Top Ten Reasons I'm Excited for "The Dark Knight Rises"

Back in 2008, on the eve of The Dark Knight, I posted a "Top Ten Fears about The Dark Knight," a tongue-in-cheek listing of absurd fears about the upcoming film.  A lot's changed in four years, and I'm a much more optimistic person than I was then.

And so, twelve hours before I'll be in line for The Dark Knight Rises, and in recognition of the fact that I've become a kinder, gentler Cinema King, here's a more optimistic - and more extensive - Top Ten List, this time about the reasons I'm excited for The Dark Knight Rises.

10.  Hans Zimmer's score.  I had preordered the soundtrack a while ago on iTunes and completely forgot about it; when I went to update the podcasts on my iPod for a long drive, the preordered album downloaded itself, and I haven't stopped listening to it since.  After knocking it out of the park on Inception, Zimmer is flying solo, without James Newton Howard this time, but the difference is barely noticeable - a strong point for Zimmer, who remains loyal to the motifs created in the first two films while advancing the themes developed therein. There are numerous musical moments I'm dying to see embodied on film, and the Bane chant alone has gotten me curious about how it'll fit with the film itself.

9.  Anne Hathaway as Catwoman.  Hathaway is an actress who's really come into her own in the past five years; I couldn't peg a particular film as her "breakout role," but I was truly surprised that the girl from The Princess Diaries turned in an A+ performance in Love and Other Drugs (if nothing else, she made a movie with Jake Gyllenhaal that I truly enjoyed).  While Catwoman was just done recently - and perhaps definitively - by Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns, I'm interested to see a more realistic take on the character.  (I've even read rumors that the word "Catwoman" is never uttered.)  While I might be skeptical about whether Hathaway has Nolan-level chops, I said similar words about Heath Ledger and remain only optimistic.

8.  The supporting cast rises.  One of the centerpieces for The Dark Knight was the increasingly prominent role of Jim Gordon in the storyline, and indeed every character got more to do since the film's focus wasn't solely on the beginning of Batman.  If this pattern continues, we'll see the supporting cast being given even more screentime, and there's certainly groundwork to build on:  by the end of The Dark Knight, Gordon is forced to betray his closest ally, Alfred is keeping an enormous secret about Rachel from Bruce, and Lucius Fox has demonstrated cautious skepticism about Batman's increasingly invasive methods.  There's also the matter of The Scarecrow; while he was apprehended at the beginning of The Dark Knight, he's been a consistent presence in the trilogy thus far.  With these pieces on the board, I can't wait to find out what role they play in the final act of the trilogy.  And speaking of supporting players...

7.  New faces.  There's so much going on in Nolan's universe that it seems almost inconceivable to add more characters to the mix.  Yet that's exactly what's happening in The Dark Knight Rises - beyond the new villains.  Matthew Modine and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are playing new police figures, while Marion Cotillard joins the cast as a Wayne Enterprises exec.  Now I personally don't buy all the rumors that these characters are actually super-important figures in the Batman mythos (JGL as Robin?  Gimme a break), but regardless I'm curious to see how these new characters fit into the puzzle - and to find out what function they serve that couldn't be filled by an existing character.

6.  Nolan's track record.  We've spent the past week here at The Cinema King reviewing the oeuvre of Christopher Nolan, and honestly there's not a dud in the bunch (we tried finding one, really we did).  Very few, if any, Hollywood figures have a 100% track record, so this is an impressive horse before it even leaves the stable.  I'm naturally cautious about the possibility of disappointment, but frankly nothing I've heard makes me the least bit anxious.  Even if we take only his Batman work, the man's batting (no pun intended) a thousand, turning in the two greatest live-action Batman films of all time (I'm excluding Mask of the Phantasm because it's a totally different discussion).  We're talking about a director who could announce he's rebooting the Twilight franchise and get me in line to preorder tickets - that's how far I'm willing to follow this man.  (Seriously, though, Mr. Nolan, I'm dying to see more original work on the order of Inception.)

5.  A unified vision.  And speaking of Nolan's track record, how great is it to see a filmmaker get to follow through on his vision for a sustained trilogy?  Sam Raimi didn't quite succeed with Spider-Man, and Bryan Singer bailed on X-Men after two films - we've never had a superhero trilogy on the order of "The Dark Knight Trilogy" before.  Watching Batman Begins and The Dark Knight two days in a row made me realize just how much work Nolan has put into building up a mythos and a mood - a world in which Batman actually lives rather than simply exist.  Getting to see one man conclude the trilogy he created is inspiring in a lot of ways, but it's also extremely gratifying as a fan to see my investment in the franchise pay off.  The themes and characters he's developed have evolved without being forsaken for a new "artistic vision," and the massive amount of personal liberty Nolan's been allowed to have (kiss off, 3D) only bodes well for the final installment of his statement on the character of Batman.

