The Dark Knight Rises trailer! Rambling begins!

Some people may not be particularly fond of Christopher Nolan's Batman films and to those people I say you have no taste. It may be harsh, but it is true. Why am I talking about Batman again? Because finally after what seems an age trying to get the new trailer to actually load on my computer I have finally seen it. And what I saw, was pure, absolute terror and anarchy. To see this for yourself watch the trailer --->  http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/thedarkknightrises/ saved you Googling for that and everything, aren't I a kind lad. Well once you've watched that read on...

TERROR AND ANARCHY!

This is definitely the mood Nolan is trying to establish to us fans before we even step foot into those dimmed rooms on the 20th July and the I for one am as giddy as a 5 year old waiting for good ol' Santa Clause on Christmas Eve night, milk and cookies in hand. But lets forget that, enough reminiscing, time for business. Or at least for Bruce Wayne that much seems the case. Not Batman, although he will definitely have to get his A game out if he is save Gotham for a third time. Bruce Wayne is at the forefront of the action this time round as we see him having some nice 1 on 1 time with Anne Hathaway looking delightful as Selina Kyle/ Catwomen and i'm assuming she is on her own side in this film. 

Now, I could write page after page about what I think is going to happen in Dark Knight Rises but it is currently half past one in the morning and I doubt you want to read the ramblings of a crazed fan forever and until the film comes out so I promise I will only talk about Batman when its really really important. 

Tom Hardy is looking amazingly badass as Bane, I loved him in Inception and  in Bronson he just blew me away and i believe for him to get Bane just right he's going to have to combine these two characters to create a character that is one truly memorable and two make anyone forget about going 'oh yeah, he has to top Heath Ledger...'  And watching Bane in this trailer, my mind didn't at any point go back to ideas of Joker, I know at first there was scepticism about how Hardy has decided to voice Bane but I for one am shit scared of what Bane could do in this film, I have my theories about his intentions and what the prologue will tell us and if I am even half right, Bane is here to start a shit storm. *Cough* Knightfall *Cough*

The trailer itself though is a piece of art in itself, bringing in so many elements of the film in such a short time without me going, WTF did I just see! Seeing Michael Caine so close to breaking down when talking to Bruce just made my heart go out to him as if I was watching my father cry. Then what is Selina's motives? Sounded as if she was talking about Occupy Wall Street, I was just waiting for her to say 'Bruce, you are the 1%'. But after all the drama and emotion we are then delivered a whole bucket load of what the fuck is this as ground just disappears as if we are watching some Micheal Bay film. When I saw the men absailing down that well I was pretty sure that is the same well Bruce fell down all those years ago meaning is the mansion finally rebuilt (which would make sense seeing as this is set 8 years after Dark Knight) and that Bane is going straight into the Batcave with his own personal army he heisted out of jail! So many questions along with a few answers for the keen eye but I don't want to be the one who spoils it for the few who can stop themselves from reading anything they can get their eyes on.

So before I spoil anything I will bid you a good day. If you enjoy my incoherent ramblings about the Dark Knight and his imminent fall and rise then leave a comment below and I may do a more structured rambling with all my little fan theories and what not later on. 

As a parting note, I would like to note I was glad to see the lovely Joseph Gordon Levitt and Marion Cotillard finally getting some notice as i;m eagerly anticipating their roles in the film. :)

So good bye for now, hope you enjoyed this (if you could understand it, I will probably read it later and just be like what the fuck) and I will be back soon :D

Harry

How are superhero conventions challenged in The Dark Knight?

So a while back I had to do an essay under the following question 'How are superhero conventions challenged in The Dark Knight?' This was amazing for me as I am a huge fan of Christopher Nolan and his Batman films in particular so I couldn't wait to write this essay but anyway, this is what I came up with, feel free to share your comments and ideas below, hope you enjoy :)

The Dark Knight differs from the standard superhero film but in other ways it is just what you would expect. The Dark Knight has an all star cast with recognisable actors in most roles. The film is the sequel to Batman Begins making The Dark Knight the second in the Nolan set of Batman films.

The Dark Knight has many of the standard conventions you would expect from a superhero film. Throughout various scenes in the film you can find clichéd and exaggerated dialogue by the police officers for example “Lock and load”. These usually come at times just before they are killed by The Joker or taken out in one of the films big set pieces like the convey/ chase scene filmed in Chicago. These set pieces filled with explosions, car chases and fighting are what you would expect from a superhero film, these large set piece scenes can also be seen in other superhero films such as Thor, The Incredible Hulk and Superman Returns. The Dark Knight also uses top special effects to create whole cities with photo realistic effects. Most, if not all superheroes also have a love interest, Spiderman has Gwen Stacey and Mary Jane, Superman has Lois Lane then there are many others like Rogue and Jean Grey from the X-men franchise. Batman has Rachel Dawes. What is unconventional about The Dark Knights handling of this love interest is that Rachel dies in one of the Jokers tests on Batmans morality. This is unconventional as Rachel is also one of the main fighters for the streets of Gotham in the film and she dies, this is unconventional as it is uncommon for a hero to die in these films. In Superman, Superman turns back time to save Lois Lane but in this film Rachel is killed in a terrorist attack differing from what an audience would expect in a superhero film.

