| The Dark Knight Rises | |
 | |
| Director: | Christopher Nolan |
| Producer: | Christopher Nolan Emma Thomas Charles Roven |
| Writer(s): | David S. Goyer Jonathan Nolan |
| Release Date: | July 20, 2012 |
| Running Time: | 164 mins |
| More Information | |
| Full Credits | Trivia |
| Home Video | Awards |
| Soundtrack | Reviews |
| Merchandise | Characters |
The Dark Knight Rises is the sequel to The Dark Knight and is the final film in Christopher Nolan's Batman film series. The film finds Bruce Wayne returning to fight crime one last time against a villain terrorist Bane. It was released on July 20, 2012.
Plot
Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, Gotham City is in a state of peace. Under powers granted by the Dent Act, Commissioner Jim Gordon has nearly eradicated violent and organized crime. However, he still feels guilty about the cover-up of Harvey Dent's crimes. At a function celebrating Dent, he plans to admit to the conspiracy, but decides that the city is not ready to hear the truth. While following a lead in the abduction of a congressman from the function, Gordon's speech falls into the hands of terrorist leader Bane. Gordon is shot in the process, and he promotes patrol officer John Blake to detective, allowing Blake to report directly to him.
As Batman has disappeared from Gotham City, so too has Bruce Wayne, locking himself inside Wayne Manor. Wayne Enterprises is crumbling after he invested in a clean energy project designed to harness fusion power, but shut the project down after learning that the core could be modified to become a nuclear weapon. Both Gordon and Blake — who has deduced Batman's identity — implore Bruce to return as Batman, but Alfred Pennyworth resigns in a failed attempt to dissuade him.
Bane stages an attack on the stock exchange and uses a stolen set of Bruce's fingerprints to place a number of risky investments in his name, bankrupting Bruce and forcing him to relinquish control of Wayne Enterprises. Correctly suspecting that his business rival, John Daggett, has employed Bane to aid in an aggressive take-over of the company, Bruce entrusts businesswoman Miranda Tate to keep full control out of Daggett's hands.
Following a trail left by cat burglar Selina Kyle, Batman confronts Bane, who says that he assumed the leadership of the League of Shadows following the death of Ra's al Ghul. Bane kills Daggett and reveals that he was using Daggett's construction firms to stage a heist on Wayne Enterprises' Applied Science Division. He steals Bruce's arsenal before crippling Batman and detaining him in a prison from which escape is virtually impossible. The other inmates relate the story of the only person to ever successfully escape from the prison, a child driven by necessity and the sheer force of will, said to be the child of Ra's al Ghul.
Bane lures the vast majority of Gotham's police force underground and sets off a chain of explosions across the city, trapping the officers and turning Gotham City into an isolated city-state. Any attempt to leave the city will result in the detonation of the Wayne Enterprises fusion core, which has been converted into a bomb. Addressing the citizens, Bane reveals the cover-up of Dent's death, and releases the prisoners locked up under the Dent Act. The rich and powerful are dragged from their homes and put before a show trial presided over by Jonathan Crane. After an attempt to sneak Special Forces soldiers into the city fails, the government blockades Gotham and the city further regresses into a state of anarchy.
Meanwhile, Bruce retrains himself to be Batman and successfully escapes Bane's prison to return to Gotham. He enlists Selina, Blake, Miranda, Gordon and Lucius Fox to help liberate the city and stop the fusion bomb before it grows too unstable and explodes. Batman confronts and subdues Bane, but is betrayed by Miranda as she reveals herself to be Talia al Ghul. It was she who escaped the prison as a child, and plans to complete her father's work (by destroying Gotham) and exact personal vengeance against Bruce for his death. Gordon successfully cuts off the bomb's ability to be remotely detonated while Selina kills Bane, allowing Batman to chase Talia. He tries to force her to take the bomb to the fusion chamber where it can be stabilized, but she remotely floods the chamber. Batman shoots her truck off the road and Talia dies in the resulting crash, confident that the bomb cannot be stopped. Using The Bat developed by Fox, Batman hauls the bomb beyond the city limits, where it detonates over the ocean.
In the aftermath of the explosion, Batman is praised as a sacrificial hero and Bruce is believed dead as a casualty of the riot. As Bruce's estate is divided up, Alfred witnesses Bruce and Selina together alive in a cafe in Italy, while Blake, whose full name is revealed to be Robin John Blake, inherits the Batcave.
Cast
- Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman
- Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth
- Gary Oldman as Commissioner James Gordon
- Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman
- Tom Hardy as Bane
- Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate/Talia al Ghul
- Joey King as Young Talia al Ghul
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Detective John Blake
- Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
- Matthew Modine as Peter Foley
- Ben Mendelsohn as John Daggett
- Burn Gorman as Phillip Stryver
- Alon Aboutboul as Dr. Leonid Pavel
- Juno Temple as Jen
- Daniel Sunjata as Mark Jones
- Chris Ellis as Father Reilly
- Nestor Carbonell as Mayor Anthony Garcia
- Brett Cullen as Congressman Byron Gilly
- Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul
- Josh Pence as a young Ra's al Ghul
- Tom Conti as Prisoner
- Cillian Murphy as Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow
- Josh Stewart as Barsad
- Christopher Judge as Stalker
- John Nolan as Douglas Fredericks
- India Wadsworth as Warlord's Daughter
Production
The film was shot in Bucharest, Romania, India, Pennsylvania and parts of England and California.
Gallery
Filming
Videos
Trivia
- Doug Jones, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Tennant, Johnny Depp, Neil Patrick Harris, Michael C. Hall, Hugh Laurie, Leonardo DiCaprio, James Franco, and Jamie Isaac Conde, were all rumored to play the Riddler before it was confirmed the character would not appear in the film.
- Angelina Jolie, Rachel Weisz, Megan Fox, and Cher were all linked to play Catwoman.
- Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Blake Lively, Charlize Theron, Vera Farmiga and Keira Knightley were considered for the lead female role.
- It was rumored that Zack Snyder was next in line to direct if Christopher Nolan didn't return.
- The Joker will not make an appearance, Nolan sees that role as belonging only to Ledger.
- Nolan has said that Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc, Posion Ivy, and The Riddler will NOT be the next villain. With the Riddler aside, all the nonrealistic villains are out.
- It is said that it will be based on the grahic novel Prey.
- Nolan said that Robin and Batgirl won't be in the movie. He says that Batman is still at the beginning of his crime fighting carrer and Christian Bale stated that if they enter the series he will leave.
- It is rumored that Talia Al Ghu will be in the movie.
- In May 2010, director Christopher Nolan stated that the Joker will not return in this film. He previously stated that Mr. Freeze and the Penguin would not be in the film either. Later it was confirmed that The Riddler would not appear either.
- Christopher Nolan is the first Batman film director to direct more than two Batman feature films.
- Christian Bale has stated that he would not play Batman if Robin was in any of these 3 films. Christopher Nolan agreed not to include Robin while it would take away the dark premise of his series.
- Christian Bale is the first live action actor to portray Batman/Bruce Wayne in three Batman films. Kevin Conroy has played the character in six animated films as of 2010.
- Cinematographer Wally Pfister has expressed interest in shooting the entirety of the film in the IMAX format, as both Pfister and Christopher Nolan have expressed distaste for shooting the film in 3-D.
- Aside from all the main cast from the previous movie, Tom Hardy is the first actor to be cast in this film as a lead role.
- Cinematographer Wally Pfister has expressed interest in shooting the entirety of the film in the IMAX format, as both Pfister and Christopher Nolan have expressed distaste for shooting the film in 3-D.
- Christopher Nolan is the second person to direct a trilogy of superhero movies, after Sam Raimi (Spider-Man).
- Robin Williams was rumored to play the role of Hugo Strange.
- There was much speculation in the press when Anne Hathaway was announced as Selina Kyle if the actress would actually portray Kyle's costumed alter-ego, Catwoman. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey following her stint as host of the 2010 Academy Awards, Hathaway let slip that her character indeed would don the Catwoman costume.
- It was reported by Gary Oldman that Christopher Nolan told the actors the ending of the film verbally to avoid any leaks.
- There was a rumor about Nolan using unused footage of the Joker from The Dark Knight, previously portrayed by the late Heath Ledger, to be used in this film but Nolan said the Joker will not be in the third film, and the same went with Harvey Dent, confirming Harvey "dead".
External links
References
| Batman Films | |
|---|---|
| Serials | Batman | Batman and Robin |
| Martinson series | Batman (1966) |
| Burton/Schumacher series | Batman | Batman Returns | Batman Forever | Batman & Robin |
| Nolan series | Batman Begins | The Dark Knight | The Dark Knight Rises |
| DCEU | Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | The Batman |
| Spin-offs | Catwoman |