By Paco McCullough
The new prologue video before Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol showcases the new villain for Christopher Nolan's upcoming final batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. Similar to The Dark Knight prologue shown before I Am Legend, this video gives us a six minute look at Bane, the upcoming antagonist. Detailed description after the jump, so if you don't want to read any spoilers, stop here.
A scientist and a trio of captured men with bags over their heads are taken to a small CIA plane, where an agent played by Aiden Gillen (The Wire, Game of Thrones) stands waiting. Everyone boards the plane, and Gillen starts asking the bagged men who Bane is and what he wants, by threatening to throw them out of the plane. When one doesn't talk, he shoots him in the head and throws him out. One of the others asks why the man was shot first. Gillen takes the bag off his head, revealing Bane.
Perhaps the most revealing element of this scene is this dialogue that takes place right after Bane is revealed.
"No one cared who I was until I put on the mask." As Dark Knight Rises takes place 8 years after The Dark Knight, this quote could be significant. Has the appearance of Batman changed the entire world? A mercenary like Bane is now unable to get the work he wants without adopting a persona. Like the Batman himself, it is no longer enough to be a man. Bane must now be an idea.
In the same exchange, there's also a couple of lines where the Nolan's have fun with Bane's character.
Gillen: If I pull the mask off, will you die?
Bane: It will be extremely painful.
Gillen: You're a big guy.
Bane: For you.
From there, another plane shows up, and Bane's henchmen perform a daring raid involving skydiving, dynamite, and rope. They blow the tail off the plane. In this section, it was a little difficult to follow what was going on, as the action was a little to frenetic. Basically, Bane kills a bunch of people. His henchmen bring a dead body onto the plane, and Bane and his men take blood from that man and inject it into the Doctor, who screams. All but one of the villains use their ropes to shoot out of the plane (Bane: They expect one of us in the wreckage, brother).
Another crucial exchange is this.
Henchman: Have we started a fire?
Bane: The fire rises.
The men appear to be using some sort of biological weapon that spells serious trouble for Gotham. I don't know enough about the comics to know if that is from a classic Bane storyline or not, so you guys should let me know.
One last note: As you may have heard, Bane's dialogue is very difficult to hear. It's a realistic depiction of what someone talking through a mask would sound like, but I only understood about half of what was said. Fortunately, Warner Bros. released a script online. Hopefully some correction will be made on this issue between now and when the film is released.
By Jason Haskins
The Dark Knight was truly an exceptional comic book movie because it grounded itself in reality--making it seem more like a Heat-style crime/drama rather than a movie with masks and leather. Christopher Nolan is going to bring his trilogy to a close with The Dark Knight Rises and I could not be more excited by the trailer. Football scenes are interrupted by the sudden appearance of Bane, whose prior appearance on the big screen was in 1998's disastrous Batman & Robin (thanks again, Joel Schumacher). This revamp of him looks like it's going to have a lot more to do with the comic book version--particularly the calculating and cunning Bane from DC's Knightfall arc from 1993.
This trailer gives some great tidbits. We finally hear Bane's voice courtesy Tom Hardy who definitely brings a new iconic look to the character, but understandably the voice is hard to hear. I appreciate where the filmmakers are coming from in terms of realism and bringing something new, but this could certainly alienate audiences and lead to a whole new internet craze of Batman 'what the fuck did you just say?' videos. Oy vey. The only negative vibe I get is from Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, a character who really doesn't seem to have a place here other than being a possible romantic interest for Bruce Wayne. I'm not thrilled, but I'm intrigued to see what these guys did with the character.
We also got a glimpse of some supernatural events that broke open the football field (bombs, baby!), which I have to assume has something to do with the return of Ra's al Ghul. My prediction is that he's returned from the dead via these Lazarus Pits that are all under Gotham and somehow this is tied into Bane's plan for world domination. Adding this supernatural element is a big gamble for Nolan as the previous films dealt more with reality than anything straight up comic schtick so it's going to be interesting seeing this executed. The idea to set this eight years after the events was brilliant as it could possibly avoid any Joker contact, though perhaps a reference or two will occur, and will add more depth to the characters on the field. Batman is no longer relevant and must return to save Gotham one last time.
All in all, we at Cinemecca are disgusting excited for this movie. This may be one of the most anticipated movies of all time because of the quality of the other two films in Nolan's series. It's going to see him leave Batman with a big ole bang to close his trilogy, which looks to be the case. I feel bad for whichever filmmaker takes the reins after him. He has not only revitalized the character and the franchise, but filmmaking as well. Stay tuned for more tidbits about The Dark Knight Rises until the eventual opening in July of 2012. The whole world can be destroyed in December, just give us our Batman.
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