Last night I was given the opportunity to screen the first six or so minutes of 2012’s most anticipated movie, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. Spokane was one of only 13 cities in the world that got an early look at the opening scene to the final film in Christopher Nolan’s epic Batman trilogy. So I went through a lot for just the first 5% of the film. Was it worth it? Find out my SPOILER FREE thoughts after the jump.
I don’t want to spoil the opening scene but I will say that it was very cool and was similar to THE DARK KNIGHT’s opening scene. It set up Bane as a very formidable opponent and he seems to be quite the opposite of the Joker from the last film. He is a more physical opponent and seems to have a specific plan. Just this opening scene has me pumped to see what Tom Hardy is going to do with this role.
The main complaint I have heard and read from other people who have seen this was that it was very hard to understand what Bane was saying. While I will agree with this complaint I will remind everybody that the film is still 8 months from release so I am sure the audio mix is not finalized and with all of the complaints about it I am sure next summer nobody will even notice it.
The other thing this scene showed me was that there is no other way to see this film other than in a 70 mm IMAX theater. Seeing this at a normal 35MM theater would be a travesty. When THE DARK KNIGHT came out three years ago I only saw it at my local IMAX theater and I can’t imagine seeing it in a normal theater or even one of the “LIMAX” theater s. Shooting in the IMAX resolution is a more immersive an impressive format than 3D ever could be and I really hope other filmmakers decide to take a chance and use it. Nolan has recently stated that he expects more than 40 minutes of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES will be shot in the IMAX format.
After the footage was shown we were treated to a short montage of clips that revealed Catwoman and Joseph Gordon Leavitt in action. Regarding Catwoman and everybody who complained about the look of her costume, as I said when the pictures first came out was that it will look a lot better in action than it does in a photo. This montage confirmed that. It also showed some awesome fight footage between Bane and Batman. Most of this footage will probably be included in the new theatrical trailer that will premiere this weekend with MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCAL.
If you live anywhere near a 70MM IMAX theater I would definitely recommend going to see this. It will introduce you to Bane and while there is probably no way he can ever live up to Heath Ledger’s version of the Joker this footage did a great job of establishing him as a completely different kind of adversary which is exactly what it needed to do. The rest of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES will be in theaters next summer and look for a new trailer debuting soon.
