The Dark Knight Rises: My Take On The Story.
So, July 20, 2012 is the day that the world will see the third and final piece to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy of stories that started with the intriguing and inspiring first take at the franchise with 'Batman Begins' in 2005, followed by it's continuation and grand presentation of a sequel in 2008 with 'The Dark Knight'. Now, after the wild success that the latter film generated, the world hangs on every piece of news and batch of "credible" rumors that just so happen to come our way. After a while, when this happens with a hot property or forthcoming film, the interest and buzz seems to settle and drift down, but this is different. The excitement never fades, the surprises keep growing, and the headlines keep getting more shocking. It's almost as if Christopher Nolan has created a continuous magic trick to keep up on the edge of our seats without the direct intention to do so, or does he?
Moving on to the biggest topic of discussion regarding this film, even before the last one really settled in everyone's mind, is the choice of antagonists, villains, enemies, whatever you make chose to call it, basically, who will be picking up an iconic slot to be filled following the loss of Heath Ledger's legendary performance as The Joker. Some to most, feel it is impossible to create something to truly top that performance, let alone follow in the footsteps of the epic story itself. It truly is a frightening thought for any filmmaker's out there to really try and do such a thing to pick up even their own work to new heights. I think what put the Nolan crew at ease is the fact that they walked into this with a rather different perspective then most expected. The thought behind this, and this is my interpretation on how they may feel, is that, this film is more of a continuation and conclusion, rather then something that will try to be what the last film was but amplified. I think that's where a lot of fans and critics may come in feeling a bit nervous with this film. They have so much faith invested in this story, and with the fact that they caught lightning in a bottle twice already adds to the fact that can they make it a perfect three? A triple crown achievement to this story? Well, I believe they can, just like Chris Nolan made everyone believe in Harvey Dent in 'The Dark Knight'. So, here is my reasoning, as to how this can be done. It comes down to one single thing: Bring the story around to the beginning, make this a full circle to properly close the story and end the trilogy that way.
In reality, that could mean any number of things. It could mean anything could happen to anyone, triumph and tragedy alike. This is a big factor when talking about characters. Especially when we factor in the villains and antagonists. As it has been confirmed, we have Catwoman and Bane in this. The way things are rumored, it looks like she may be an ally to Batman, and let's face it, considering everything he has recently been through in the last film, and the fact that Bane alone is a brilliant and near lethal threat for Batman, it looks like the bat may indeed be broken in this film, and judging from the title, it also looks like by falling to Bane through tragedy, while temporary or permanent (as in "end of the film" type of permanent, not necessarily life), that would finally be a symbol to the people that he is the symbol they needed all along, and that he truly is the Dark Knight of Gotham City. This will be the moment where he 'Rises', he becomes that symbol where no one needs to be afraid, like his parents taught him, like Alfred showed him. This also leaves a lot of open space, and a lot more questions, because one big question may be significant, but it does not provide the answer for all of them alike.
Some of the other questions still haunting all of us is our feeling that Nolan and his team still have at least one major ace up their sleeve on the villainous side of things. For example, even if Bane is the sole major force opposing Batman in the film, what other threats will show up? I mean, we have a million different rumors already to filter through, and only half have been debunked. So what is to make of the rest? What ever happened to Scarecrow? Is Ra's Al Ghul and Harvey Dent aka Two Face truly dead? My answer for Scarecrow is that wit would be nice to see a small part with Scarecrow somehow, a little easy nod to 'Batman Begins' and also his cameo in 'The Dark Knight' as well, so, in addition to Bane and Catwoman, it's being heavily speculated that there are in fact a few other key people to hold this story together in a very important way, such as Talia Al Ghul, Hugo Strange, Alberto Falcone, Deadshot, Black Mask, and even The Penguin. I highly doubt, like many others out there, that very many of these could be possible for the story, I do, feel, that one or two are highly very likely to be in this film, the two in question being Talia Al Ghul and Alberto Falcone. With the most recent rumors of a third major player in the film in addition to Bane and Catwoman, and with the general idea that the latter is an ally and love interest to Batman, I feel as if Talia could really even the playing field.
Now, basically you have an even match set up here, high stakes, even odds, neck and neck competition. Representing vigilance and justice in defense of Gotham, Batman is pretty much forced to find common allegiances if even in the most unlikely of places, and fate, or destiny, shall bring them together, the bat and the cat, that is. Bane will likely be the new leadership of the league of shadows with Talia, which of the two is the actual leader is something we won't know until we actually see the film itself, but it looks like, and would be a brilliant idea, to literally bring an iconic Batman moment to life and break Batman's back but the thing that causes them to fail is Talia's compassion for Bruce, if she understands it or not, she's captivated by him, and the blinded revenge in her mind fills her heart with punch drunk love, or rather lust, for Bruce Wayne and Batman, this could also cause tension between the relationship between Bruce and Selina Kyle. Therefore, never scorn a woman with claws, but regardless of what happens, they still find a way to co-exist, work together through everything, and eventually part ways with a mutual respect at the end.
So, where does Alberto Falcone come into play? Well, he's smarter then a lot of the mob predecessors, because not many people know he's now the main guy pulling the strings of what's left of the mob.. He also wants revenge for everyone who took his father down, and to be honest, these are going to play very good scenes in the detective aspect of the very depth in the background story, but while Batman will figure through the detective parts, shockingly, I personally feel Lucius Fox will have a key role in stopping him, call it a hunch, prediction, guess, or just a feeling on that, oh, and Gordon will be the one to actually do so, and it will keep his hands full, which might make it a little difficult in trying to lend Batman a hand. So, there you have it, this has been my take on the direction of The Dark Knight Rises.
By the way, I would love for Robin Williams for finally get his shot he's wanted for years in a Batman film, and he would actually be very good as Hugo Strange, but I feel with direction they laid out above, that the character along with other really good choices fit for the Nolanverse, would just end up getting in the way of the story and to be quite honest, it isn't worth that great of a sacrifice to add character's who would look good, but without a true purpose.