Was there ever really any choice?
When it came to picking our number one most anticipated comic book film for 2012, how could we not choose the conclusion of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy? Legends don't end every day, you know.
Nolan has done more than enough to make this more than just another Batman film. (Admittedly, we probably would have picked it as our #1 even if it was.) This is his first film since the auteur wowed audiences around the world with "Inception," his heady action film that never lost our attention because we couldn't afford to. Nolan broke rules with "Inception," and now he's free to apply that kind of ambition elsewhere.
Elsewhere, meaning "The Dark Knight Rises."
But that only accounts for our excitement based on Nolan's pedigree. That's completely ignoring what the previous film, "The Dark Knight," meant for comic book movies. It was the film that legitimatized the genre, and earned Heath Ledger a posthumous Academy Award for playing a super villain. Not an easy task.
"The Dark Knight" changed what we should expect from a superhero movie, and those expectations have shaped what we're seeing from "Rises," which so far has blown us away.
Similar to what he did for "Batman Begins," Nolan has chosen an unlikely villain to lead the way in his final Batman movie, but unexpected was always what we liked best about the director's take. Bane is big, bad and almost unintelligible. It's unfortunate that so much of the conversation about Tom Hardy's character has focused so heavily on his filtered and garbled voice because everything else about him promises an unforgettable villain. He's going to push Batman physically farther than he's ever been pushed, and that is something we haven't seen before.
"Rises" also brings us another Nolan take on a classic Batman character. Anne Hathaway will don the pointy ears as Catwoman, and that's more than enough to get us interested. The first theatrical trailer gave a lot of screen time to Gotham's most famous cat burglar, and we can already see the interesting approach Nolan and company have taken.
Don't be fooled, though. As great as Bane and Catwoman are, what we're really excited for is the return of Christian Bale as Batman. What we all need to realize is that we live in a world where an Academy Award-winning actor plays the Caped Crusader. That is not something to take for granted, and if Nolan does plan on finishing the legend like the trailer promises, expect to see a brilliant performance from Bale beyond anything we've seen in the series before.
Is "The Dark Knight Rises" your most anticipated comic book film of 2012? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter!
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