The Fighter. It's hard to tell.

Next we cut to another shot, this time apparently of Bruce Wayne crawling out of a well. He's rising out of the dark and into the light. This is probably symbolic, although it's hard to say what of.

And here's Bruce Wayne doing press-ups, an exercise that requires you to rise from the floor several times in a row. The Dark Knight Rises trailer is definitely trying to tell us something, but what?

Here, for approximately a third of a second, is the most interesting part of The Dark Knight Rises trailer. It's Bane, the film's big baddie. In the Batman comics, Bane is a super-strong genius addicted to a steroid pumped directly into his brain. In The Dark Knight Rises, it looks as if he might be a sort of Mexican wrestler who occasionally moonlights as a gimp. But this is just a brief shot, so there's probably more to him than that. Probably.

As the trailer reaches its climax, we see the Batman insignia set against the backdrop of a crumbling city. As the shot progresses, the viewpoint begins to rise. What is Christopher Nolan trying to tell us about The Dark Knight Rises? The man is such an enigma.

Finally, right before the trailer ends, we get our first look at Batman himself. He's staggering underground, engaged in a fistfight. But is that Bane? And is Batman losing? And who is that standing behind Batman? And has Batman still got his silly voice? All these questions and more will probably go unanswered in the next frustratingly opaque trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. Stay tuned.


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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/jul/19/dark-knight-rises

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