One of my most anticipated films in the next two years—“The Dark Knight Rises.” As news about the film slowly starts trickling out, my expectations get higher and higher. Chris Nolan is back directing, and alongside him, trusty cinematographer Wally Pfister.
The cast looks incredible, with Christian Bale starring as Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred and Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon, while new additions Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt promise to be amazing in an already well-rounded cast.
The second film in Nolan’s Batman trilogy was absolutely outstanding. I’m hoping for the best here with Nolan’s directing. The man has not had a bad movie. His film career started with the film, “Following” in 1998, followed by the amazing “Memento” in 2000. “Memento” is a film starring Guy Pearce, a man who suffers from short-term memory loss as he tries to use tattoos and hints to track down the man who killed his wife.
“Insomnia,” Nolan’s detective film, was followed by “Batman Begins” in 2005, which was a completely welcome addition to the absolutely horrid Batman films by Joel Schumacher in the ‘90s. I’ll admit to anyone my love for these cheesy Batman films, but Batman as a superhero hadn’t attained the level of cinematic legitimacy until Nolan offered us “Batman Begins.” With a new star, Bale, a new Alfred, and a decidedly dark and grimy new take on the city of Gotham, “Batman Begins” was everything the Batman series needed.
Nolan took a film off from Batman to film “The Prestige,” also with Bale. The film also starred Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johannson. The film centers on two competing magicians who repeatedly try and outdo the other. This film is one of my favorites and is underrated—it seems like no one has actually seen it or that it didn’t get its due. Anyone I know who has seen it however, loves it.
Moving on from “The Prestige,” Nolan took the helm of the Batman sequel. Going all out for this one, Besides Ledger’s performance, the film focuses on the psychology and the duality behind Batman and the two separate faces that Bruce Wayne shows the world. The duality even goes further into the dark knight and white knight parallels between Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne.
The bar has been set exponentially high for “The Dark Knight Rises.” The film will be released in regular and IMAX on June 20, 2012 and the wait couldn’t be longer. Both Pfister and Nolan expressed distaste in shooting the film in 3D, so the film will be almost entirely shot in IMAX, which will be well worth the extra couple of bucks to see.
Filming is also on an international scale, as the production crew moved to India last week to do some shooting. As long as Nolan and the rest of the cast realize that it will be enormously difficult to compare this installment to the last and that they shouldn’t try, this film will be a success. Plus, it’s Nolan—he’s of a high pedigree of directors whose films haven’t faltered yet.
Whitney Cyr can be contacted at wcyr@keeneequinox.com
