To hell with it, we’ve decided to go super optimistic with The Dark Knight Rises and have compiled a list of reasons why you should too.  If The Dark Knight was the Empire Strikes Back of sequels, then TDKR is a combination of Return of the King, Last Crusade, Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Toy Story 3 and Goldfinger!  How’s that for hype?  July 20th, 2012 will go down in history as the day the greatest movie ever made was released and here’s why in no particular order:

The Film Will Not Be Shot In 3-D

Unlike every other film coming out these days, The Dark Knight Rises has decided to forgo the 3-D makeover and instead tell a story the old fashioned way, with a script.  Christopher Nolan got Warner Bros. to agree with his argument that the film should resist the current 3-D craze and instead use high-definition approaches and IMAX cameras.  No goofy glasses for an inflated ticket price, just a big fuc*ing screen and movie magic at its best.

Anne Hathaway

I could easily point out the obvious here with Anne Hathaway, that being she’s incredibly good looking and isn’t shy about that fact.  OK so I just did, but moreover, she’s actually a great actress.  She’s come a long way from her humble beginnings with family oriented fun in The Princess Diaries and Ella Enchanted.  She had to start somewhere, and it might have benefited her to do it this way, because now she’s continuing to surprise people with her skills.  Her more adult turns in Brokeback Mountain and Havoc (especially Havoc) have her turning more heads than ever with each role.  It was her Oscar nominated performance in Rachel Getting Married that solidified her as at the top of her game.  She’s now going to be Selina Kyle / Catwoman in TDKR; it’s going to be great.

The Final Act In A Complete Trilogy

“This will be the last chapter of our Batman saga, and rather than weakening the Batman legend we can finish our story with the same enthusiasm that we began with” – Christopher Nolan.  This series can only get bigger, better and stronger.  Hopefully longer too, I wouldn’t mind sitting through a three-hour Batman epic.  The point though is this, watching Batman Begins and The Dark Knight you get a sense of momentum, this is no accident.  I’m willing to bet Nolan knew how this was all going to play out and end well before cameras rolled seven years ago.  This is going to be the climax for the entire trilogy; from start to finish we are going to be engaged in a movie that for a better part of a decade has remained true to its characters and story – it’s going to be extraordinary.

IMAX

Go big or go home, good advice for the caped crusader.  In his final outing in what can also be called the best Batman movie of all time, he will bow out in grand style.  No one knows yet how much of the film will utilize the IMAX novelty, but one thing’s for sure; bigger the better.  I’ll never forget sitting there for The Dark Knight in IMAX, just as The Joker revealed himself to the audience for the first time shot with an IMAX camera and says “I believe whatever doesn’t kill you, simply makes you…stranger”.  Breathtaking.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Dark Knight Rises Continues In Nolan’s Batman Universe

You won’t hear this in a Christopher Nolan Batman movie: “Ice to see you!” Do you know why?  Yes, that’s because in this Batman Universe, it’s all taken seriously.  More importantly, as an audience, our intelligence is not insulted.  It’s an adult world with adult themes and challenges.  With Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, we often heard words like fear and justice, lines like Why do we fall? This isn’t Saturday morning anymore, in Nolan’s Universe we get the gritty reality of a superhero, one that is coming to terms with just how important he is and no Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Clayface or Man-Bat can help him discover this.

Christopher Nolan Doesn’t Use a Second-Unit

What does this mean?  Well, second unit footage typically includes establishing shots, close-ups, inserts, and cutaways are taken by another director.  Most movie directors have someone else take care of all that while they focus on main scenes with the actors.  Not Christopher Nolan, if it’s on the screen, he directed it, and his long-time cinematographer, Wally Pfister, worked the camera.  It’s satisfying to know the movie you are watching was handled with care and ownership.  This shows how much Nolan cares about movies, his movies, and TDKR will be his best yet.

Only Nolan Knows The Ending

Somewhere on this planet, there are a few copies of The Dark Knight Rises script lying around or in the hands of those working on the film.  Spoiler Alert: this script has no FADE OUT.  Nolan is one of the few people (I guess his brother Jonathan Nolan and some suit at Warner Bros.) who know how it will all end.  A stickler for secrecy, the ending of the movie has been completely left out of the shooting scripts, take that Internet!  Gary Oldman talks about it here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tom Hardy Is Bane

With Inception Tom Hardy showed he has the charisma and swagger to take a role and make it his own.  Heath Ledger did it for The Dark Knight as Joker and now Hardy will do it for Bane.  It’s a character that won’t so unrealistic that it doesn’t fit into Nolan’s Batman universe.  Bane was nothing less than a joke in Batman and Robin, but the fact is Bane is an opponent that has beat Batman, breaking his back in the Knightfall comic arc.  It’s going to be brain vs. brawn this time around; Batman will have to use his superior intellect to beat this beast.  Check out the trailer for Bronson below to see Tom Hardy put on a show:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Christopher Nolan’s Track Record

Christopher Nolan has never made a bad movie.  He’s had seven feature films  consistently show that he’s one of the best as what he does.  The Prestige blew me away when I saw it, a wholly original movie showcasing Nolan’s strongest asset as a filmmaker, his story telling.  Batman Begins and The Dark Knight feature this commonality and Rises should be no different.  He knows expectations are high and I like to think with his track record, he’s got it covered.

No Crossovers

This summer, get ready to see plenty of crossovers.  A gimmick that reeks of laziness and compromise with ignorant studios who want to whore out all their superhero properties.  Nolan believes other DC characters do not exist in the universe of his film and will keep it that way.  Just because a new Superman movie is gearing up doesn’t mean he’s going to swing past Gotham to make a save, wow that would be just awful.  While Thor, Captain America, The Avengers, and Iron Man are all in bed together, one hero will rise above them; and he does it on July 20th, 2012.

Rise and shine...

Catch up on all our The Dark Knight Rises news here.

Via: TheAwfulPeople’s Channel

I prefer the hands on experience myself, some of the effects simulated in 4-D films include rain, wind, strobe lights, and vibration. The use of water sprays and air jets is also common.  Here is a low budget demonstration: