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The new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises is out. The response in certain quarters to the first trailer and initial reactions to this one seems to be a squeamishness about how good the movie might be. For some reason people are a bit put off by the dour mood, and I’m not sure if it’s because The Avengers has everyone on an escapist high or if it’s because the talk of conservatism in Nolan’s films has affected his liberal fans.
As I wrote before, it would be a huge victory for conservatives if years from now political junkies who hear Bane say, “When Gotham burns, you have my permission to die,” immediately link it with a Nolan dig at Keynesian economics and the totalitarian tendencies that spring forth from it.
Regardless, the new trailer offers more pure evil, but not quite the kind of terror we had in the second installment. If the Joker was a metaphor for Islamic terrorism, then Bane seems to be a throwback to a Communist-revolutionary standard bearer. Perhaps Che or Marx on steroids?
It’s also interesting that the new trailer would drop right as “International Workers’ Day (May Day) hits. Why would Christopher Nolan want us getting a fresh taste of Bane right when socialist nuts and “Occupy” types plan to hit the streets? Coincidence, or is the man just a genius?
Besides getting to see more evidence that Bane is what happens when terrorist-revolutionaries get hold of the kind of military hardware and explosives they desire, perhaps the most interesting takeaway is this:
Catwoman: You don’t owe these people any more. You’ve given them everything.
Batman: Not everything. Not yet.
You have only given everything after you have given your life. If Christopher Nolan wanted to really turn heads he would have Bruce go full-on Bushido, sacrificing himself in a blaze of glory to save the city he loves.
I think part of the reason an odd number of people are expressing doubt about The Dark Knight Rises is because Nolan’s realism hits too close to home. Terrorist bombs going off in football stadiums. Bridges blowing up as children look on. Methodical, calculating enemies saying things that make you think about your life outside the movie theater. Summer blockbusters are “supposed” to be pure popcorn to a lot of people, but Nolan aims for something more. His fare targets the ticket-buyer who just wants to see things go boom on the screen, but he also targets the person who has a few extra synapses firing in their brain. And that’s why his movies make big bucks.
If you have a chance to buy tickets early for The Dark Knight Rises, I highly suggest doing so. It’s going to be good.
Update: Check out Hotair’s coverage of The Dark Knight Rises trailer.
Douglas Ernst Blog 
Bane represents more of an extreme narcissism to me, using his power to evoke change now matter the cost. That’s the kind of personality flaw that goes beyond politics. The most important thing about the trailer is that it pretty much confirms that Joshua Gordon-Levitt is Nightwing.
If you were saying he is psychotic I’d agree with your “beyond politics” point. But if he is sane, then what is the “change” his is trying to bring about? He must have some underlying philosophy about how the world works or should work. I’m looking forward to seeing exactly what that is on opening night.
I don’t know if I’d call him psychotic. In fact, I’d say it’s his sanity that makes him such a unique Batman villain. He’s the kind of man Bruce Wayne might have become if his parents were never murdered — a man with endless talents and an undying motivation to become the best, but with no principles to guide his goals. He broke the bat just to see if he could. He partnered with Ra’s al Ghul just to get laid. He joined the Suicide Squad . . . I don’t know why he joined the Suicide Squad, but I doubt it was to fit his political ideals. Catwoman seems more like an Occupy protester with her practice of stealing from the rich to give to the poor and environmental causes, and I think the second Dark Knight Rises trailer really showed off her populism there.
Ah. Yes, that makes sense. Sorry if I was unclear. I wasn’t sure how much of a departure Nolan’s Bane will differ from the comics. I’m just assuming that he took some license with the character.