The Dark Knight Rises teaser trailer is officially here

By Adam Rosenberg July 18, 2011

1301270924-The-Dark-Knight-dark-knight--1920x1080 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

You might have gotten a look at the debut teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan’s trilogy-capping The Dark Knight Rises online last week in bootleg form. Hopefully you skipped it so you can go into the now-officially-launched minute-and-a-half long clip with fresh eyes.

The teaser, which debuted on Facebook, is perfect, exactly what a first look should be. We get glimpses of the movie, plenty of them, but the sorts of things that raise questions rather than reveal secrets. Why is Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) looking like death in a hospital bed? Who is Bane (Tom Hardy) staring so intently at? And why is Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson) narrating when he’s dead? Okay, well-researched fanfolk probably know the answer to that last one.

Recommended Videos

Unfortunately, there’s still more than a year to wait until The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters. Not much more than a year — July 20, 2012 — but a long ways off all the same. Enjoy this all-too-brief look… we probably won’t be seeing much more for awhile.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

Entertainment

Batman and the city: depictions of Gotham from The Dark Knight to Gotham Knights

Batman overlooking the neon lights of Gotham in Arkham Knight.

With the enticing expansion of Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson's The Batman universe, it's once again an exciting time for the character in the theatrical space, and the recent release of WB Games Montréal's Gotham Knights has once again highlighted how the city itself is such an important backdrop. As cheesy as it might be to say, Gotham City truly helps elevate the Dark Knight's tales when treated as a metaphorical character of his world.

The gloomy, crime-noir city that seems perpetually dark and stormy is the foundation that serves Batman's wider mythos, whether it's in Christopher Nolan's standard-setting The Dark Knight trilogy or Paul Dini and Bruce Timm's hallowed Batman: The Animated Series. And even though Gotham is often characterized by such moody adjectives, there have still been several attractive iterations of it across mediums to serve their aforementioned and respective functions.
From the page to the big screen

Entertainment

10 years later, is The Dark Knight Rises a bad film or simply misunderstood?

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Rises

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, a film best remembered as an underwhelming follow-up to a genuinely masterful sequel than as a worthy entry in its own trilogy. It must be difficult to act as the next chapter to what is, objectively speaking, the best superhero film in Hollywood history. Indeed, The Dark Knight's standing and legacy are too grand and meaningful, the closest thing to legendary that modern filmmaking has approached. Could any film compete with it?

Now, to be fair, The Dark Knight Rises is not a terrible movie. On the contrary, Rises is a tense, action-packed, grand spectacle that lives up to the much-maligned and often bastardized term "summer blockbuster." But in the context of Nolan's filmography, and especially his two Batman films that came before it, the film can't help but feel underwhelming. Rises is fascinating because it had everything it needed to succeed, from great source material (Knightfall is one of Batman's classic modern stories) to talented actors like Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, and Marion Cotillard breathing new life into old characters. The elements to make a fantastic, career-defining movie are all there, so why is it so disappointing and, worse, unmemorable? And why did it take so long for everyone to accept the fact that it's not as good as it should be?
Bruce Wayne at his worst

Entertainment

Batman and the deterioration of Bruce Wayne

Blended image of Bruce Wayne in the comics and in The Dark Knight and The Batman, the movies, and the animated series against a bat signal background

Batman is arguably the greatest comic book character ever created. Heroes come and go, but Batman remains, brooding, traumatized, and always ready to do whatever it takes. Unlike other comic book figures, the Dark Knight's fame and relevance only keep increasing, which is impressive considering he debuted 83 years ago in the blossoming years of the Golden Age of Superheroes.

Batman has always been fascinating and unique in the comic book world, a character as inspiring as he is intimidating. The Caped Crusader is both a role model and a cautionary tale, a man who extinguished the light within to solely exist in the shadows.
A serious hero