4.  Oscar buzz?  This is entirely speculation at this point, but the rumor mill is already churning that The Dark Knight Rises might take home - or at least be nominated for - the Best Picture Oscar.  It's an exciting idea, to be sure; it's even more exciting that this is a conversation we're able to have.  Five years ago it would have been inconceivable to think that a comic book movie could get any love from the Academy aside from technical awards, but Nolan - as he's so fond of doing - helped to change the rules in a lot of ways.  For one, it's been said that the widening of the Best Picture field was due in large part to The Dark Knight getting a snub in that category.  Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker rightly won the Oscar that year, and while it might have been a PC choice because of his untimely passing, genre fans everywhere were finally sitting at the big kids' table.  Christopher Nolan has demonstrated that comic book movies aren't all pow-biff-kablam (and thank God for that), and even the tantalizing gossip makes me immensely excited for the future of the genre - and for the place of prominence that Nolan's trilogy will hold.

3.  Bale's back. For the most part, superheroes have been well cast.  A few notable exceptions exist, as always - Brandon Routh's too-slavish Superman, Ben Affleck's uninspiring Daredevil, etc. - but for each of those letdowns we've had Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, and Ron Perlman as Hellboy; even an initial disappointment like Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow redeemed herself (thanks in large part to a strong script by Joss Whedon).  In the top pantheon of superhero actors stands Christian Bale.  Say what you want about the man's Bat-voice (all the jokes have already been made), but Bale is a solid actor in his own right who ably navigates the murky psychological line between "Batman" and "Bruce Wayne."  While the script deftly handles the question of which is the true mask, it's one thing to be well-written - and another entirely to communicate that effectively to an audience.  Though Bruce Wayne may be facing his greatest challenges in this film, I have no doubt that Bale is the only actor alive who could pull off such a complex character.  And speaking of challenges...

2.  Tom Hardy as Bane.  The kneejerk reaction on this was one of curious panic; disappointed that the rumors were untrue of a Johnny Depp Riddler and a Philip Seymour Hoffman Penguin, and recalling the utter travesty made of the character by Batman & Robin, the idea of closing out the trilogy with Bane was one that made me apprehensive.  But then I mulled it over.  Bearing in mind that Christopher Nolan has yet to disappoint me (see #6) and recognizing that Tom Hardy very nearly stole the show as the wisecracking forger Eames in Inception, I realized that closing the trilogy with the one man who's actually beaten Batman is a perfect move.  Nolan's proven that he can adapt source material respectfully without being bound to it (the reference point here being the wildly original yet strangely consistent Joker), and the promise of a foe so wildly different from what we've seen heretofore thrills me.  Whether or not he breaks Batman's back as he did in the comics (and I'm betting he won't here, if only for the sake of realism), Bane represents a physical threat matched by his brutal intellect; we've really only seen villains who only pose a psychological or ideological attack on Batman himself, so the physical dimension added by Bane makes the struggle all the more compelling.

And the Number One Reason I'm Excited for The Dark Knight Rises is...

1.  The Dark Knight rises.  No, it's not a cop-out or a typo.  I'm excited for the whole film, true, but the thing I'm most excited for about this movie is the promise of redemption, the fulfillment of Batman's trajectory as Gotham's savior.  When we left Batman at the end of The Dark Knight, he'd taken a pretty severe beating, sacrificing his own reputation to prevent The Joker from claiming a victory over the soul of Gotham City.  The Dark Knight had fallen, and with him a dark night had fallen over the city.  We know it's been eight years since Batman was last seen in Gotham, and we have a pretty good idea what he's up against.  But is Batman up to the challenge?  The title of the film would certainly seem to imply so - but in what way will The Dark Knight rise?  Knowing what he had to sacrifice to fall, what will he have to do to rise again?  It all hearkens back to something Thomas Wayne said in Batman Begins, a line that's been echoed in the series and will likely become the dominant theme of the trilogy, when all is said and done - "Why do we fall, Bruce?  So that we can learn to pick ourselves up."  We've seen The Dark Knight fall, but seeing him rise again will be, I'm fairly certain, a moviegoing experience like no other.

It's all been building to this, loyal readers.  At 12:01 a.m. on Friday, I'll be joining legions of fans at one of the many midnight screenings of The Dark Knight Rises, and at 9 a.m. that very day I'll bring you The Cinema King's review of Christopher Nolan's final entry in his "Dark Knight Trilogy."  So stay tuned - same Bat-time, same Bat-blog.