Batman: Knightfall
Genre: Action/Superhero
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Writer: APJ
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Dave Bautista, Taron Egerton, Chris Rock, Caleb Landry Jones, Jonathan Pryce, Douglas Booth, Tatiana Maslany, Adele Exarchopoulos, Melissa Leo, Gustaf Skarsgard, Rochelle Aytes, Jean-Claude Van Damme (cameo)
Plot: Deep within the prison Pena Duro, on the island of Santa Prisca, the behemoth Bane (Dave Bautista) does pull ups on a pipe running along the ceiling of his cell. A series of knocks from the other side of a wall signal him to get ready. When the guards come through to give the inmates meals, Bane grabs the guard through the bars and uses his keys to unlock his cell. Bane then unlocks the cell of the inmate next to him, Slade Wilson (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Together they fight through the multitude of guards, up from level to level, until they reach the surface of the prison, at the edge of a tall cliff. Wilson suggests they find another way around. Bane refuses and leaps from the cliff into rocky waters down below.
Psychopathic killer Victor Zsasz (Gustaf Skarsgard) is holding the dormitory of an all-girls boarding school hostage. He wields his trademark knife as he tells all the girls that his skin will soon be covered in fresh cuts - one cut for each that he kills. District Attorney Harvey Dent (Chris Rock) arrives on the scene with a group of Gotham City Police cars. Dent has been given temporary authority over the GCPD following the death of Commissioner Gordon. Dent, in an effort to buy time, offers to trade himself for the girls as a hostage. Zsasz scoffs at the idea, insisting the girls won’t be hostages for much longer. Dent proposes they flip a coin for it. If the coin lands on heads, Zsasz will trade the girls for himself, if it’s tails, he won’t. Intrigued by the gamble, Zsasz agrees. Dent flips the coin, which lands on heads. Dent goes to enter the school to make the tradeoff. As Zsasz watches Dent entering the building, he turns toward the girls to kill them, but is grabbed by Batman (Jake Gyllenhaal) and smashed into the wall. Dent leads the girls out of the building while Batman and Zsasz fight. Zsasz slashes at Batman with his knife, but Batman deflects the blows and uses Zsasz’s own momentum to throw him out of the window. Zsasz falls several stories until he is suddenly caught by Batman’s grappling gun mere feet from the ground. Dent orders GCPD officers to handcuff and arrest Zsasz for attempted murder. Batman comes down and tells Dent that the coin flip was a risky move. Dent flips the coin to Batman, who quickly notices that both sides of the coin are heads.
In the middle of the Caribbean Sea, Bane swims aboard a military research ship. He infiltrates the ship, finding a supply of the powerful experimental steroid VENOM. Bane puts on a mask that pumps the VENOM continuously into his bloodstream, increasing his strength to near superhuman levels. Bane kills the captain of the ship. He then recruits members of the crew to join him in a crusade against the city of Gotham. Those that refuse to join him are thrown overboard.
Dent returns home to his wife Gilda (Rochelle Aytes). She was worried about him after seeing the situation on the news. He tells her he knew what he was doing, flashing his coin. She asks him if he is finally ready to tell him the story of the coin. Dent tells his wife that the coin used to belong to his father, who would flip it when drunk and angry to determine if he would get a beating. Dent says that the coin always landed on heads, and he always got a beating. He only learned that the coin was double-headed when his father died and left it to him. Gilda is shocked by the story and asks why he keeps the coin. Dent says to make his own luck and remember what not to be.
Batman returns to the Batcave and takes off his cowl, returning to his existence as Bruce Wayne. He notices that Zsasz’s knife managed to get through his armor. He uses some superglue to seal up the cuts as Alfred Pennyworth (Jonathan Pryce) comes down from the mansion above. Bruce asks Alfred if he can work on increasing his suit’s resistance to knives in the future.
