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Auteurs,

The Dark Knight Rises Costumes Exhibition - FILM EXHIBITION

H ot on the heels of the interesting little hint we received from Oscar winning Costume Designer Lindy Hemming about Bane’s The Dark Knight Rises outfit over. We bring you a close up look at both the original outfits worn by Christian Bale’s Batman and Tom Hardy’s Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. 

Yesterday in the build up to The Dark Knight Rises THe Establishing Shot was lucky enough to crack an invite to a screening of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, the tale that kicked off his dramatic Dark Knight trilogy that ends with The Dark Knight Rises. Just before the screening I got to check out both the original Bat suit and Bane suit used in The Dark Knight Rises.
Both the outfit’s are in the window of HMV’s flagship store at 150 Oxford Street until Sun 15th July. As exciting as this was I couldn’t help be jealous of Dublin who got the BatPod and a Camouflage Tumbler.

I should warn you I haven’t read any of the spoilers out there, so what follows should be treated as educated speculation, rather than outright spoiler – but skip the next paragraph if you don’t wish to be infected.

As we have seen in the trailers Batman’s Bat Suit outfit looks like the same one from The Dark Knight. Heavy duty blast and impact resistant armour plates over a bullet proof kevlar under suit. I could not see any differences at all in this suit and the one used in The Dark Knight.  Overall it had a real futuristic military look about it, as intended in Christopher Nolan’s Batman films.


So it seems that Batman does not upgrade his suit from the previous film as he did from Batman Begins to The Dark Knight - however I was in Mexico earlier last month and when I popped into a large department store noticed amongst the other The Dark Knight Rises promotional offers and merchandise an armoured exo skeleton Batman (like) figure. Not wanting anything spoiled I didn’t take any photos or look at it too closely. It may be a heavy duty suit Batman wears when he makes his comeback, like in the animated series or a Batman substitute could wear it - like Azrael in the comics or it may have been a separate line of toys altogether.

Regarding Bane’s outfit it is as intimidating as it looks on Tom Hardy in the Trailers mainly because it does seem brutalist in design - with a very retro military feel to it. Very much in line with my assumptions from what Lindy Hemming told me. It is not at all slick, coming across as the antithesis of the Batsuit and seems cobbled together from other military gear over time. Bane’s suit has been carefully placed so as not to allow a decent look at the back of the mask area. But the mask is very clearly a device to deliver some sort of gas to Bane’s mouth.

A short while later while watching Batman Begins in the plush screening room of Warner Bros. and about 3/4s of the way into Batman Begins I discovered a major possible link between Ra's Al Ghul and Bane or Ra's Al Ghul’s League of Shadows. Look away if it is not too late.

Image: TDKR Ra's al Ghul Mask

It could also be that well, these are superhero films and masks are a common device but the design is too similar to be a coincidence.  At a bear minimum Bane’s mask was made by the same people that made the League of Shadow’s gear at most could there be a stronger bond between the deceased Ra's Al Ghul’s  and Bane via his rejuvenation pits?

We’ll have to wait till Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises hits cinemas on 20 July 2012.

Head over here to see the full photoset: http://www.flickr.com/photos/entropy1138/sets/72157630528672952/

My thoughts on The Dark Knight Rises trailer are here:  
http://www.theestablishingshot.com/2012/03/establishing-shot-epic-8645-word.html

My thoughts on The Dark Knight Rises teaser trailer are here: http://www.theestablishingshot.com/2011/07/dark-knight-rises-teaser-trailer.html

My thoughts on The Dark Knight Rises Prologue are here: http://www.theestablishingshot.com/2011/12/establishing-shot-full-dark-knight.html

The Dark Knight Rises release date: The Dark Knight Rises will be released on the 20 July 2012

Image: The Dark Knight Rises Bane IMAX Poster (Click to enlarge)

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The Dark Knight Rises
Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ “The Dark Knight Rises” is the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive.

Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good.  For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda.  Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile.  But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane.

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan
Stars: Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Gary Oldman

The Establishing Shot: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES FILM COSTUMES EXHIBITION - FILM EXHIBITION