The second trailer for the Legendary Pictures, Syncopy Films, DC Comics film distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures The Dark Knight Rises, the hotly anticipated third and final installment in the Batman / Dark Knight Series by Christopher Nolan, was released today, and has a message that points to the current income inequality problem in America that gave rise to Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement. But that sign comes in the middle of the trailer; what happens before that point in time is equally interesting.
It starts a small child singing the National Anthem at a sports event, then we see Alfred (Michael Caine) telling Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) that he promised his parents that he would protect them, and “I haven’t” he says to Wayne. Next, we see a bald man wearing a kind of mask walking up stairs, on the way to something – it’s the terrorist Bane, played by Tom Hardy. But it’s 44 seconds into the The Dark Knight Rises Trailer, when Wayne is slow dancing with Anne Hathaway (Selina Kyle / Catwoman), that things get really interesting. Selina Kyle says “You think this can last… There’s a storm coming Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches. Because when it hits, you’re all going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.
That’s when all hell breaks loose. The entire playing field of a football game, the one where the small boy was singing, is blown up, imploding into the earth, taking all of the players with it, save for a wide receiver who just scored a touchdown. The player has the name “Ward” on the back, and “86,” the number of Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, who’s wearing a uniform that’s a cross between the Baltimore Ravens helmet, and Steelers clothing.
And it looks like the field at Heinz Stadium in Pittsburgh was used for the shoot.
But I digress.
The message seems to be that, like the Occupy Wall Street / Occupy Oakland / Occupy Movement, “the 99 percent,” or “the rest of us” are involved in some kind of revolt that’s led by Bane.
The movie synopsis goes like this:
It’s a riveting trailer, and from Mr. Nolan’s past work (Inception as one example other than the Batman / Dark Knight Series), there’s no reason to believe the movie itself won’t be.
The Dark Knight Rises is set for release July 20, 2011.
The website’s up: http://www.thedarkknightrises.com/
Stay tuned.