The Dark Knight Rises: New Villain, Bane, Wow Audiences

The Dark Knight Rises: New Villain, Bane, Wow Audiences

The early reviews on "The Dark Knight Rises are in. Surprisingly, they are overwhelmingly positive.

The new villain, Bane, portrayed by Tom Hardy, is said to measure up to the late Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning Joker in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy grand finale, which is most notable.

Nolan himself has said he sought out "someone completely different from the Joker - that he be a brute force." And Hardy has further pointed out key differences: "The Joker didn't care. He just wanted to see the world burn, and he was a master of chaos and destruction, unscrupulous and crazy. Bane is not that guy. There is a very meticulous and calculated way about Bane. There is a huge orchestration of organization to his ambition. He is also a physical threat to Batman.  There is nothing vague about Bane. No jokes. He's a very clean, clear villain."

In The Hollywood Reporter review, Todd McCarthy's opening thoughts included: "Entirely enveloping and at times unnerving in a relevant way one would never have imagined, as a cohesive whole this ranks as the best of Nolan's trio, even if it lacks an element as unique as Heath Ledger's immortal turn inThe Dark Knight. It's a blockbuster by any standard." And while Ledger was missed, it didn't stop him from approving of Bane's presence.

Many reviews noted Bane's brute physical dominance and a methodical evil -- different from the Joker's unpredictable lunacy.

"Bane's plan to bring Gotham to its knees is elaborate and, once revealed, somewhat horrifying.  He is not simply a rehash of the Joker, who was more of a force of chaos than anything.  Bane is evil.  He is unrelenting, unquestioning, destructive evil.  He has no goal other than pain and horror and death, and he represents the first truly irresistible force that Batman has encountered." Drew McWeeny HitFix

In "The Dark Knight, Tom Hardy's Bane is a different sort of villain a focused and more ideologically-developed version of Heath Ledger's anarchist but one with equally ruthless charm.“ Todd Gilchrist, Indiewire

Posted by Kade Quinn on Wednesday July 18 2012, 5:41 AM EDT. Ref: Google. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0