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Ice. Cold. Crystalized imagery and a very familiar logo of a Bat.
The six minute preview opens with Commissioner Gordon speaking at Harvey Dent's funeral, telling the attendees that he "too believed in Harvey Dent" and that there has been no one like him yet in Gotham who could save the city.
Jim Gordon at Harvey Dents funeral gives a eulogy, a few words about inspiring others…
CUT—An unnamed mountainous region.
A jeep rides along the landscape. Hooded men in the back of a jeep are driven to a small plane… the jeep is met by an armed CIA agent (this guy is an overconfident dick) who takes into custody a political VIP, who is traveling with these hooded men… or is he?
The hooded men, along with the political VIP are loaded onto the plane.
The plane takes to the air as the CIA ********* interrogates those taken on board. One of the hooded men is dangled outside the plane and questioned/threatened and when the CIA agent doesn’t get what he wants, he fires his weapon (next to the hooded man’s ear, he is not killed) and then begins to question the other hooded man. He threatens to kill both men if they do not talk by shooting them in the head and throwing them out of the plane. He says the first one to NOT talk will be killed. Neither man talks, until.....
We hear a voice (Bane's) that says something to the effect of "Why would you shoot a man in the head if you are then going to throw him out of a plane?" The camera suddenly shows the hooded prisoner in a black shirt.
(moved)The CIA ****** learns that one of the hooded men is BANE?!(moved)
That hooded man is unmasked and revealed to be… Bane!
CIA ******: Was it your plan all along to be captured?
Suddenly, a much larger cargo plane overtakes the smaller plane occupied by CIA ******, Bane and hostages. Operatives in black head-to-toe body armor with machine guns from the larger plane descend onto the smaller one–placing magnetic cables and strategically-placed explosive charges (they are very small blasts, only used to dismantle parts of the small plane while it dangles from the cables).
Bane in all his Ventilator glory is revealed….
CIA ******: If I take this off, will you die?
BANE: No. But I will be in a lot of pain.
BAM!
Operatives from the larger plane aim their machine guns in front of the small plane's many windows and fire upon the interior of the plane interrupting the interrogation.
The larger plane has a hold of the smaller one as it pulls it by wires throwing all the passengers downward in a disorienting fashion. The plane basically gets tipped vertically (nose pointing down, tail pointing up) which causes it's tail and wings to break off in pieces until there's nothing left buy the cabin.
As all this happens, Bane holds on between the aisle by grabbing the back of a seat with each arm. He then huddles and hides behind one seat on the right side (our left in viewpoint) and chills while his guys do the dirty work.
A tiny, (TINY) firefight ensues and all the operatives from the CIA are executed (I think Bane shoots one).
After quickly overtaking the plane, Bane’s operatives bring in a skinny/sickly-looking man with inside a body bag. This man is dead or looks barely alive. Bane then takes the VIP political prisoner and inserts a tube and transfers blood from the body bag man. (It’s confusing as to why this is important.) My memory is fuzzy but I think they put Pavel's blood INTO the body so they could fake his death. They also have a red baggy attached to the corpse that they pump to make the blood flow.
The prisoner in the olive green shirt who was with Bane then looks up to him and says something (I couldn't understand exactly what) to him, implying that he will go down with the plane and die for his master (Bane) or the organization (league of shadows). The dude seemed like an Extremist in the way that he acted/gave up his life for the cause.
AND THEN… in a scene that no words will be able to do justice, a hole is cut from the smaller plane (actually, they release some cables and Bane & Dr. Pavel zipline zoom up through the plane's cabin as if falls down around them (think of the scene with the big truck vehicle in "The Lost World" as it fell down the cliff over Ian, Sarah, and Nick while they held onto the cable from Eddie's trashed Mercedes Benz.))and a wire takes Bane and the VIP politico through the rear of the plane as the smaller plane is ripped apart and is destroyed while members of Bane’s team(like his olive green shirted prisoner buddy) sacrifice their lives going down with the small plane. (Again, it should be stressed, this description pales to what you will actually see, it’s a true spectacle.)<^THE BEST PART OF THE ENTIRE SCENE. THE PART WHERE BANE AND DR.PAVEL ZOOM UP THROUGH THE PLANE'S CABIN WAS BORN FOR IMAX. LOOKS AMAZING AND BADASS. YOU WILL WANT TO SEE THIS SCENE IN IMAX.
The chant can be heard at the end… Deh-Shay! Bah-Sah-Ra!
The scene is followed by a montage that includes many images we’ve seen, the most striking includes the Bat-copter chasing down fatigued Batmobiles down the streets of Gotham, and a final shocking image of Bane tossing away a shattered and torn Batman mask into rubble…
After this clip we are show a series of very quick clips set to the booming "thooms" of the new score:
Batman aiming a 6 or 8 barreled gun type of device at the screen/viewers.
The batwing flying after the camo tumblers in daytime.
Bane standing outside the prison as it snows.
Catwoman walking by jail bars.
Joseph Gordon Levitt holding a shotgun(?) as he quickly turns toward the screen.
Batman punching bane as it snows outside the prison.
Catwoman in an orange prison jumpsuit, sitting in a police cruiser as she is driven to jail.
League of shadows troopers/soldiers spelunking down a well.
Citizens of Gotham rioting and storming/running down both ends of a street towards Bane’s 3 camo tumblers as they fire upon the people.
Batman driving though a tunnel, by cars on his Bat-pod.
The final shot is of Bane’s torso from biceps to knees holding a shattered bat mask in some drippy watery place as he confidently swaggers/walks toward the screen, only to then throw it to the ground.
I’m sure I’m missing a couple shots but they went by quick.
The only complaint about the 7 minute prologue was echoed by all in attendace: Bane’s dialog is very difficult to understand. Imagine Darth Vader with a very thick accent. Hopefully this will be fixed in the final film. Overall this opening scene is confusing, epic, and will leave audiences speechless. All in a good way