In just a few short months, director Christopher Nolan will be unveiling The Dark Knight Rises, the finale of his Batman trilogy. As we haven’t seen a new trailer since December, many fans have been eagerly anticipating when they might get their next chance to get a look at the film, and it has been revealed that there will be a new trailer for the movie attached to next month’s The Avengers. I, however, just stepped out of the Warner Bros. presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, where I got to see a fresh sizzle reel from the film with plenty of new footage.
Stepping out on the stage at the Colisseum in Caesar’s Palace after an introduction from Warners president Jeff Robinov, Nolan announced that he wouldn’t be showing a at the event trailer, but rather showing a series of short clips and shots with minimal dialogue. He explained this decision by saying that he knew that the audience was filled with members of the National Association of Theater Owners rather than fans clamoring to see the film, so he adjusted accordingly.
The footage began with an excerpt from the prologue that arrived in theaters in December, featuring Bane (Tom Hardy) taking down a CIA plane, and I have some terrific news: I understood every word that Bane said. It should be noted that the theater I was in featured some of the most advanced technology in the projection industry, so I don’t know if they changed the audio or if it was just the presentation, but it did raise my confidence in that aspect of the film.
As mentioned, most of the scenes shown were tight and quick and featured little to no context, so here is a list of the stuff that I caught:
- Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) dressed as a maid before ripping off the white frills and revealing her black dress
- James Gordon (Gary Oldman), as seen in the teaser trailer from last summer, lying in a hospital bed in bad shape
- Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) sitting in his Batcave, which still looks very much like a cave
- Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox together in Wayne Enterprises
- A team of police officers in raid gear slowly touring through what appear to be subway tunnels
- Batman’s new vehicle, The Bat, taking to the air and spinning twisting as it flies over Gotham
- Catwoman, in her full costume, leaning down and stealing stuff from a safe
- Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) and Bruce Wayne sharing an intimate kiss
- Catwoman sitting on the Batpod and firing at a blocked tunnel in the distance
- Miranda Tate saying, “You’ve given them everything,” and Bruce Wayne replying, “Not yet.”
- Alfred (Michael Caine) talking about the difficulty of getting back into his old routine.
The character that continues to be a tantalizing mystery is John Blake, as played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. While the footage shown today once again didn’t give us any dialogue from the character, it did show quite a bit of him – and in some interesting situations. In the scenes shown Blake flashes a badge and is quickly seen wielding a shotgun, but the most interesting cut featured a giant bridge crumbling in an explosion and then a reaction shot from Gordon-Levitt. Just as with trailers, it’s hard to know if that will actually be the cut in the final film or if it was done for dramatic effect, but it most definitely had the latter.
At the end of the footage I was left breathless. Anticipation for the finale of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy is at an extreme high and will likely only get more intense as the release date draws closer. Until the new trailer arrives online, to see more from the The Dark Knight Rises head over to our Blend Film Database.
