The Dark Knight Rises: or falls?

July 20th, 2012? Is that really how long I'm gonna have to wait? Like the seer Matt Johnson prophesied about: won't the world be gone by then? Why, Christopher Nolan? Why? Though I wasn't quite that punch-drunk after seeing Inception (2010), it still left me bedazzled enough to hail Nolan with another captivating pic. Ever since Momento (2000), Nolan has proven himself an artistic force to be reckoned with. His powers are beginning to brood and welter in stewing turbulence as filming begins for The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Purging general expectations about there being a Riddler and sneering at the 3-D bandwagon begot by the Avatar-deluge, Nolan has divulged the identities of Batman's latest and final foes.



Tom Hardy will play Bane; and Anne Hathaway will play Catwoman. Everyone else will reprise their roles. Reading about this made my skittish hairs stand on end. Bane? Really Nolan? Isn't that the hefty and hushed WWF wrestler that snarled every once in a while, vacant of persona, a shallow and insubstantial squandering unsuited for Nolan's signature flair? I know everyone has seen the deplorable Batman and Robin (1997). From seeing this, I would have thought Bane would be the last character Nolan would choose for Batman's last adversary. But a little research can be a dangerous thing. It turns how that Bane is an extremely riveting character.

His father being a political extremist and revolutionary, Bane was born into a world of adversity. Having shrewdly alluded the court systems of Santa Prisca, Bane's father would leave the judicial body no choice but to afflict Bane with the punishment deserved by the father's crimes. It is in the walls of this prison that Bane begins his overhaul. He has a ravenous appetite for books, and his discernment and IQ are off the charts. He spends untold hours in the gym, amassing strength and burliness. In this odious region of savagery, Bane manages to locate a Jesuit priest from whom he receives a classical education. He soars to the summit of the prison wickedness and is reckoned as KING of Peña Dura prison.

Of course, the prison's powers and authorities take notice. They deem him a worthy guinea pig for a mystifying drug called Venom, which had finished off the previous recipients. But it didn't kill Bane. It made him even more violent and strong. The only side effect was that if he didn't take Venom every 12 hours, he could nearly die. So, a series of tubes are assembled which cascade the drug directly into his brain. This is his back-story. Whether or not Nolan will use this I don't know. But judging from his prior homage to the spirit of the comic book, it's a worthy guess. After reading over the stories of Bane in the comic books, the most probable one I think Nolan will run with is this one.



While in prison, rumors of Batman thronged the slammer. Bane became transfixed by the whole idea of what the Bat-man did. Struck by how alike Gotham and the prison were, he craved to pay a visit, for like his prison, Gotham was a placed ruled by fear: in Gotham's case, fear of the Bat-man. As it turned out, it just so happened that Bane had been tormented since childhood by the night terror of a bat, a bat that Bane clumsily - maybe portentously? - linked with Batman himself. Living up to his name as the most intelligent of Batman's opposition, he figures that to besiege directly would be reckless. Bane sets his cross-hairs on Arkham Asylum, letting loose an avalanche of convicts, hoodlums, scoundrels, psychopaths, and loonies onto the streets of Gotham. It takes 3 months for Batman to disinfect the streets and by this time he is jaded and drained. But unknown to Batman, Bane had been doing his homework. He deduced his identity as Bruce Wayne, the only villain to do so! As Batman returned to Wayne Manor, he had no idea that Bane had during the day been waiting patiently there to pounce on him. After a fierce struggle, Bane gains the upper hand and breaks Batman's back! Batman is trounced! Bane is the only villain to have beaten him.



Nolan's style conjoined with this story could cause a cinematic surge of staggering proportions. This is what I love about Nolan. Everyone had figured that the next Batman would be the advent of The Riddler. Out of nowhere, Nolan picks an enemy that in the popular imagination is trivial, pointless, and has no chance to ever equal The Joker. This betrays the popular imagination's unfamiliarity with the comic books. Naturally, this has been an asymmetrical blog, focusing more on Bane than Catwoman; but don't let that mean I'm any less allured by her. That will have to be another blog.

It was rumored that The Dark Knight Rises would adapt the story arc of the Graphic Novel Prey, but in it I found no mention of Bane, though Catwoman isn't omitted. We'll see. Without a doubt, this Batman trilogy will be groundbreaking, and Nolan's film-making panache won't let this last installment in the trilogy culminate without a kaboom. I'm more feverish than ever and its release is over a year away; add onto that the fact that it might be the end of the world, and my life is nearly in shambles!