Bane’s ship arrives at Gotham Harbor. His new soldiers kill the security at the harbor, securing it as a base of operations. Bane tells his men that their first mission is to liberate the inmates at Blackgate Prison. There they will recruit more members for his army. Bane and his men quickly shoot their way through the guards at Blackgate. Bane personally frees the Joker (Caleb Landry Jones) from his cell. Bane encourages him to cause as much chaos as he can to distract the Bat. The Joker laughs, claiming chaos is his specialty.
Alfred suggests to Bruce that he may need help fighting crime in Gotham now that there are more criminals back on the streets. Bruce tells Alfred that he’s already one step ahead of him and plays security footage of a man in a red hood fighting off a group of criminals with a flaming sword. Alfred questions why he’d be looking at bringing someone new rather than simply giving Dick a call in Bludhaven. Bruce says that Dick is his own man now with his own city to protect, so he needs to find someone who already wants to fight for Gotham.
Bruce tracks down Selina Kyle (Tatiana Maslany) and asks if she’s been purposely avoiding him or just laying low after a score. Selina tells him that she plans on leaving town for a while, suggesting that he think about the same thing. Bruce asks her what she knows about the Blackgate Prison escape. She tells him that the word on the street is that a guy in a mask named Bane stormed the prison to build an army of criminals to take over Gotham. Bruce thanks Selina for the information, and explains to her that he has to do everything possible to protect Gotham. Bruce then offers Selina an invitation to a Founder’s Day Ball he is attending, but she declines.
Bruce attends the annual Founder’s Day Ball hosted by Mayor Marion Grange (Melissa Leo). She greets him, commenting how surprised she is to see Bruce without a model on his arm. As Bruce struggles to schmooze at the event, he sees Selina enter wearing a black gown. She walks over to Bruce, who smiles at her. She tells him not to get used to this sort of thing as she does plan on leaving Gotham before it falls. The two are dancing when Bane and his soldiers interrupt the event. Bane gives a speech to the wealthy elite of Gotham about how the wealthy families forced his ancestors out of the city and into a Caribbean hellhole that he was born and raised in. Now he has come to retake Gotham in the name of those who helped build it up from nothing. Bruce and Selina sneak away and suit up as Batman and Catwoman. Together they manage to fight off and subdue Bane’s soldiers. Catwoman leads the guests away while Batman engages Bane in combat. Bane increases the intake of VENOM in his system during the fight, gaining the upper hand and overpowering Batman with brute strength. Batman, feeling outmatched, jumps out of the building, gliding down to the ground below as Bane watches from a balcony.
The next day, Mayor Grange is the grand marshal for the Gotham Founder’s Day Parade. As the parade makes its way through downtown Gotham, there is a large explosion. The Joker then enters the parade on a clown-themed float. Thugs in clown masks climb out and begin to terrorize the crowd surrounding Mayor Grange’s float. Batman arrives and fights alongside several of Gotham’s finest to subdue the thugs. The man in the red hood also arrives and fights some off with his flaming sword. Once all of the Joker’s thugs have been beaten, Batman gives the man in the red hood a nod before he runs away. The Joker then puts his hands up in the air and surrenders, insisting his job is done. GCPD officers handcuff the Joker, who begins cackling uncontrollably. Before being thrown into the back of a squad car, the Joker mentions that his job was just to distract him. Mayor Grange asks Batman to come up onto her parade float and wave to the crowd he just saved. Batman declines. He throws down a smoke pellet and disappears into a cloud of smoke. Mayor Grange jokes that Batman is nothing if not theatrical.
Catwoman takes Batman to the Gotham Harbor, where Bane is currently basing his operations.
She tells him that this will be the last time she helps him. Catwoman gives Batman a passionate kiss before slipping away into the night. Batman sneaks through Bane’s makeshift compound, but doesn’t find Bane himself anywhere. Meanwhile at Wayne Manor, Bane and his soldiers storm through the front gates of the property. Alfred triggers the alarms and arms himself with a shotgun. He begins firing on Bane’s soldiers, taking several out. Batman is notified of the alarm at Wayne Manor. He gets into the Batmobile and speeds back toward home.
When Batman returns to the Batcave, he is ambushed by Bane, who explains that it was actually quite easy to deduce his secret identity. Batman demands to know where Alfred is. Bane then snaps his fingers and a couple of his soldiers drag Alfred’s dead body out. Batman, in a blind rage, attacks Bane. Batman is slightly quicker than Bane, managing to land several hits, but they don’t appear to have any effect on Bane. Bane uses his brute strength to batter Batman, with one brutal hit after another. Batman tries to use every trick up his sleeve, but he simply is no physical match for Bane right now. Bane laughs while blocking more of Batman’s hits, stating that the Blackgate Prison breakout, the clowns at the parade, and even killing the butler were all just to wear Batman’s physical and emotional stamina down. Bane begins hitting Batman in the face repeatedly, denting his cowl. With Batman practically out on his feet, Bane lifts Batman over his head, and brings him back down hard over his knee with a loud crack. Bane then turns to one of his soldiers, who is holding a camera having filmed the entire fight, and tells the camera that the Batman cannot save Gotham now. The video is played across every TV channel in Gotham, even over the giant video screen at the Gotham Giants baseball game. Bane tells his men to leave the broken Batman be as he can do nothing to stop them now.
Dick Grayson (Taron Egerton) sees the footage while on patrol as a police officer in Bludhaven. He gets in his squad car and speeds down the highway toward Gotham City. At Wayne Manor, Dick finds Bruce badly beaten and unable to walk due to his spinal injury. Dick takes Alfred’s body outside and buries him next to Bruce’s parents. They have a funeral where Bruce says that Alfred’s death is all his fault. Dick offers to take over as Batman until Bruce is more physically able. Bruce tells Dick that he actually already has a replacement in mind. Bruce shows Dick the security footage of the man with the red hood. Bruce says that the man’s name is Jason Todd, and asks Dick to take him to see him.
Selina Kyle sees the video of Batman being beaten by Bane. She briefly cries before composing herself. She finishes packing her things, loading up the back of her motorcycle with a bag of her belongings. Selina then rides her motorcycle away from Gotham City.
With lawlessness engulfing the city, Dent decides to go up to the top of the GCPD building and turn on the Bat-signal. He waits, but begins to fear the worst after the video Bane broadcasted - that Batman is dead. Dent leaves, deciding to keep the Bat-signal’s light on to give people a symbol of hope. He goes back down into the station where the GCPD are struggling to keep peace in the city without the fear Batman struck into the criminals of Gotham.
Dick wheels Bruce down a Gotham City street in a wheelchair to the St. Dumas Church where Jason Todd supposedly lives. Bruce asks the priest where he can find Jason. The priest points up to a room above the church. Dick says that he can go up and asks Jason to come down, but Bruce refuses. Bruce struggles, but manages to stand up out of the wheelchair. With the help of a cane, Bruce walks up a dusty spiral staircase to Jason’s room. Jason Todd (Douglas Booth) wants to know what a millionaire is doing paying him a visit. Bruce corrects him, saying he’s a billionaire actually. Bruce then plays snippets of security footage of Jason fighting off several criminals. Jason asks if Bruce is with the police or something. Bruce then pulls out a Batarang and gives it to Jason, who ponders it for a moment before realizing that Bruce is really Batman. Bruce tells Jason that he’d like to train him to help protect Gotham until his back heals.
Bruce undergoes extensive surgery on his back, but the doctors are not sure if his spine will ever be fully back to normal. Bruce visits a few other doctors, who all tell him the same thing - full recovery is unlikely, if not impossible. Bruce tries to use alcohol and painkillers to help get back into shape, but not even that works. While drunk and in agonizing pain, Bruce has a vision of Ra’s Al Ghul (Viggo Mortensen). Ra’s tells Bruce that the Lazarus Pit can cure what ails him. Bruce objects, knowing that those who use it lose a piece of themselves. Ra’s argues that, pointing out that he used it hundreds of times over the years to heal from injuries. Ra’s tells Bruce that the Pit is his only way of recovering and taking Gotham back from Bane.
Bruce and Dick work at training Jason at a new hideout in an abandoned Wayne Enterprises factory now that the Batcave is compromised. Bruce is impressed with Jason’s ferociousness, but Dick is worried about his lack of self-control. Bruce presents Jason with a new version of the Batsuit more suited to Jason’s style, complete with a hooded cape. Bruce tells Dick that he should go back to Bludhaven and take care of his own responsibilities there now that Jason is ready to hit the streets himself. Dick leaves without saying a word. Bruce tells Jason that he has to go on a trip, but that he has two rules for Jason: no killing and do not try to fight Bane alone. Jason agrees to the rules and watches as Bruce wheels himself over to the Batwing and flies away.
Harvey Dent is getting ready to disconnect the Bat-signal for good when Jason Todd emerges on top of the GCPD building in his modified Batsuit. Dent comments that he isn’t Batman. Jason says that he can call him Azrael and that he’s filling in for Batman for a while. Dent is wary of Jason, but says that if Batman vouches for him, then the GCPD will trust him.
Bruce lands the Batwing in 'Eth Alth'eban, the city of the League of Assassins. Bruce is quickly surrounded by assassins ready to kill him. They are called off by Talia Al Ghul (Adele Exarchopoulos). The assassins all leave just as quickly as they appeared. Bruce asks Talia if she brought her father’s body back to the Lazarus Pit. She says that she did but that he was too far gone by the time she brought him into the waters of the Pit. His body was dead, though his spirit is still active from the Pit’s powers. Bruce then realizes that he wasn’t hallucinating Ra’s telling him to come here - the spirit of Ra’s really was. Bruce asks Talia to take him to the Lazarus Pit. Talia says that her father said Bruce would be coming for such a reason. Talia leads Bruce deep into the canyons and through a series of caves until they reach the glowing green waters of the Lazarus Pit. She helps him inside the Pit and tells him to submerge himself fully in the Pit’s waters. When Bruce emerges from the Pit, he feels rejuvenated and his back is seemingly healed. Talia kisses Bruce as they passionately embrace in front of a fire in the cave.
Bane’s soldiers are preparing to demolish Gotham’s famed Statue of Justice - a large statue of Lady Justice holding her scale. Bane orders them to set off the explosives, sending the statue falling down into the sea. Azrael arrives on the scene and engages Bane’s soldiers. Azrael badly wounds the soldiers with his flaming sword, even killing one of them before Bane arrives to take care of things himself. Bane comments that he doesn’t look much like the Batman he broke - that Batman never would have killed a mere soldier. Jason says to call him Azrael, the Angel of Vengeance. Bane tries to grab Azrael, but he moves quickly away. Azrael sets fire to Bane’s boat, leaving him stranded on the small Justice Island, which only proves to infuriate Bane.
Talia Al Ghul and her League of Assassins help get Bruce back into fighting shape. The Lazarus Pit’s powers have brought Bruce’s health and energy back even stronger than they were before his injury. Bruce eventually feels ready to return to face Bane. Talia tries to stop him from leaving her again. Bruce caresses her face and tells her that he still has a mission to complete, but thanks her for helping him. Bruce then climbs into the Batwing and flies away from 'Eth Alth'eban.
Harvey Dent is informed that Batman murdered one of Bane’s men. Dent says that the real Batman wouldn’t do such a thing, but clearly the new guy doesn’t have the same moral code. Dick also sees the news of the dead soldier and goes to confront Jason Todd at the factory. Jason insists that he had to kill the man, but Dick begins listing the countless times that Bruce could have killed the so-called bad guys, but didn’t. Jason turns angry at Dick, saying that he is going to be a better Batman than Bruce ever was because the villains will learn to truly fear him because they will fear for their lives. Dick plans to inform Bruce about Jason breaking his code, but Jason does not seem threatened by this.
