Tag Archives: Christopher Nolan

Entertainment

DC/Warner Bros. Strikes Back

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DC/Warner Bros. launched a bit of a news counter-attack this week no doubt in an attempt to ‘one-up’ it’s rival Marvel/Disney as the epic battle between the two stellar organizations rages on.

The highly anticipated console game Batman:Arkham City hit counters yesterday and was met with rave reviews across the board (97/100 on Metacritic).  The game is extremely well done, has a great story arch, hosts a slew of bat-villains, and allows you to beat the sh*t out of people as Batman.  Need we say more?

Warner Bros. Studios also got a reasonable amount of free publicity last night at Spike TV’s Scream Awards as it took home several trophies.  The Dark Knight Rises took home the ‘most anticipated‘ award beating out it’s bitter rival the Avengers.  Ralph Phiennes won ‘best villain‘ for his phenomenal portrayal of ‘he who must not be named’ (Lord Voldemort).  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows – Part 2 also took home several other (6 total) awards last night including the top honor (‘Biggest Scream‘), culminating a series of relatively irrelevant victories for the good folks over at Warner Bros. Pictures.

In related bat-news The Dark Knight Rises is reportedly set to occupy Wall Street starting October 29th for 14 days, which very well might overlap with the on-going Wall Street protests currently taking place.  Being the film-making gangster that Christopher Nolan is, the protests apparently will not interfere with his plans, as he will “simply be using the protests as a back-drop or stand-in for something that already exists in the film”.  And that ladies and gentlemen, is how you turn a frown upside down.

Given this slew of bat and bat-related news, let’s take a look at The Dark Knight Rises’ primary villain, the hard-knock bad-ass known as Bane.

Bane spent his childhood and early adult-life in prison, serving a sentence for his fathers crimes.  Bane’s ‘natural abilities‘ allowed him to develop ‘extraordinary skills‘ within the prison walls: reading all the books he could get his hands on, building his physique in the prison gym, and picking up a plethora of martial arts.  Bane has since evolved into a ‘super intelligent world-class fighter‘ and a ‘tactical genius‘.  Bane indeed turned out to be a truly brilliant tactician, as he is most known for causing a prison break to overwhelm Batman, and infamously breaking the Bat’s back while he is weak and tired.  Impulsive, fearless, and ridden with brute strength, Bane is undoubtedly a Crafter Artisan.  Indeed Bane utilizes a variety of different ‘tools‘, including the super-drug ‘Venom‘, a reported army of mercenaries, a couple of ‘tumblers’, and evidently a ‘doomsday machine’.  Bane like all Crafters communicates primarily through his actions: bringing his prison mentality to Gotham City, Bane decided to go after the man that everyone feared: Batman.  Indeed a physical specimen, actor Tom Hardy packed on 30 pounds of muscle to play the role.  Like his fellow Crafters, Bane is ‘fascinated by weapons of all kinds‘ and wields them with ‘lethal virtuosity‘, taking ‘pride‘ in his ‘prowess‘.

Quote1.png You know nothing of strength, little boy. I know strength. Such as the strength that comes from numbers. And the strength one gains from knowing his enemy’s weaknesses. Checkmate. Quote2.png

—Bane (DCAU)

Without getting too spoilerish: it seems Bane will indeed break Batmans back in the The Dark Knight Rises, as evidenced by Christian Bale limping out of a Lamborghini.  This is supposedly when the Dark Knight will take a break, and a valiant young man named Joseph Gordon Levitt will temporarily step in as Batman’s sidekick, Robin.

As shooting on Wall Street will no doubt beget a new wave of on-set spy photos and footage, stay tuned for more bat and bat-related temperament news.  Same bat time, same bat channel (blog).

UPDATE: Warner Bros. Pictures will release an 6 minute IMAX prologue for The Dark Knight Rises that will be attached to the IMAX release of Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol.  This also strongly suggests that Warner Bros. will also give us a new TDKR trailer with their big holiday release Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  Full story here.

Entertainment

The Bat Squad

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With the Dark Knight Rises filming in major cities Pittsburg and now Los Angeles naturally a plethora of on-set spy photos and videos have surfaced all over the web, most of which have been quite spoilerish.  This most recent spy video is perhaps the most revealing one as it shows Bruce Wayne ‘limping’ with a cane out of his Lamborghini into a party. This of course strengthens arguments that the film will borrow plot points from the story arch “Knightfall“ in which antagonist Bane badly injures Batman and infamously breaks his back.

Without giving too much away let’s take a closer look at the titular Caped Crusader, and his well-rounded supporting cast.  Bruce Thomas Wayne had the unfortunate luck of witnessing his parents murder by a mugger as a young child, an event that no doubt had a major impact on his life.  Arrogant billionaire industrialist and notorious playboy by day, and a ruthless masked vigilante by night, Batman/Bruce Wayne is undoubtedly a Promoter Artisan.  Bold, daring, and audacious with a tough-minded persona Bruce knows as most Promoters do that ‘nice guys finish last‘.

Primarily trusting his impulses with a knack for tool usage, Batman is definitely an Artisan, but certainly doesn’t get the job done all by himself.  Alfred Pennyworth is Batman’s faithful and tireless Guardian butler and confidant.  Lucius Fox is Batman’s Rational financier, gadget man, and behind-the-scenes business manager of Wayne Enterprises.  Commissioner Gordon is Batman’s Idealist link to Gotham City’s Police Force who is strictly and naively concerned with ridding Gotham City of evil.  Given such a well-rounded bat-squad let’s hope that even with a broken back Batman will be able to best his powerful nemesis Bane in Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated conclusion to his blockbuster trilogy.

Word on the streets is that the Dark Knight Rises’ ending sequence is so over-the-top that it is only known by five people including Christopher Nolan and will be done entirely in CG.  So apparently Nolan’s conclusion is so epic that it has to be done entirely in visual effects?  Guess we’ll find out July 20, 2012!