[NOTE: I originally wrote this on Friday, May 4 but lost the thumb drive I’d stored it on and only found it this morning. This post should have gone up Friday, so I think I may have missed the wave.]
I’ve been getting a lot of hits here for my review of the first The Dark Knight Rises trailer now that the third one has been released. So, I figure I should give some thoughts on it. (For a great take on the second trailer, see Adam Shaftoe’s break down over on The Page of Reviews.)
While the first trailer focused on Commission Gordon lying in a bed and the second on Bane, here Selina Kyle/Catwoman gets the best scenes.
We have a repeat of her pro-Occupy / “live so large” monologue to Bruce Wayne, hinting she may know of the coming of Bane. But a later scene has her guiltily admitting she does not know if Bruce is alive or dead. (At least, that’s what the trailer suggests.) Then, we have her fighting along side Batman and even getting into the Batwing.
Could it be that Catwoman begins working with Bane and the League of Shadows? (I don’t think there can be any doubt Bane is the League’s big gun, meant to finish the job Ra’s al Ghul—and maybe the Joker—could not.) Perhaps she helps the League infiltrate the newly constructed Wayne Manor, as suggested by scenes of looting and someone being pulled up from under a chest. To solidify his power, Bane destroys the bridges connecting Gotham to the mainland (No Man’s Land reference?) in a “I gotta see that in Imax” shot. But when Selina sees Bane’s true nature, she has a change of heart.
The class-warfare idea can also be seen in another “I gotta see that in IMAX” scene where Bane is rescued in mid-air. A C-130 Hercules—the old work horse transport plane of the military—stalking and dismantling a private jet? Symbolism much?
We also get a bit more of a look at the fight scene between Bane and Batman that either takes place in the rain or the sewers. Or, the Batcave. My belief is Bane learns Batman’s identity (as he does in the comics) and infiltrates the Batcave, where he fights and defeats Batman, which is why we see Bane dropping the cowl in that same setting.
What else? Does the shivery reveal of Bane in this and the first trailer remind anyone else of the drug from the blue flower from Batman Begins? Does Bane spend days or months torturing Bruce with nightmare images, making Bruce ask for Bane to kill him?
Then there is Joshua Gordon-Levitt, who looks amazing in this movie. There have been rumours he plays the role Jean-Paul Valley did in the Knight Fall storyline: the heir to the cape and cowl when Bruce Wayne is injured. I think this is seriously hinted at when we see the chalked tag of the bat shape and the question “Think he’s coming back?” Notice this shape is very different from the Batman logo so far. I wonder if this indicates a new symbol for a new Batman.
There’s more going on here, like the big fight on the building steps or just who is driving a camouflage Tumbler, but from this latest (and perhaps last) trailer we have tantalizing bits of information to keep us guessing about what’s to come.
So what do you think? Any hints I’ve overlooked at what’s going to happen in this last Batman film under Christopher Nolan’s guidance?