The Dark Knight Rises


The Dark Knight Rises is a 2012 superhero film based on the DC Comics character Batman. Directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan, and the story with David S. Goyer, it is the final installment in Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, and the sequel to The Dark Knight. The film stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman, alongside Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Michael Caine. Set eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, it follows a retired Wayne being forced to resume his role as Batman to save Gotham City from nuclear destruction at the hands of the terrorist Bane.
Christopher Nolan was hesitant about returning to the series for a third film, but agreed after developing a story with his brother and Goyer that he felt would conclude the series on a satisfactory note. Nolan drew inspiration from Bane's comic book debut in the 1993 "Knightfall" storyline, the 1986 series The Dark Knight Returns, and the 1999 storyline "No Man's Land". Filming took place from May to November 2011 in locations including Jodhpur, London, Nottingham, Glasgow, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, and Pittsburgh. Nolan used IMAX 70 mm film cameras for much of the filming, including the first six minutes of the film, to optimize the quality of the picture. A vehicle variation of the Batplane and Batcopter termed the "Bat", an underground prison set, and a new Batcave set were created specially for the film. As with The Dark Knight, viral marketing campaigns began early during production. When filming concluded, Warner Bros. refocused its campaign, developing promotional websites, releasing the first six minutes of the film, screening theatrical trailers, and sending out information regarding the film's plot.
The Dark Knight Rises premiered in New York City on July 16, 2012, and was released in the United States and the United Kingdom on July 20. The film received positive reviews from critics, who deemed it a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. It received a nomination for Special Visual Effects at the 66th British Academy Film Awards, and numerous other accolades, in addition to being named one of the top-ten films of 2012 by the American Film Institute. It also grossed $1.115 billion worldwide, making it the second film in the Batman film series to earn $1 billion, and the highest-grossing Batman film to date. In addition to being Nolan's highest-grossing film, it became the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release, as well as the third-highest-grossing film of 2012.

Plot

, a former member of the League of Shadows, leads an attack on a CIA plane over Uzbekistan to abduct nuclear physicist Dr. Leonid Pavel and fake Pavel's death in the crash. Meanwhile, eight years after the death of Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent and the arrest of the Joker, organized crime has been eradicated in Gotham by the Dent Act, legislation that gives expanded powers to the police. Police commissioner James Gordon has kept Dent's killing spree a secret and allowed the blame for his crimes to fall on Batman. Bruce Wayne, still mourning the death of Rachel Dawes, has become a recluse and stagnated.
Bane conspires to help Wayne Enterprises board member John Daggett take over the company, and they begin by trying to buy Bruce's fingerprints. Burglar Selina "Catwoman" Kyle steals Bruce's prints from Wayne Manor for Daggett, but he double-crosses her, and she alerts the police, who pursue Bane and Daggett's henchmen into the sewers while Catwoman flees. The henchmen capture Gordon and take him to Bane, but he escapes and is found by Gotham City police officer John Blake, an orphan who has deduced Bruce's secret identity, and persuades Bruce to resume his vigilantism. Bane attacks the Gotham Stock Exchange and uses Bruce's fingerprints to verify a series of fraudulent transactions, leaving Bruce ousted from his company and bankrupt. Batman resurfaces to pursue Bane's henchmen. Fearing Bruce will get himself killed fighting Bane, his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, resigns in the hope of saving him after admitting to burning a letter that Rachel left for him saying she was going to marry Dent. Bane expands his operations and kills Daggett while Bruce and Wayne Enterprises' new CEO, Miranda Tate, become lovers.
Catwoman agrees to take Batman to Bane, but instead leads him into a trap under Wayne Tower. Bane gloats that he intends to fulfill Ra's al Ghul's mission to destroy Gotham City before he brutally cripples Batman in combat. He then takes Bruce to an ancient underground prison in the Middle East, where Bruce learns that Ra's al Ghul's child was born and raised there, but had a protector who aided the child in escaping, thought to be impossible. Back in Gotham, Bane detonates explosives to trap the police forces in the sewers, destroys all but one bridge surrounding the city, kills Gotham mayor Anthony Garcia at the Gotham City stadium, and forces Pavel to convert the fusion reactor core owned by Wayne Enterprises into a decaying neutron bomb before publicly killing him as well. He exposes Dent's crimes to the city and releases the prisoners of Blackgate Penitentiary, taking over the city, and has Gotham's elite exiled and killed in proletarian kangaroo courts presided over by Jonathan Crane.
Five months later, Bruce escapes captivity and returns to Gotham. As Batman, he frees the police, and together they clash with Bane's army in the streets. During the battle, Batman overpowers Bane, but Tate stabs Batman in the abdomen, revealing herself as Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia al Ghul. Talia also reveals that Bane was her protector in the pit before activating the bomb's detonator, but it fails due to Gordon blocking the signal, so Talia leaves to find the bomb while entrusting Bane to finish off Batman. However, Catwoman returns, killing Bane and helping Batman pursue Talia, hoping to return the bomb to the reactor chamber where it can be stabilized. Talia's truck crashes, but she remotely floods and destroys the reactor chamber before dying. With no way to stop the detonation, Batman, after revealing his identity to Gordon, uses his aerial craft, the Bat, to haul the bomb far over the bay, where it safely explodes.
In the aftermath, Batman is presumed dead and honored as a hero. Since Bruce is also presumed dead separately, Wayne Manor becomes an orphanage, and Bruce's estate is left to Alfred. Gordon finds the Bat-Signal repaired, while Lucius Fox discovers that Bruce had fixed the Bat's malfunctioning autopilot. In Florence, Alfred discovers that Bruce is alive and in a relationship with Selina, and they silently acknowledge each other before parting ways. Blake, whose legal first name is revealed as Robin, resigns from the GCPD and receives a package leading him to the Batcave.

