Dark Knight Rises

''The Dark Knight Rises'' is a 2012 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan, and the story with David S. Goyer. The film is based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the final installment in Nolan's ''The Dark Knight'' trilogy, and the sequel to ''The Dark Knight'' (2008). The film stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman, alongside Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon Levitt, and Morgan Freeman. Eight years after the events of ''The Dark Knight'', the revolutionary Bane forces Bruce Wayne to resume his role as Batman and save Gotham City from nuclear destruction.

Christopher Nolan was hesitant about returning to the series for a third film, but agreed after developing a story with his brother and Goyer that he felt would conclude the series on a satisfactory note. Nolan drew inspiration from Bane's comic book debut in the 1993 "Knightfall" storyline, the 1986 series ''The Dark Knight Returns'', and the 1999 storyline " No Man's Land". Filming took place from May to November 2011 in locations including Jodhpur, London, Nottingham, Glasgow, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, and Pittsburgh. Nolan used IMAX 70 mm film cameras for much of the filming, including the first six minutes of the film, to optimize the quality of the picture. A vehicle variation of the Batplane and Batcopter termed the "Bat", an underground prison set, and a new Batcave set were created specifically for the film. As with ''The Dark Knight'', viral marketing campaigns began early during production. When filming concluded, Warner Bros. refocused its campaign, developing promotional websites, releasing the first six minutes of the film, screening theatrical trailers, and sending out information regarding the film's plot.

''The Dark Knight Rises'' premiered in New York City on July 16, 2012. The film was released in the United States and the United Kingdom on July 20, 2012. The film received positive reviews, with praise being directed toward the performances, action sequences, direction, screenplay, musical score, and emotional depth, with many critics deeming it a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. The film grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making it the second film in the ''Batman'' film series to earn $1 billion, and the highest-grossing Batman film to date. In addition to being Nolan's highest-grossing film, it became the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release, as well as the third-highest-grossing film of 2012. It was named one of the top 10 films of 2012 by the American Film Institute. It is considered one of the greatest superhero films of all time, one of the best films of the 2010s, and one of the best sequels of all time.

Plot

Above Uzbekistan, a masked former member of the League of Shadows, Bane, leads an attack on a CIA plane to abduct Russian nuclear physicist, Dr. Leonid Pavel, while planting a corpse as the scientist's decoy before crashing the aircraft.

Meanwhile, it has been eight years after the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent, and organized crime has been eradicated in Gotham City thanks to legislation giving expanded powers to the police. Police commissioner James Gordon has kept Dent's killing spree as "Two-Face" a secret and allowed the blame for his crimes to fall on Batman. Gordon has prepared a speech revealing the truth but hesitates to read it at a public celebration. Bruce Wayne, still mourning the death of Rachel Dawes, has become a recluse and Wayne Enterprises has stagnated. Bane enlists Bruce's corporate rival John Daggett to buy Bruce's fingerprints. Daggett hires cat burglar Selina Kyle to steal Bruce's prints from Wayne Manor, but she is double-crossed by him and alerts the police.

The police arrive and pursue Bane and Daggett's henchmen into the sewers while Kyle flees. The henchmen capture Gordon and take him to Bane, but he escapes and is found by officer John Blake. Blake, an orphan who has figured out Bruce's secret identity, persuades him to return as Batman. Bane attacks the Gotham Stock Exchange and uses Bruce's fingerprints in a series of fraudulent transactions that leaves Bruce bankrupt. Batman resurfaces while intercepting Bane and his subordinates. Bruce's butler, Alfred Pennyworth, fears that Bruce will get himself killed fighting Bane, and resigns in the hope of saving him, but only after admitting that he burned a letter that Rachel left for him saying she was going to marry Dent. Bane expands his operations and kills Daggett while Bruce and Wayne Enterprises' new CEO Miranda Tate become lovers.

