One of this Summer’s most highly anticipated movies, The Dark Knight Rises, is about to hit theaters on July 20, 2012. The soundtrack by Academy Award winning composer, Hans Zimmer, is available for pre-order on Amazon with a release date of July 17, 2012. But do the track titles give away too much information about the movie?
Here is the complete listing of the tracks’ titles:
- 01. A Storm Is Coming (0:37)
- 02. On Thin Ice (2:55)
- 03. Gotham’s Reckoning (4:08)
- 04. Mind If I Cut In? (3:27)
- 05. Underground Army (3:12)
- 06. Born In Darkness (1:57)
- 07. The Fire Rises (5:33)
- 08. Nothing Out There (2:51)
- 09. Despair (3:14)
- 10. Fear Will Find You (3:08)
- 11. Why Do We Fall? (2:03)
- 12. Death By Exile (0:23)
- 13. Imagine The Fire (7:25)
- 14. Necessary Evil (3:16)
- 15. Rise (7:11)
Let’s look at the movie’s latest trailer and see if we can piece together the meaning of the titles in connection with the story.
Time to break it down by the numbers.
01. A Storm Is Coming: The “storm” Selina Kyle/ Catwoman refers to is more than likely Bane’s wave of destruction coming to Gotham. Possibly also refers to an actual winter storm, since a lot of the scene in the trailers have snow on the ground.
02. On Thin Ice: The phrase is commonly know as walking carefully to not break the ice. Who has to be cautious?
03. Gotham’s Reckoning: In the trailers, when Bane is asked who he is, he responds, “I’m Gotham’s reckoning.” Is this Bane’s theme song or just the background music to that particular scene?
04. Mind If I Cut In? This is easily the scene where Selina Kyle is dancing with Bruce Wayne. Eventually she steals his Lamborghini as she tells the valet her “husband” decided to take a cab home from the party.
05. Underground Army: Bane doesn’t come to Gotham without backup. In the scene where the Gotham football stadium is blown up, trailers have shown that this is how Bane’s army invades Gotham.
06. Born In Darkness: I am thinking this is when Batman/ Bruce Wayne is captured and beaten. It is at this time that he becomes reborn as Gotham’s savior. This could also refer to the origin of Bane growing up in prison serving out his father’s sentence. Not much is known about how much Christopher Nolan will get into the details of Bane’s origin story.
07. The Fire Rises: Referring to Batman as “fire” is more than likely a metaphor for the Phoenix rising from the ashes. Even in the trailer there is a graphic that states: “A Fire Will Rise.”
08. Nothing Out There: This one is tough. My opinion is that it could be Commissioner Gordon trying to reach Batman for help and he is missing.
09. Despair: This could either be a reference to Bruce’s despair during his capture, or the citizen’s of Gotham as Bane takes control of the city.
10. Fear Will Find You: Another tough one, but I am thinking that no matter when you try to hide, Bane will be able to search you out. I think this means that Batman is truly scared of Bane. In the Knight Fall comic series, Bane is the one who breaks Batman’s back thus paralyzing him. In the TV spot trailer, Bruce is noticeably limping and using a cane while he talks to Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) about his “retirement.” If I had to make a guess, this is after the major battle between Batman and Bane, when Batman becomes seriously injured. If you notice throughout all the trailers, Batman goes toe-to-toe with Bane on several occasions. This might be the background music to when Batman is broken.
11. Why Do We Fall?: “So we know how to pick ourselves up.” This was the common theme since Batman Begins, when little Bruce fell down the well and his Father made that statement. Alfred has repeated this throughout the movie franchise whenever Bruce questions his failures.
12. Death By Exile: The disappearance of Batman in order to take the fall for Harvey Dent/ Two-Face in the Dark Knight is what this title could mean. But my intuition is telling me that this is when Bruce is “punished” by Bane while he controls Gotham. What is worse than death to Batman? How about knowing that Gotham is crumbling and there is nothing he can do about it?
13. Imagine The Fire: Here we go with “fire” being mentioned again. Could this be the time when Bruce is starting to light that spark?
14. Necessary Evil: Batman has always been known as a vigilante who works outside of the law even though he respects it. Batman is the “Necessary Evil” that Gotham City needs. At the end of The Dark Knight, Commissioner Gordon explains to his son that Batman is the savior that Gotham City may not want him to be, but the savior they need him to be.
15. Rise: This may look easy to decipher, but in fact it could be harder than you expect. The easy answer is that Batman defeats Bane and Gotham is saved. But what role does Joseph Gordon-Levitt play in the film? His character’s name is John Blake, a ”Gotham City beat cop assigned to special duty under the command of Commissioner Gordon.” But you have to catch the subtleties as he talks to Selina Kyle, and the little boy who draws the bat-symbol in chalk. John Blake seems to know too much and/ or care a lot about Batman. This is quite possibly because he works directly with Commissioner Gordon.
One rumor was that JGL was going to play Robin, which Christopher Nolan has refuted in countless interviews. So is this the “Rise of Robin?”
Another rumor is that Batman dies at the end of the film. Could this be John Blake rising to take on the “Mantle of the Bat” the same way Jean Paul Valley replaced Batman when his back was broken?
These, of course, are all speculations, but I think this is the most educated guess of them all. Batman leads the Police Department in an all-out battle on the steps of City Hall. Where is my proof? Look at these publicity banners from Warner Brothers.
Batman and armored police in an old fashioned standoff
And this one:
Batman leading the troops.
To make you wonder even more, this might be the battle in the middle of the movie, that eventually leads to Batman being captured by Bane. In the comics, Bane doesn’t even try to battle Batman until he is completely exhausted from rounding up all of the inmates from Arkham Asylum and Black Water Penitentiary. Was this battle just a diversion to get Batman to come to Bane?
As not only a Batman fan, but also a Christopher Nolan fan, I hope I got everything wrong. I hope the obvious answer to the puzzle is as enigmatic as the Riddler himself. One thing Nolan does is tell great stories and leave the audience wanting more. I, like many of you, cannot wait until July 20th to see the Dark Knight Trilogy come to its conclusion.
What are your thoughts? What did you get from reading the soundtrack’s titles?
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