Cast

  • Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne / Batman:
A billionaire socialite who dedicates himself to protecting Gotham City from its criminal underworld, as a feared vigilante. Nolan has stated that, due to the eight-year gap between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, "he's an older Bruce Wayne; he's not in a great state." Bale employed a martial arts discipline called the Keysi Fighting Method, now modified for Wayne's current state and Bane's style. Bale has stated that The Dark Knight Rises would be his final Batman film. Bale acknowledged that Batman is "not a healthy individual, this is somebody that is doing good, but he's right on the verge of doing bad". Bale clarifies that "He doesn't want to forget . He wants to maintain that anger he felt at that injustice". Bale felt bittersweet about leaving the franchise, saying that it was like "saying goodbye to an old friend."
  • Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth:
Bruce's trusted butler and confidant, who acts as a father figure to Wayne but is unable to accept Wayne's desire to revive his Batman persona, even resigning from his position to impress the seriousness of his position upon him. Christopher Nolan emphasized the emotional bond between Pennyworth and Wayne, stressing its importance in the previous films and predicting that the relationship will be strained as it never has before.
  • Gary Oldman as James Gordon:
The Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, and one of the city's few honest police officers. Oldman described the character's work in cleaning up Gotham City as having left him world-weary and slightly bored, likening Gordon to a soldier who leaps at the chance to be on the front lines. His life has taken a turn for the worse since The Dark Knight; his wife has left him and taken their children, and the mayor is planning to dismiss him from his job. Gordon feels guilty over his role in covering up Harvey Dent's crimes and is prepared to resign from his position as Commissioner over it, but then senses that Gotham is about to come under threat.
  • Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle / The Cat:
A professional cat burglar, grifter, and femme fatale who establishes a playful, teasing relationship with Wayne that "takes some of the somberness away from his character", and pursues a "clean slate" when she crosses paths with both Wayne and Batman. Hathaway auditioned not knowing what role she was being considered for. Jessica Biel and Kate Mara were considered for the role. Hathaway described the role as being the most physically demanding she had ever played, and confessed that while she thought of herself as being fit, she had to redouble her efforts in the gym to keep up with the demands of the role. Hathaway trained extensively in martial arts for the role, and looked to Hedy Lamarr—who was the initial inspiration for the comic book character—in developing her own performance. Batman Begins and The Dark Knight writer David S. Goyer had previously ruled out in 2008 including Catwoman in a third film for having already appeared in Tim Burton's Batman Returns, portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer.
  • Tom Hardy as Bane:
A mysterious and physically imposing villain who was excommunicated from the League of Shadows and portrays himself as a "liberator of pain" and revolutionary. He is desperate to continue Ra's al Ghul's legacy by destroying Gotham. The character was chosen by Christopher Nolan because of his desire to see Batman tested on both a physical and mental level. According to costume designer Lindy Hemming, the character wears a mask that supplies him with an analgesic gas to relieve pain he suffers from an injury sustained "early in his story". Hardy intended to portray the character as "more menacing" than Robert Swenson's version of the character in Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin and that in order to do so, his portrayal entailed creating a contradiction between his voice and body. Hardy gained for the role, increasing his weight to. Hardy later said training for the role probably damaged his body. Hardy based Bane's voice on several influences, which include Bartley Gorman and the character's comic book heritage. Bane claims that his revolution's enemies are the rich and the corrupt, who he contends are oppressing "the people", when in reality this was a ruse in order to exploit the citizens of Gotham City for the League of Shadows' ultimate goal in destroying Gotham City.
  • Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate / Talia al Ghul:
The current CEO of Wayne Enterprises who encourages a still-grieving Bruce to rejoin society and continue his father's philanthropic works but is later revealed to be the daughter of Ra's al Ghul and Bane's accomplice. Cotillard also does her own dub-over voice in both the European and Canadian French dubs of the film.
