The Dark Knight Rises Opening Sequence

The opening to The Dark Knight Rises starts with a very mysterious eerie feel built by the music and the very dark colours such as black, grey and dark blue this shows the gloom and dark atmosphere that covers Gotham due to the death of Harvey Dent. It could also resemble the dark gloom that covers Bruce Wayne as he is in a state of depression.















The shot then zooms into a close up of cracking ice and the cracks form into the shape of the iconic 'batman' symbol, this represents the rising of the dark knight from an almost hibernated state and the audience relate this to the title of the film 'The Dark Knight Rises'. However, the bat symbol is the only indication in the opening sequence of the films name. Christopher Nolan chooses to not follow the normal format of an opening sequence and to not include titles such as the actual films name or the starring cast members. This could be down to the directors choice to carry over the tradition after the past two films in the sequel have also not shown titles, due to the arrogance of the director as he knows that people know the film so don't need to see the title.


The first shots of human activity is a low angle shot of a CIA agent which shows his superiority and power in comparison to the other men around him, the agent is wearing normal clothes where as the other men are in military uniform suggesting he is more important as he doesn't have to wear a uniform, his body language suggests he's an arrogant man who thinks very highly of himself. Three men are brought to him with sacks covering there heads, obviously being transported by the plane they are in front of.

There is an aerial shot to establish the planes surroundings as its flying over a mountain range. Inside the plane the CIA agent hangs two of the hooded men out of the plane and  interrogate them for information about the main antagonist Bane. As the plane door is open the agents voice is quite quiet, this makes it obvious that the voice of Bane is entered after the filming and altered in post-production due to how clear and different it sounds in comparison to the agents. After we hear Banes voice and know the antagonist is in the plane the camera pans around to the final hooded man and starts to forward track towards the back of Bane putting him in a vulnerable position. The shot switches to outside the plane and we get an extreme long shot of another plane over the top of the CIA plane representing the change in power as the new larger plane is the dominant plane.


The scene speeds up as Banes men hijack the plane, lots of fast cuts helps to build a sense of the speed and a non diegetic beat building a sense of urgency. The hijacking was almost military like with an efficient well executed, well planned procedure showing a potential input from ex-military, the men go on to perform a transition of blood from a scientist into the body of a man who the men had brought with them, further suggesting the pre-planned nature of the scenario. Bane shows his power as an antagonist by openly telling one of his men to stay behind and die and they agree. The sequence ends with a high angle shot looking up at Bane dangling from a rope from the plane showing he's fearlessness.