Trailer Trashin’: The Dark Knight Rises Promises an Epic Conclusion

Now that The Avengers has been released – it’s awesome, go see it if you haven’t – and the summer movie season has officially begun, the new trailers will be coming in fast and furious. Attached to Marvel’s comic book opus are the final trailers for the other big superhero films of the summer: The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man. With two such high-profile trailers being released in the same week, it’s time for the first-ever Trailer Trashin’ Double Feature! Now, let’s take a look at the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, the finale of Christopher Nolan’s Batman saga.

Premise: Eight years have passed since Batman (Christian Bale) took the fall for the crimes of Harvey Dent/Two-Face and was subsequently hunted by the Gotham City Police Department. When Batman returns to Gotham, he encounters the mysterious Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) while trying to stop a plan by the terrorist leader Bane (Tom Hardy) to destroy the city.

My take: Oh…my…God. I’ve been very impressed by the promotion so far for The Dark Knight Rises, and this trailer is the best one yet. I’m so glad that that the marketing team has shown restraint in promoting the film, showing just enough to keep us interested but not so much that it will spoil the experience of watching the film. Christopher Nolan and company have done an incredible job with their Batman films so far, and I trust them to deliver a satisfying conclusion.

The cast of characters assembled here is absolutely fantastic. Christian Bale continues to be a great Bruce Wayne/Batman, and has thankfully dialed back the raspy Batman voice he used in The Dark Knight. Tom Hardy – who was my favorite part of Inception (2010) – looks incredibly menacing as Bane, and I absolutely believe him as someone who could go toe-to-toe with Batman. Anne Hathaway looks like she’ll do a really good job as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, and judging from her last line at the end of the trailer, she may help provide a much-needed bit of levity. Gary Oldman is still the best Commissioner Gordon ever, and I’m anxious to see how much of a role he has this time. Michael Caine’s Alfred looks like he’ll be going through some major emotional turmoil, what with his line about how he won’t bury any more members of the Wayne family. And I’m curious to see the parts Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake play in the story, since they’re both characters that don’t originate from the comics.

I was really impressed by the scale of action seen here. The destruction of the bridges played silently while accompanied by the somber music. The Tumbler, painted camouflage this time, rolling though the streets of Gotham. The massive street brawl between the police and Bane’s followers. Batman and Catwoman fighting alongside each other. The reveal of “The Bat” – Nolan’s version of the classic Batplane/Batwing aircraft. And the promise of the knock-down, drag-out fight between Batman and Bane.

But I think the thing that surprised and impressed me the most about this trailer is the unrelentingly bleak tone it maintains almost the entire time. To quote Harvey Dent in the previous film, the night is darkest just before the dawn, and it looks like things are going to get very dark before any hope comes to Gotham City. I’m sure Batman will succeed in the end, but it will be a hard-won victory. Jim Vejvoda, executive editor of the Movies channel at IGN.com, described The Dark Knight Rises as “the most depressing movie you can’t wait to see,” and I can’t help but agree with him.

But as good as all this looks, there’s still one thing that really bugs me. The audio for Bane’s voice still doesn’t sound right to me. His first line (“Gotham’s reckoning”) is clear enough to be understandable, but still sounds like he’s speaking through the mask. But his second line (“Your punishment must be more severe”) is so obviously a line that was redone in ADR that it sounds almost like a different character. I really hope they get this issue ironed out before the film is released, because it would be horrible if I have to worry about possibly being pulled out of the film every time Bane speaks. Maybe I’m overreacting to this, but it really jumped out at me as the only “off” note in an otherwise fantastic trailer.

However, that one issue does not lessen my anticipation for this movie. I don’t know if there’s a way for me to be more excited about it. I loved both of Christopher Nolan’s previous two Batman films, and I have been looking forward to this third film ever since I walked out of the theater after seeing The Dark Knight for the first time. I don’t want to overhype it in my mind, but I feel like Nolan and company might be able to avoid the comic book movie threequel curse. But no matter what, you can bet money I’ll be there on opening weekend.

ANTICIPATION: Gotham’s reckoning is coming, and I will be there to see it.

Release Date: July 20th, 2012

Starring: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, and David S. Goyer

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Check out our look at the latest trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man right here!