The story for The Dark Knight is also conventional in that it is very linear; we are not thrown off the track to believe something else then told the truth much later on after forming our assumptions. We know characters intentions throughout the film, except from those of Harvey Dent who changes in the last 1/3 of the film, after his transformation into Two-Face and Rachel’s death. The story also deals with more real themes than other superhero films. Most films deal with some sort of alien threat or science experiment like General Zod or Abomination, basic tales of good vs evil. Whereas The Dark Knight deals with themes of terrorism and at ideas of torture against these terrorists. Even the start of the film is unconventional as The Joker robs a mob bank (Also unconventional as why would the villain rob from his allies) and the lack of Batman is made very evident as The Joker successfully robs a bank. This is unconventional as a superhero stops all the crimes and a bank robbery is something that you would expect a hero to stop and the main character of the film is lacking from the first 6/7 minutes of the film (In brilliant IMAX). The ending to the film is also very open as it sees Batman become known as a villain although he is being the hero Gotham needs in doing so, echoing a number of lines spoken by Harvey Dent throughout the film. This is similar to other films like Spiderman and the “With great power, comes great responsibility” line.

Batman himself is very similar to other Superheroes like Superman and Spiderman in many ways but differs in others. The names of their superhero aliases all end in man, two being animals but Batman doesn't follow the alliteration names of other superheroes such as Peter Parker (Spiderman), Bruce Banner (Hulk) and Guy Gardner (Green Lantern). Batman also has his Achilles heel as almost all superheroes have, The Hulk has to be angry and Superman has Kryptonite for Batman his weaknesses come from his love for Rachel Dawes and his one rule, that being that he will not kill.  As similar Bruce Wayne/ Batman is to many superheroes he also has many differences. Most superheroes have very bright colourful costumes, usually red and blues. Batman has a completely black suit which you would assume makes him a very sinister character. This is because Batman fights for good in Gotham but he can be something that no one else can when he needs to be. It is also arguable that Batman isn’t even really a superhero as he doesn’t really have powers like Superman; his skill comes from intense training in martial arts such as Keysi which we are shown in the first film which deals with Bruce Wayne’s origin story and the technology he can afford as being one of the richest men in this world.

The Joker is unconventional as a villain. In a villain we would expect to know the characters back story whereas with The Joker we are given multiple back stories but this helps instil fear into the characters and show him as an enigma to the audience. He is also shown as a terrorist with various attempts at blowing buildings up and killing civilians, police and officials of Gotham and causing general anarchy throughout the film. This is unconventional as a superhero film is a film that people use as a method of escaping from the threats of the world as it is a world that a hero will always triumph over the bad forces that are not usually very realistic seeing as they are usually threats that don’t exist. The Joker shares similarities as well with other villains as he has the costume that we would commonly suspect and he is also quite eccentric and mad.

Overall The Dark Knight differs greatly from the conventional superhero film. We aren’t shown a colourful film where good is  triumphant but rather a dark, corrupted city and the film leaves us with a more depressing ending seeing Batman become an outcast, Harvey Dent; Gotham’s white knight corrupted by The Joker and then he dies as well as Rachel being dead. Giving the film a much darker ending we don’t expect to see from superhero movies as we always see the hero end up with the person he loves and return to having some normality in their lives. 


Harry

Harry's Film Flavour!

So I guess if you are going to be reading about my opinion on films you will want to know what kind of films I actually like to watch and what kind of films I will end up writing about. I actually like most genres and can't say    there are many films I haven't enjoyed (except the remake of 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' that can burn in hell). Also, even though you probably don't care about what I plan to do with my life, you just read for a bit of escapism (should just bung on a film really) or just want to fill yourself up with some tasty morsels of filmormation. But anyway, I know I want to go into the film industry when I'm older and plan to attend Ravensbourne but I am still not sure what I want to do exactly, I may dabble in directing, have a shot in screenwriting or see how exciting editing is, who knows but anyway, forwards on!

My favourite director is Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Prestige) and I only need to see two more of his films then I can eagerly wait for his next obvious masterpiece 'The Dark Knight Rises' so expect reviews on all those films in the coming months. Other directors I pay close attention to are David Fincher (Zodiac,Se7en) and Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds) as I have seen most of their films and can say I have absolutely adored all of them.

When it comes to the actors and actresses there are a few names I will keep an eye on as I am a fan of them all and those are Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes, Tropic Thunder), Christian Bale (The Machinist, 3:10 To Yuma), Jake Gyllenhall (Donnie Darko, Source Code) and Natalie Portman (From her child role in Leon: The Professional to Black Swan).

So that is my general favourites in terms of people in the film industry and I hope you have a vague idea of what kind of films I will be reviewing :)

As a little note I would also like to note that the works of George.A.Romero are possibly the most amazing films I have ever seen and I am completely in love with his 'Of The Dead' films and he could possibly be the reason I want to make films.

Harry