Kyle agrees to take Batman to Bane, but instead leads him into Bane's trap. Bane gloats that he intends to fulfill Ra's al Ghul's mission to destroy Gotham City before defeating Batman, then breaks his back before taking him abroad to an underground prison where escape is virtually impossible. The inmates tell Bruce the story of Ra's al Ghul's child, who was born and raised in the prison before escaping — the only prisoner to have done so. Bane traps the police forces in the sewers and destroys all but one bridge surrounding the city. He kills Mayor Anthony Garcia and forces Pavel to convert a fusion reactor core into a decaying neutron bomb before killing him. Outside Blackgate Penitentiary, Bane reads Gordon's speech to a crowd, revealing the truth about Dent. He releases the prisoners of Blackgate, annuls the laws, and exiles and kills Gotham's elite in kangaroo courts presided over by Jonathan Crane.

Five months later, Bruce escapes (after two prisoners adjusted his herniated disc back into place) and returns to Gotham. As Batman, he frees the police and they clash with Bane's army in the streets; during the battle, Batman overpowers Bane. Tate intervenes and stabs Batman, revealing herself as Talia al Ghul, Ra's al Ghul's daughter. She attempts to activate the bomb's detonator, but the bomb fails to activate due to Gordon blocking the signal. Talia leaves to find the bomb while Bane prepares to kill Batman, but Kyle arrives and kills Bane. Batman and Kyle pursue Talia, hoping to bring the bomb back to the reactor chamber where it can be stabilized. Talia's truck crashes, but she remotely floods and destroys the reactor chamber before dying. With no way to stop the detonation, Batman uses his aerial craft, the Bat, to haul the bomb far over the bay, where it safely explodes. Before takeoff, Batman subtly reveals his identity to Gordon.

In the aftermath, Batman is presumed dead and honored as a hero. Wayne Manor becomes an orphanage and Bruce's estate is left to Alfred. Gordon finds the Bat Signal repaired, while Lucius Fox discovers that Bruce had fixed the malfunctioning auto-pilot on the Bat. While traveling abroad, Alfred glimpses Bruce alive and in a relationship with Selina Kyle - they quietly acknowledge one other but move on without speaking. Blake, whose legal first name is revealed as Robin, resigns from the GCPD and receives a parcel from Bruce leading him to the Batcave.

