So I just got back from the Irvine Ca screening of the Dark Knight Rises Prologue. There were two showing one at 10pm and one at 10:30pm and I had gotten tickets to the earlier screening. I arrived around 7pm and the line had already formed and was quite long by 7. However, by the time we actually entered the theater it was not completely full, their was still extra space for people (though they were the crappy front 4 rows). They also handed us the above shirts as we walked in (FREE SWAG!).
I was among my people! For the most part, this room was filled with the real hardcore Batman fans. The energy was high while waiting the last hour, when finally a woman stepped out and we were told that it would be starting soon. Also that security would prosecute anyone trying to film anything.
(Spoilers Start) The prologue starts with the awesome new Bat Logo. It’s made of all ice and it breaks into the Bat Logo. Definitely the coolest logo out of the 3 films. Then boom the camera is off through some grass, tailing a moving car. Out of nowhere, I kid you not, “Littlefoot” shows up..
I kid, he is an CIA Agent and he’s waiting by a large plane. The car drives up and drops off Dr. Pavel (the Doctor from the Viral and Operation Early Bird) and 3 other masked captured mercs who happen to work for the mercenary named BANE. At first CIA man doesn’t want them but then he finds out they may have information about Bane, so Littlefoot…err the CIA guy takes the Dr. and the mercs onto the plane.
Then we get a cool scene of the CIA trying to intimidate the mercs by threatening to kick them out the moving plane or shoot them unless they give up information on Bane. The mercs do not break, then all of a sudden one talks. The mask is taken off of the hooded merc only to do a “Joker-like reveal” that Bane is one of them.
There is a brief exchange between Bane and CIA guy about Bane’s Mask and why he would be foolish enough to get himself captured. Bane reveals he wanted to know what Dr. Pavel had told them and that he plans on taking it down.
Suddenly a larger plane shows up and more mercs jump out using line wires to connect the two planes. The bigger plane basically rips the back half of the smaller plane off and Bane and his men dispose of the CIA. quickly. They then do some sort of blood transfusion thing mid-air. Everyone is about to escape but then Bane tells one of his own men to stay behind, the man does so for the cause (The fire rises, seems very much like League of Shadows to me, but could be wrong). Then Bane grabs the doctor, hooks his line into the other plane, and blows the smaller plane away as he and the doctor zip off (very much like the Hong Kong Lau scene from Dark Knight).
Then a quick sizzle reel featuring the iconic Batman Begins theme. The shots show alot of exciting things, we see Batman with a strange blue gun (the same as the cover of Empire), multiple shots of Bane and Batman from the leaked Pittsburgh and Chicago youtube videos (but in IMAX how they were meant to be seen). Also a quick shot of Catwoman and even a shot of Selina Kyle in an orange prison jump suit. We also get a quick look at the “Bat” or “Bat-Wing” in action. Finally it ends with Bane holding the smashed Cowl, just like whats featured on the recent Poster.
Overall I thought it delivered, however, while grander than the Dark Knight Prologue in scope and scale it didn’t feel as iconic or amazing. In fact, to me the sizzle may have been better than the actual Prologue. The Theme kicks in and all the quick shots of Batman and Catwoman and the freaking Bat Wing were awesome. Don’t get me wrong, the actual prologue was extremely grand and amazing. But it wasn’t anything we hadn’t seen Nolan do before…in fact it was almost too “Nolan”. The reveal of Bane as one of the mercs, felt like the Joker scene, the plane falling action scene felt like Inception and the end is like the Dark Knight stealing Lau scene. Again it’s amazing and it’s all those great things combined and Bane is great (hard to understand but great) but it’s all stuff we’ve seen Nolan do before. So A+ but again it’s not as iconic as the Joker Bank heist. Brandon, however, texted me that he thought it was 100 times better than TDK’s Prologue, so to each their own.
Brandon and I plan on recording a Prologue special tomorrow and go even more into detail.
