BATMAN - The Dark Knight Rises Teaser...Rises

So...over the weekend, Warner Bros. seized the opportunity of millions of fanboys being out at the multiplex to enjoy the last HARRY POTTER movie evah to spring upon boys and girls the teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan's last evah Batman film, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. And teaser it is, not giving us too much to go by (only after a good two or so weeks of filming, really) but just enough to make us Batman geeks salivate and ponder what each shot means.

Still, it's more than what we were given with THE DARK KNIGHT teaser trailer, which consisted simply of voice over dialogue from the film juxtaposed against a firing Batman symbol. Absolutely, positively, mind-boggling frustrating, mind you, that teaser trailer. Sure, lived up to the phrase 'teaser' alright, but for a Bat fan - blimey, I wanted to rip me hair out! More, more, more! And I reckon as the marketing of DARK KNIGHT RISES ramps up, I'll be pretty much the same...

First brand new footage from THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. And it's Gordon. In a hospital bed. Looking quite unwell. Major suckage. Is this a result of engaging Bane? Or something a lot more simpler, like a police situation gone wrong? Whatever the situation might be, the boys at Batman On Film gave a pretty good comment - here we see the one truly good character of the two films battered and broken: a shocking, devastating sight. It's here we also get our first bits of dialogue, delivered by Gordon (and just as awesomely written as Gordon's DARK KNIGHT monologue, that to this day continues to send chills up and down my spine).

"We were in this together. And then you were gone. Now this evil rises. The Batman...HAS to come back."

So presumably some really tough shit went down in Gotham, and presumably this "evil" Gordon refers to is Bane. If Bane gets the label of "evil" - something the Joker didn't quite manage to do - than he must truly be one indestructible, sadistic, menacing sight to behold, leaving carnage in his path.

Now here's the interesting part. We hear Bale's voice reply (cut to footage of what I believe to be either a flashback of a bearded Bruce Wayne, a young Ra's al Ghul, or something involving a imprisoned and hairy Bane), "What if we doesn't exist anymore?" The interesting part isn't so much the dialogue (which suggests plenty), but that the voice is very distinctly Bruce Wayne, not Batman, and the visual evidence suggests that that is very much Bruce Wayne sitting next to Gordon's hospital bed, and that is very much Gordon addressing Bruce Wayne as Batman. Cool. So, maybe, possibly, Gordon is let in on Wayne's little secret? If so, I am completely all for this. Every time I watch that scene in THE DARK KNIGHT where Gordon talks to Wayne during the whole hospital bizznazz, I really want Wayne to just don his gravely voice and be all, "I'm Batman!" Funny note aside, it would just be really interesting to see how - if at all - Gordon interacts with Batman now knowing his full identity. Like I said: cooooooooll.

"He must, he must."

The Batman needs to come back, no matter what. That's what Gordon's saying. Shit is at a all-time high shit level, and Batman needs to save Gotham's collective asses from Bane and whoever else is terrorizing the city (hopefully minus fear toxins...). Alright, I'm game. It's also sorta cool that it could be/will be Gordon that brings about Batman's resurrection.

Is this Bane crawling out of the tunnel? Is this the tunnel connected to Wayne Manner? A tunnel connected to the League of Shadows, somehow? (c'mon, I really, really think they're making a return this time 'round) There's also a shot that was difficult to get a screencap of where a man is doing push-ups in a prison cell. The man in question has hair and facial hair, so it can't be Bane (unless it's an earlier appearance), so I'm guessing either a Bruce flashback or Ra's al Ghul.

And here's Bane. Motherfrakking freaky. The mouthpiece reminds me of some sort of sci-fi alien creature thingy...or a shark. Who is Bane looking at? Batman? What exactly does that mouth contraption do? [sorry, a bit rusty on my Bane mythology; don't kill me]

Visual information: 1) That looks really cool. 2) If we're to take this symbolically, Gotham City is in a even worse state than in THE DARK KNIGHT, crumbling underneath its own corruption and evil. With Batman's absence, that evil is more powerful and widespread than ever, and Bane's presumed uprising will probably be the final push. This whole bit is a nice trick: the decaying city of sin and greed looking up to the heavens for an answer. Although I do wonder if there is significance to Batman's symbol being white instead of, say, black (representing 'The Dark Knight'). Will Batman now be viewed as a White Knight, in a way, to the citizens of Gotham?

PRETTY! Huh, maybe it's my screencap software, but that looks more like a vanilla ice cream come than the pure white background of the trailer. Note to self: do investigate. Also, now I'm craving some ice cream. Hmmmmm; yum yum. Still dunno how I like the title; just doesn't feel right, y'know? BATMAN RISES would have been a better title, and a finer bookend - BATMAN BEGINS, THE DARK KNIGHT, BATMAN RISES. Now doesn't that sound a lot better?

The final shot: Batman preparing to take on Bane. It's wet, the Bat's pumping himself up, and there's some random dude on the middle right frame. Well, the good news is that the shot successfully makes me giddy beyond all imagination. Just these two seconds are enough to make my noggin' work. So where's the fight taking place? Is it the newly remodeled Batcave, as one suggested? Is it connected to the League of Shadows somehow? Or is it just some random, damp place where Batman faces his adversary? Is this his first fight with Bane or another one? Something to take note of the teaser, there's an emphasis on Bane and no mention of Selina Kyle, perhaps suggesting that Selina doesn't fit the bill of antagonist this time around. This seems to be Bane's film...at least thus far.

Alright, so, I've exhausted my noggin' on this teaser trailer. 20 July 2012 seems so far away, a whole year from today, and I can't bloody wait. Well, I can, yes, but the excitement, the anticipation - let's just say it's at a pretty big high. But I need to learn to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the next year, because this is the end. Much like HARRY POTTER's journey has just concluded, this film marks the end of Christopher Nolan's tale, and that's a sad, sad, sad thing, indeed. No more Bale as Batman, no more clever storytelling, no more stunning visuals (unless Alfonso Cuaron took over a Batman flick, doubt we'll get someone of Nolan's caliber again). Leave your thoughts (if any) below, and join me with the excitement factor for the next year as THE DARK KNIGHT RISES continues filming, teases with some brilliant marketing, and eventually is released to the world.

Another scary thought: yikes, I'll nearly be done with school by the time RISES comes out. Blimey, I'll have to figure out what to do with me life!