Trendy Film Report: Ten Things to Know About The Dark Knight Rises

Its countdown time! The most anticipated film of the summer is opening in a couple of days and based on what the critics have to say we are in for the ride of a lifetime!

The film is being touted as the best of the trilogy which means that Chris Nolan and his team are going out with a BANG.

Right from conception, there were a lot of rumblings about surprise appearances by extinguished castmates and the possible demise of a major character. The good news is that our torture ends soon and all will be answered regarding the fate of our beloved citizens of Gotham.

In the meantime, here is our “Cliff Notes” edition of The Dark Knight Rises that will hopefully help get you geared up for the biggest blockbuster of the summer and possibly of all time.

1)      The new characters being initiated into Gotham include: Selina Kyle a.ka. Catwoman (Anne Hathaway), Bane (Tom Hardy), Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) and John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)

2)      There will be a couple of familiar faces from Batman Begins ready to create more mayhem and chaos: Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) and Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson).

3)      If you are a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, then look out for some of your favorite players. Ben Roethlisberger, Troy Polamalu, Aaron Smith, Mike Wallace, and Hines Ward are some of the team members who will make up the fictional Gotham Rogues football team in the movie.

4)      Leonardo DiCaprio was the studio’s choice to play The Riddler due to the immense success of The Joker which the late Heath Ledger portrayed to perfection. But Nolan wanted the next villain to be his own unique creation without any residue of the bad guys from the past films providing interference.

5)      Chris Nolan wasn’t that eager to direct a third film, and refused to commit to until he came up with a story format that he was comfortable with. On February 9, 2010, it became official that Nolan was onboard and ready to tackle one of the most sought after projects in Hollywood.

6)      The Dark Knight Rises has some brotherly ties – Chris Nolan wrote the screenplay with help of his brother Jonathan Nolan.

7)      Don’t expect Harvey Dent a.ka. Two-Face (Aaron Eckhart) to unexpectedly re-surface. That character is definitely dead and buried.

8)      If you live in Australia, you get to see the film before the rest of the world does!

9)      Believe it or not tickets for the IMAX midnight shows of The Dark Knight Rises were sold out in all the major cities, including New York and LA by January 2012.

10)   This is reportedly the final installment of the Batman franchise that Nolan brilliantly revived and nursed to life. Sigh!