The Dark Kinght Rises: Anne Hathaway as Catwoman? Tom Hardy as Bane?

In 2005 when Batman Begins came out I was not overtly excited about it. I had seen Christopher Nolan's previous work and while I enjoyed Memento his next movie Insomnia left me a little cold. Also, and this is the real rub of it, I felt Hollywood would never get a better hold on Batman then it did in 1989 with Tim Burton's interpretation. Even that did not compare with Kevin Conroy and Paul Dini's work on Batman: The Animated Series which outside of the comics themselves has been, for me at least, the definitive version of the character. I thought that the true depth of the character was beyond Hollywood's grasp.

Then the movie came out. When I saw it I remember walking out of the movie thinking "Finally, they got it right." While Batman as a character is widely open to interpretation this was the first time that they had gotten the core of the character almost perfect. From Christian Bale's performance to Nolan's direction and script it was almost pitch perfect.

When The Dark Knight came out I dropped the almost. It was by far the greatest, deepest and most complex superhero movie that had ever been made. Growling Batman voices aside Bale brought the depth and pain of Bruce Wayne to the screen while maintaining an appropriately heroic demeanor during even the most gut wrenching of scenes. The interrogation scene between Batman and the Joker is in my opinion one of the greatest scenes ever committed to film. Which brings me to Heath Ledger. The greatness of his performance as the Joker can only be outweighed by the tragedy of his untimely death.

This gives The Dark Knight Rises an awful lot to live up to and with this casting call I am not sure they are up to the task. At least if the rumors I have heard are true. Both Anne Hathaway and Tom Hardy are great actors and will bring the chops necessary to make this movie live up to its predecessors. I am not entirely sure about Hathaway as Catwoman. I know she has been in a variety of roles and has the chops to play Selina Kyle. She just feels a little too "Girl Next Door" to put out the heat required for Catwoman. I don't fear for that though. In fact I am sure she relishes the opportunity to do exactly that and prove me wrong. These are the things I do fear for. I fear for the script. I fear for the fact that The Dark Knight was left so powerfully with the set up for a continuing struggle between Batman and The Joker and now that obviously can't happen. I fear the rumors that Catwoman may be acting primarily as a hero filling in for Batman and not as a Jewel Thief. (Actually that rumor was so outrageous I don't believe it for a second) Mostly I fear that Bane, while badass is no substitute for the Joker. There is only one Batman villain that even comes close on that count. So for The Dark Knight Rises I hold out hope that one of these days soon a rumor will pop up that Liam Neeson has been secreted in to the set. Only Ras' Al Ghul can bring this series full circle.

I hope that Christopher Nolan has the foresight to know that. He has said this will be his last Batman movie. I hope that he finishes his story and sets up for a reboot instead of setting up the franchise to be passed on to another creative team. All great stories need a beginning, a middle and an end. That is rule number 2. I hope Nolan and his team know enough to follow it.

Just for the record. Rule number 1 is; Given any amount of time to prepare Batman always wins.