When Bruce returns to Gotham, he secretly collects a Batsuit and some equipment from the Batcave without Bane’s soldiers catching him. Bruce discovers that Bane is drilling deeper into the caves underneath Wayne Manor. Bruce knows that Wayne Manor is located above a fault line and deduces that Bane is trying to trigger a massive earthquake that will level the city. Bruce puts on the Batsuit and flies toward the factory in the Batwing when the earth begins to shake. Batman realizes he has come back to Gotham too late. He calls upon Dick and Jason to help him defeat Bane before he tears the city completely apart. Batman, Nightwing and Azrael all converge on Wayne Manor to confront Bane and his army. Bane watches with interest as Nightwing, Azrael and a healed Batman fight through his army. Azrael starts killing soldiers again, forcing Nightwing and Batman to stop him. Bane tells his engineers to keep drilling deeper, until they break the Richter scale.
Meanwhile, in downtown Gotham, Mayor Grange orders a complete evacuation of the downtown area, with its skyscrapers liable to collapse if the earthquake becomes much stronger. Large sinkholes begin to open up throughout the city, sucking cars, people, houses and businesses into blackness. Dent hurries home to find his wife Gilda, but when he gets there he finds that his entire house has fallen into a sinkhole.
Batman tells Nightwing to keep Azrael from killing any more people while he goes to fight Bane. Batman asks Bane while he’s doing all this, and Bane simply says that Gotham deserves to be wiped from the map for how it treated those who built it, like his ancestors. Bane proclaims that he will lead the city to rebuild from scratch without making the same mistakes as those before him. Batman attacks Bane, saying that the past is no reason to annihilate the present in a cataclysm.
Having killed the last of Bane’s men, Azrael then turns his flaming sword toward Nightwing. He challenges Batman’s former sidekick to stop him. Nightwing uses his acrobatic skills to throw Azrael off his game and kick his flaming sword away and out of reach. Azrael fires spikes out of his gauntlets, but Nightwing manages to dodge these as well. Azrael is running out of gadgets and weapons to use. Nightwing pulls out his shock batons and uses them to zap Azrael, causing his red hood to catch fire. Azrael puts out the fire, but Nightwing kicks him in the face, knocking Azrael to the ground. Nightwing tells Azrael that there will only ever be one Batman and that is Bruce Wayne, not Jason Todd. A sinkhole then opens up beneath them. Nightwing manages to leap out of harm’s way, but Azrael is taken down into the hole underneath earth and rubble.
Batman, stronger than ever after bathing in the Lazarus Pit, begins to get the upper hand against Bane. Bane, not used to losing, pumps every last bit of VENOM through his mask and into his bloodstream. Bane begins to grow slightly bigger as his muscles begin to bulge. Batman realizes that Bane believes he needs the steroids to win, so he jumps on top of Bane and pulls all the tubes out of Bane’s mask. With VENOM spilling all over the ground, Bane becomes frantic and tries to save the fluid. Batman uses this chance to land several hits to Bane’s head, knocking him unconscious. Batman and Nightwing team up to destroy Bane’s mining equipment, causing the earthquake to finally stop before the city is completely leveled.
Batman and Nightwing go into the city to find an immense amount of destruction. Batman reports to Mayor Grange and Dent and asks how he and Nightwing can help. Dent lashes out at Batman, demanding to know why he wasn’t around earlier to save her. Batman and Nightwing help the city cleanup efforts as Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. After seeing how badly damaged Wayne Tower is, Bruce vows to raise the money to rebuild Gotham better than ever, even if he has to pay for it himself.
From the top of a construction crane, Batman looks out at the devastated Gotham City skyline as the rebuilding efforts have just begun. He hears police sirens in the distance. Batman leaps from the crane and glides into the night toward the sound of the sirens.
No comments:
Post a Comment