  • * Joey King as young Talia al Ghul
  • Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake:
A young police officer whose instincts lead him to believe that there is trouble on the horizon and is promoted to detective by Gordon when the elder cop saw something of himself within the younger. Blake represents the idealism that Gordon and Bruce once held, but soon lost in their battle against crime in the city. The film reveals his legal name to be Robin John Blake, a homage to Batman's sidekick in the comics, Robin.
  • Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox:
The ex-CEO turned executive vice president of Wayne Enterprises, who runs the company on Wayne's behalf and serves as his armorer for the Batsuit, providing him with high-tech equipment and discreetly developing cutting-edge technology and weaponry, even as Wayne Enterprises starts losing money.
  • Matthew Modine as Peter Foley: Gordon's second-in-command who disdains Batman.
  • Ben Mendelsohn as John Daggett: A rival billionaire socialite who employs Bane in his plan to take control of Wayne Enterprises.
  • Burn Gorman as Philip Stryver: Daggett's assistant and senior executive vice president of Daggett Industries. Philip Stryver is named after Stryver from A Tale of Two Cities, the novel that The Dark Knight Rises directly drew influence from.
  • Néstor Carbonell as Anthony Garcia: Gotham City's mayor. Carbonell reprises his role from The Dark Knight.
  • Juno Temple as Jen: Selina Kyle's friend and accomplice.
  • Josh Stewart as Barsad: Bane's right-hand man.
  • Alon Aboutboul as Dr. Leonid Pavel: A Russian nuclear physicist who is kidnapped by Bane and the League of Shadows in order to convert a fusion reactor funded by Bruce Wayne and Miranda Tate into a weapon to be used for the destruction of Gotham City.
  • Aidan Gillen as Bill Wilson: A CIA operative who was tasked with extracting Pavel from Uzbekistan and tracking down Bane for terrorist activities before his appearance in Gotham City.
  • Brett Cullen as Byron Gilley, a U.S. congressman who is kidnapped by Kyle. Brett Cullen would go on to portray Thomas Wayne in the 2019 DC Comics adaptation Joker.
  • Chris Ellis as Father Reilly, a priest at the orphanage in which Blake grew up.
  • Tom Conti as Prisoner: An unnamed prisoner who serves as Bruce Wayne's caretaker in Bane's underground prison, The Pit.
  • Daniel Sunjata as Mark Jones, a U.S. Special Ops officer who leads a task force into Gotham to assist Gordon and the GCPD in freeing the city from Bane's rule.
  • Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul: Liam Neeson reprises his role from Batman Begins in a cameo appearance; he also appears in a brief flashback.
  • * Josh Pence as young Ra's al Ghul. He appears in scenes set thirty years before the events of Batman Begins.
  • Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane: Cillian Murphy reprises his role from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
  • India Wadsworth as the wife of Ra's al Ghul and the mother of Talia al Ghul.
  • John Nolan as Douglas Fredericks, a board member of Wayne Enterprises. John Nolan is Christopher Nolan's uncle and he reprises his role from Batman Begins.
  • William Devane as the President of the United States.
Other cast members include Rob Brown, Brent Briscoe, Will Estes and Desmond Harrington as police officers; Christopher Judge as one of Bane's henchmen; and Noel Gugliemi as an ex-prisoner who is in charge of exiling corrupt elites during Bane's revolution. Thomas Lennon, who had appeared as a doctor in Nolan's 2000 film Memento, again plays a doctor. Glen Powell makes a pre-fame appearance as a stock exchange trader that gets knocked out by Bane.
United States Senator Patrick Leahy, who had made a cameo appearance in The Dark Knight, returned in The Dark Knight Rises, as a Wayne Enterprises board member.
Several members of the Pittsburgh Steelers have cameo appearances as members of the fictional Gotham Rogues football team in the film, including Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, Willie Colon, Maurkice Pouncey, Mike Wallace, Heath Miller, Aaron Smith, Ryan Clark, James Farrior, LaMarr Woodley, and Casey Hampton, and former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher as the head coach of the Rogues. Pittsburgh mayor Luke Ravenstahl, a kicker in college, appears as the kicker for the Rogues' opponents, the Rapid City Monuments.
Aaron Eckhart expressed enthusiasm in returning for a sequel if asked, although he later stated Nolan verified that his character, Harvey Dent / Two-Face, was dead, and only archive footage of Eckhart from The Dark Knight appears in the film.
Zoë Kravitz attempted to audition for a role in the film, but she was rejected for being "too urban". She would later go on to play Catwoman in the 2022 film The Batman.