Cast

* Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman:
A billionaire socialite who dedicates himself to protecting Gotham City from its criminal underworld, as a feared vigilante. Nolan has stated that, due to the eight-year gap between ''The Dark Knight'' and ''The Dark Knight Rises'', "he's an older Bruce Wayne; he's not in a great state." Bale employed a martial arts discipline called the Keysi Fighting Method, now modified for Wayne's current state and Bane's style. Bale has stated that ''The Dark Knight Rises'' will be his final Batman film. Bale acknowledged that Batman is "not a healthy individual, this is somebody that is doing good, but he's right on the verge of doing bad". Bale clarifies that "He doesn't want to forget is parents' deaths He wants to maintain that anger he felt at that injustice". Bale felt bittersweet about leaving the franchise, saying that it was like "saying goodbye to an old friend."
* Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth:
Bruce's trusted butler and confidant, who acts as a father figure to Wayne but is unable to accept Wayne's desire to revive his Batman persona, even resigning from his position to impress the seriousness of his position upon him. Christopher Nolan emphasized the emotional bond between Pennyworth and Wayne, stressing its importance in the previous films and predicting that the relationship will be strained as it never has before.
* Gary Oldman as James Gordon:
The Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, and one of the city's few honest police officers. Oldman described the character's work in cleaning up Gotham City as having left him world-weary and slightly bored, likening Gordon to a soldier who leaps at the chance to be on the front lines. His life has taken a turn for the worse since ''The Dark Knight''; his wife has left him and taken their children, and the mayor is planning to dismiss him from his job. Gordon feels guilty over his role in covering up Harvey Dent's crimes and is prepared to resign from his position as Commissioner over it, but then senses that Gotham is about to come under threat.
* Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle / Catwoman:
A professional cat burglar, grifter, and femme fatale who establishes a playful, teasing relationship with Wayne that "takes some of the somberness away from his character", and pursues a "clean slate" (a computer program rumored to be able to erase a person's criminal history) when she crosses paths with both Wayne and Batman. Hathaway auditioned not knowing what role she was being considered for. Hathaway described the role as being the most physically demanding she had ever played, and confessed that while she thought of herself as being fit, she had to redouble her efforts in the gym to keep up with the demands of the role. Hathaway trained extensively in martial arts for the role, and looked to Hedy Lamarr—who was the initial inspiration for the comic book character—in developing her own performance. ''Batman Begins'' and ''The Dark Knight'' writer David S. Goyer had previously ruled out in 2008 including Catwoman in a third film for having already appeared in Tim Burton's ''Batman Returns'', portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer.
* Tom Hardy as Bane:
A mysterious and physically imposing revolutionary villain who was excommunicated from the League of Shadows and portrays himself as a "liberator of pain". He is desperate to continue Ra's al Ghul's legacy by destroying Gotham. The character was chosen by Christopher Nolan because of his desire to see Batman tested on both a physical and mental level. According to costume designer Lindy Hemming, the character wears a mask that supplies him with an analgesic gas to relieve pain he suffers from an injury sustained "early in his story". Hardy intended to portray the character as "more menacing" than Robert Swenson's version of the character in Joel Schumacher's '' Batman & Robin'' and that in order to do so, his portrayal entailed creating a contradiction between his voice and body. Hardy gained for the role, increasing his weight to . Hardy based Bane's voice on several influences, which include Bartley Gorman and the character's comic book heritage. Bane claims that his revolution's enemies are the rich and the corrupt, who he contends are oppressing "the people", when in reality this was a ruse in order to exploit the citizens of Gotham City for the League of Shadows' ultimate goal in destroying Gotham City.
* Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate / Talia al Ghul:
The current CEO of Wayne Enterprises who encourages a still-grieving Bruce to rejoin society and continue his father's philanthropic works but is later revealed to be the daughter of Ra's al Ghul and Bane's accomplice. Cotillard also does her own dub-over voice in both the European and Canadian French dubs of the film.
** Joey King as Young Talia al Ghul
* Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake:
A young police officer whose instincts lead him to believe that there is trouble on the horizon and is promoted to detective by Gordon when the elder cop saw something of himself within the younger. Blake represents the idealism that Gordon and Bruce Wayne once held, but soon lost in their battle against crime in the city. The film reveals his legal name to be Robin John Blake, an homage to Batman's sidekick in the comics, Robin.
* Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox:
The ex-CEO turned executive vice president of Wayne Enterprises, who runs the company on Wayne's behalf and serves as his armorer for the Batsuit, providing him with high-tech equipment and discreetly developing cutting-edge technology and weaponry, even as Wayne Enterprises starts losing money.
* Matthew Modine as Peter Foley: Gordon's second-in-command who disdains Batman.
* Ben Mendelsohn as John Daggett: A rival billionaire socialite who employs Bane in his plan to take control of Wayne Enterprises.
* Burn Gorman as Philip Stryver: Daggett's assistant and senior executive vice president of Daggett Industries. Philip Stryver is named after Stryver from ''A Tale of Two Cities'', the novel that ''The Dark Knight Rises'' directly drew influence from.
* Nestor Carbonell as Anthony Garcia: Gotham City's mayor. Carbonell reprises his role from ''The Dark Knight''.
* Juno Temple as Jen: Selina Kyle's friend and accomplice.
* Josh Stewart as Barsad: Bane's right-hand man.
* Alon Aboutboul as Dr. Leonid Pavel: A Russian nuclear physicist who is kidnapped by Bane and the League of Shadows in order to convert a fusion reactor funded by Bruce Wayne and Miranda Tate into a weapon to be used for the destruction of Gotham City.
* Aidan Gillen as CIA operative Bill Wilson: A CIA operative who was tasked with tracking down Bane for terrorist activities before his appearance in Gotham City. (Bill is referred to solely as "CIA" in the film's dialogue; the character's name is revealed in the film's novelization.)
* Brett Cullen portrays Byron Gilley, a U.S. congressman who is kidnapped by Kyle. Brett Cullen would go on to portray Thomas Wayne in the 2019 DC Comics adaptation '' Joker''.
* Chris Ellis as Father Reilly, a priest at the orphanage that Blake grew up in.
* Tom Conti as Prisoner: An unnamed prisoner who serves as Bruce Wayne's caretaker in Bane's underground prison, The Pit.
* Daniel Sunjata as Mark Jones, a U.S. Special Ops officer who leads a task force into Gotham to assist Gordon and the GCPD in freeing the city from Bane's rule.
* Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul: Liam Neeson reprises his role from ''Batman Begins'' in a cameo appearance; he also appears in a brief flashback.
** Josh Pence as Young Ra's al Ghul. He appears in scenes set thirty years before the events of ''Batman Begins''.
* Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow: Cillian Murphy reprises his role from ''Batman Begins'' and ''The Dark Knight''.
* India Wadsworth as the wife of Ra's al Ghul and the mother of Talia al Ghul.
* John Nolan as Douglas Fredericks, a board member of Wayne Enterprises. John Nolan is Christopher Nolan's uncle and he reprises his role from ''Batman Begins''.
* William Devane as the President of the United States.

