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| TDKR's first teaser poster. |
It isn’t exactly possible to discuss THE DARK KNIGHT RISES’ (TDKR) prologue without at least recalling, if not directly comparing it to the 2008 prologue of THE DARK KNIGHT (TDK). Both serve as the prologue to a direct a sequel, introduce their films’ respective villains and were shot and projected exclusively on the 70mm IMAX format. Not to mention both were released roughly seven months prior to the premier of the film (almost to the day) as well as roughly one week before the premiere of a proper theatrical trailer, rendering the prologue more or less the first real “taste” of the film audiences see.
So before we jump into TDKR, why don’t we rewind the clocks to December 2007 for a moment? It had been just over two years since BATMAN BEGINS hit cinemas to general critical praise (and minimal awards coverage) and above average, though not quite blockbusting, box office performance. Let’s not fail to note that the 2005 BEGINS ran in IMAX theaters, but only as a 35mm conversion. None of BEGINS was actually shot in the IMAX format, so in 2007 when the TDK prologue rolled, no one had actually seen what Nolan would do in the IMAX format. Further more, no one had any idea of the sheer leap in scale leap TDK would be when compared to BEGINS. No one, that is, until the TDK prologue rolled and began a hyper mania that few pictures (if any) have ever lived up.
Lets fast-forward back to 2011. It’s now been four years since TDK was in released theatrically and for all intent and purpose lived up to the astronomical hype the prologue launched. What, it only became the second highest grossing film of all time and unquestionably the most critically praised (and rewarded) “super-hero” film of all time. It won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the late Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker, an Oscar for Sound Editing and nabbed six other nominations for achievements in cinematography, visual effects, make-up and film editing. Many of TDK’s sequences (including the legendary prologue) were shot on 70mm IMAX and absolutely floored audiences in 2007. So that’s what we KNOW about the last entry going into the TDKR prologue. I mean, I would sooner say you could compare apples to goddamned carrots than say you could compare TDK audience who’d seen BEGINS to TDKR audiences who’d seen BEGINS and TDK.
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| The first image of Heath Ledger as the Joker in TDK. |
So all this is banging around my head as I slide up the escalators of AMC’s Lincoln Square IMAX screen. This particular advanced screening for the TDKR prologue seems to be made up mostly of fanboys and whomever else said fanboys could convince to wait outside for two hours in 37-degree weather for a six-minute preview. After being handed a t-shirt (a large, black tee with a sort of scrawled bat like figure and the words LEGEND beneath in evenly spaced, bold Helvetica font set) I made my way up to a rather ideal seat, got comfortable and waited. I was surprised and almost saddened to see the theater not quite filled up, knowing the screening was specifically overbooked to prevent that exact thing from happening. But all that really mattered was the quality of the theater and my seat in it, both of which were faring much better than the circumstances I just outlined.
Let me start (after four paragraphs) by saying the TDKR prologue is visually stunning. I can’t recall ever being exposed to photography of this level – both in its grandeur and it’s incredible specificity. The complexity of shots in play here makes much of what we saw in TDK seem like IMAX 101 – where now, with TDKR, Nolan has his doctorate. The action is succinct, the shot progression natural, the payoff – well, lets just say you will see Wally Pfister’s name on Oscar night 2013.
But what else are we seeing? The introduction to Bane, for one. Nolan’s been well documented in saying his choice for Bane as a villain, as opposed to say a more obvious/traditional on such as the Riddler or Penguin, is that Bane brings a unique challenge to the batman, specifically, his physicality. Does TDKR’s prologue deliver on the brutality and sheer physical power of Bane? Maybe. In the prologue you begin to feel Bane’s power, you get a sense of his smarts as well, but it was far too brief for me to have a solid impression of him. In retrospect, it wasn’t until the theatrical trailer of TDK (read: not the prologue) that I really began to appreciate the maniacal anarchy of Heath Ledger’s Joker. I hope (and in some ways believe) this will be the case when the TDRK theatrical hits in the next week or so.
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| TDKR's first official image of Tom Hardy's Bane. |
Much of the criticism to date regarding the prologue has surrounded the voice quality of Bane. He wears a mask and his voice is muffled at times, but in fairness to the critics, for the most part he’s barely legible. I really don’t have an interest in discussing Bane’s voice (or it’s legibility) until I know the print I’m looking at is completely final and in context with the entire picture. Lets not forget the scene where we’re having trouble “hearing” Bane’s dialogue is taking place in the opened fuselage of a plane flying at 15,000 feet.
My biggest complaint isn’t quite as trivial, but instead, rather significant. Going back to the TDK prologue, there was a secondary role, a bank manager, but nonetheless a part played with brilliance by William Fichtner. The relationship between Ficthner’s bank manager and Ledger’s Joker served as a microcosm for the rest of TDK. This was symbiotic relationship. The Joker raised the players around him, which in turn elevated him. Now back to the TDKR prologue, we have a similar role, a CIA field agent. For how well Fichtner’s bank manager played in TDK, the CIA agent fell that flat for me. It almost brought down Bane’s presence using the same principle: not seeing the CIA agent on the same level as Bane makes me inherently think Bane isn’t on the level he should be.
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| TDRK's second teaser poster. |
This reaction is admittedly premature. And I won’t discount the imaginative, sweeping experience that was overall impression of the TDRK prologue. There is still so much to see (pretty much the whole film) – and if it turns out this guy’s performance happens to suck a bit, it sucks a bit. I just want so much to love Bane as much as I loved the Joker and as a result, it seems my expectations will invariably fall short. But still, as I said before, I didn’t truly fall for the Joker until I saw the theatrical trailer, which I have yet to see on Bane and TDKR. Until then, I will repeat the fanboy mantra of the decade “In Nolan we trust. In Nolan we trust. In Nolan we trust. Only please don’t screw this up so we can continue to believe In Nolan, who we trust.”
