BATPOST. Countdown to the end of days.

There are many questions an existentially aware human being may ask in their lifetime. A few examples:

1. Why was Chris Brown in my dream last night?

2. When did I accidentally start napping and why is there a string cheese wrapper stuck to my arm?

4. When will the Arrested Development movie FINALLY get made?

3.  I accidentally listened to four seconds of Call Me Maybe and now it will be playing in my head for the rest of my natural born life. Why? WHY?

But there is one question that nobody will ever have to ask themselves: Will Chrisopher Nolan make a good movie? The answer is always, unfailingly going to be yes. The answer to #2 is eating string cheese in bed.

Here it is, week 0. The week batfans have been waiting for since stepping out of a theater four summers ago.

The Dark Knight Rises Comes Out Friday, at 12:03am as my pre-purchased ticket dictates. And here's what it is - I am absolutely terrified to see this movie. I am afraid of what Christopher Nolan is going to do to my faith in humanity this time, since the last occasion left me completely rattled. Grappling with themes of fear, desperation, the fragility of human connection and the ever-raging duality of good and evil present in all people in the ultra-concentrated cocktail of Nolan characters.

There is not enough reiteration in the world to express my skepticism about Anne Hathaway as Catwoman but I've done a lot of thinking about his choice of characters for this particular story. The Dark Knight dealt almost entirely with issues of duality and conflict - good vs. evil, batman vs. bruce wayne, Two-Face as himself, The Joker vs. Batman, crime vs. morality, rich vs. poor, British actors with American accents. Nolan wove this incredibly intricate cloth of self-reflective questions. I think the most effective use of his story is the question of Bruce Wayne becoming Batman. When the costume becomes the man, and the man becomes the thing, which they alluded to a lot in the Dark Knight and I have a strong feeling is going to be a huge theme in this new film. The Joker recognized this reality and manipulated Batman into at times succumbing to what makes him a vulnerable human being just to show him how ugly human vulnerability is, and how much more empowering and natural a human instinct for destruction can prove to be especially with the power that he has in his hands. Slowly bringing Batman to the brink of his humanity to push him into the other side and creating a monster that Batman literally HAD to embody to keep Harvey Dent looking like the good guy only convinces me further of the path I think we'll be seeing him on in The Dark Knight Rises. This is obviously infuriating to watch but also one of the most convincing struggles I've ever seen portrayed in a tragic hero film; Bruce Wayne sets out to do something good and instead of just stopping at the lazy Peter Parker Spiderman society questions me dilemma we get to actually see him question this himself! So rare and such an incredible psychological platform to build the jarring realism of the Nolanverse around. He goes out to create good but his desire is based on anger and vengeance. Batman has no purity, he didn't come into this role out of the goodness of his heart Batman was born of fear and anger and a need for revenge. These feelings are constantly bubbling under the surface and the more grief and obligation he feels in the role the more he begins to embrace it.

So, as far as character choices, I think Nolan may have done something very interesting. My thought is that Bane being a character based on pure force, and Catwoman who is known for her manipulation and quiet cunning represent the different sides of Batman/Bruce Wayne. If Nolan continues with his themes of duality the two characters being juxtaposed will serve to tear Bruce Wayne even further in two. When the two are literally at odds in front of him how will that self-evolve? Dangerously, no doubt. Of course Bane is known for doing one particular thing that I fear every moment counting down to this will mean the end of Batman in a way I can't trust is off the table. What I love so much about Christopher Nolan's take on Batman is his bringing it into our reality, as something that's happening in one of our big American cities and knowing as you see this unfolding that you would be another innocent bystander. It creates an incredibly unnerving feeling of identity with the victims of these complex criminal masterminds.

So, in keeping with themes of duality and the 'what would you do' factor that always seems to be Nolan's winking undercurrent I feel this one will make any audience member (if you're going for the action more power to you this ones for the cerebral nerds out there) incredibly uncomfortable with what it's representing about a character that is neither entirely good nor admittedly evil; someone who struggles as much as anybody else might with whether doing the right thing is always the right thing and at what point does that destroy you? You either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Isn't this the truest and most painful reality that has been created within the institution of Batman? Batman will never truly be the hero, not the real Batman not the human story behind the heroic actions. Batman is born to fear and hurt and suffer and sacrifice and get no thanks for it. Batman is JESUS. Just kidding don't let Mel Gibson get his hands on that. But facing this all-encompassing question how exactly does Nolan plan to answer that question? And this is what keeps me crossing my fingers that it isn't what I think it is.


I'll be eager to discuss the horror after I do a bunch of googling about how much money the box office made off of it.