Other cast members include Rob Brown and Desmond Harrington as police officers; Christopher Judge as one of Bane's henchmen; and Noel Gugliemi as an ex-prisoner who is in charge of exiling corrupt elites during Bane's revolution. Thomas Lennon, who had appeared as a doctor in Nolan's 2000 film '' Memento'', once again plays a doctor.

United States Senator Patrick Leahy, who had made a cameo appearance in ''The Dark Knight'', returned in ''The Dark Knight Rises,'' as a Wayne Enterprises board member.

Several members of the Pittsburgh Steelers have cameo appearances as members of the fictional Gotham Rogues football team in the film, including Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, Willie Colon, Maurkice Pouncey, Mike Wallace, Heath Miller, Aaron Smith, Ryan Clark, James Farrior, LaMarr Woodley, and Casey Hampton, and former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher as the head coach of the Rogues. Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravenstahl, a kicker in college, appears as the kicker for the Rogues' opponents, the Rapid City Monuments. In 2008, the Rooney family sold a minority stake in the team to Thomas Tull, the CEO and president of Legendary Pictures, which produced ''The Dark Knight Rises''.

Aaron Eckhart expressed enthusiasm in returning for a sequel if asked, although he later stated Nolan verified that his character, Harvey Dent / Two-Face, was dead, and only archive footage of Eckhart from ''The Dark Knight'' appears in the film.

Production

Development

In 2005, David S. Goyer confirmed that he wrote treatments for two films involving the Joker; the first would involve Batman, Harvey Dent, and Commissioner Gordon hunting the Joker, while the second would have the Joker scarring Dent and turning him into Two-Face during his trial. The third treatment ended in the same way as the final version of ''The Dark Knight Rises''. Other aspects of the third treatment were incorporated into ''The Dark Knight''. However, Heath Ledger's family stated that he was planning on reprising his role as the Joker before his death. After Ledger's death, Christopher Nolan decided not to recast the role out of respect for his performance, and initially was hesitant to make a third film.

Warner Bros. president of production Jeff Robinov had hoped a third film would be released in 2011 or 2012. Nolan wanted the story for the third installment to keep him emotionally invested. "On a more superficial level, I have to ask the question," he reasoned, "how many good third movies in a franchise can people name?" Nolan said that he never even thought a third film was possible in the foreword for his book ''The Art and Making of the Dark Knight Trilogy''. Nolan only agreed to a third film on the basis of finding a worthwhile story, fearing that he would become bored halfway through production if he discovered the film to be unnecessary. By December 2008, Nolan completed a rough story outline, before he committed himself to ''Inception''. Later in December, Alan F. Horn confirmed that while discussions with Nolan about a third film were ongoing, no casting had been done, and Horn denied all such rumors. Before Nolan confirmed his involvement, Gary Oldman had said he was confident Nolan would return.

Following the success of the Joker in ''The Dark Knight'', studio executives wished for the Riddler to be included as the primary villain as he was considered a similar character and encouraged the casting of Leonardo DiCaprio. However, Nolan wanted the antagonist to be vastly different from the previous incarnations and committed to using Bane instead, citing the need for a character with a physical presence within the film. He was initially unfamiliar with the character's back-story, but pointed out the appeal of an archetype, labeling it as "the extreme of some type of villainy". When comparing the choice of Bane with the Joker, Nolan highlighted the Joker as an example of "diabolical, chaotic anarchy and has a devilish sense of humor", juxtaposing him against Bane, whom he likened to "a classic movie monster ..with a terrific brain." Nolan has said that his draft of the script was inspired by Charles Dickens' 1859 novel ''A Tale of Two Cities'', which centers around the French Revolution. This homage to Dickens was briefly illustrated by having Bane inconspicuously finger knit paracord in the film, symbolizing Madame Defarge, the villain of ''A Tale of Two Cities'', and more overtly by Commissioner Gordon's eulogy for Bruce Wayne, which is taken directly from Dickens' novel.

On February 9, 2010, it was announced that Nolan had "cracked" the story and was committed to returning to the project. Shortly afterward, it was announced David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan were working on a screenplay. Goyer would leave the project during pre-production to begin work on '' Man of Steel''; Jonathan continued writing the script based on the story by his brother Chris and Goyer. Nolan said that his brother's original draft was about 400 pages. The film's storyline has been compared with the ''Batman'' comic book series' story arc "Knightfall" (1993), which showcases Bane; the miniseries ''The Dark Knight Returns'' (1986), in which Batman returns to Gotham City after a ten-year absence; and the story arc " No Man's Land" (1999), which depicts a Gotham cut off from the rest of the world and overrun by gangs. The nickname "the Dark Knight" was first applied to Batman in ''Batman'' #1 (1940), in a story written by Bill Finger.

Nolan confirmed the Joker would not return in the third film, and dismissed rumors that he considered using unused footage of Heath Ledger from ''The Dark Knight''. Reportedly, before his death, Ledger had plans to reprise the role of the Joker in the third film after enjoying his time filming ''The Dark Knight'', a notion supported by Ledger's costar Aaron Eckhart, who portrayed Two-Face in the film. ''The Dark Knight Rises'' reunited Nolan with many of his past collaborators, including cinematographer Wally Pfister, production designer Nathan Crowley, editor Lee Smith, costume designer Lindy Hemming, special effects supervisors Paul Franklin and Chris Corbould, and composer Hans Zimmer.

Filming

During location scouting in December 2010, Nolan began searching for locations such as India, Romania, and Michigan. According to the ''Romania Insider'', Nolan was interested in Bucharest's historical centers, Edgar Quinet Street, the Palace of the Parliament, and the Turda salt mine. The film had an estimated budget of $250–300 million, coming down to about $230 million after tax credits. Nolan elected not to film in 3-D, but instead stated that he intended to focus on improving image quality and scale using the IMAX format. ''The Dark Knight Rises'' featured over an hour of footage shot in IMAX (by comparison, ''The Dark Knight'' contained 28 minutes). Nolan had several meetings with IMAX Vice-president David Keighley to work on the logistics of projecting films in digital IMAX venues.

Wally Pfister had expressed interest in shooting the film entirely in IMAX, but because of the considerable noise made by IMAX cameras, 35mm and 70mm cameras had to be used for shooting the film's dialogue scenes, as dialogue had to be dubbed when shot with IMAX cameras. Chairman and president of the IMAX Corporation Greg Foster stated that IMAX planned to run the film in its theatres for two months, despite only being contractually committed to run the film for two weeks. Nolan also bypassed the use of a digital intermediate for the film, resulting in less manipulation of the filmed image and higher film resolution.

Filming was scheduled to start in May and conclude in November 2011. Principal photography commenced on May 6, 2011, in Jodhpur, India, at the Mehrangarh Fort before moving to Pittsburgh, where it operated under the working title ''Magnus Rex'' to reduce the visibility of the production. Shooting locations within the city included Heinz Field, the site of an American football game, with members of the Pittsburgh Steelers playing the Gotham Rogues football team. More than 11,000 extras were used to depict the shot sequence. Filming in Pittsburgh also took place at the Mellon Institute and Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. A letter sent out to residents and business owners detailing road closures revealed that the streets of the city would be featured "as the start of hefilm". 9-1-1 operators were told to expect an increase in calls related to gunshots and explosions in the film's production.

The Pittsburgh leg of production wrapped after three weeks on August 21, 2011. The next portion of the filming began in Los Angeles in late August and finished up on October 23 after nine weeks of filming. New York and New Jersey were the next places of filming. The Trump Tower replaced the Richard J. Daley Center as the location for the headquarters of Wayne Enterprises. In November 2011, shooting shifted to Newark, New Jersey

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases