Bane Breaks The Bat – The Dark Knight Rises
Throughout The Dark Knight Rises we have several very intense scenes of action and violence. Perhaps the most intense though is the Bane versus Batman fight, where Bane’s uber strength crushes Batman into the ground in an all too brutal fashion.
After a long series of throwing punches, Bane caves in the cowl and then breaks Batman’s back over his knee. It is a significant scene simply for the reason that we have never seen Batman physically crushed like he is here, it is a very shocking and powerful moment that quite honestly, changes the rest of the film.
In The Dark Knight and Batman Begins, the adversaries never really seemed to impose that much of a threat to Batman, mainly because he’s Batman and he could beat seven shades of crap out of anyone. With Bane though, there comes a challenge that hasn’t been there before. He breaks him down and for the first time we genuinely believe as an audience that in the end, Batman may not succeed.
It also a spectacularly staged moment. Set in Bane’s underground sewer lair, it is a bizarre place for a fight as the two go toe and toe under a lashing waterfall and a cramped, rusting gangway. Nolan always seeks to visually entice us as much as possible and it is crucial that for a pivotal scene like this, that he can make it iconic as well as making it narratively important.
And that’s exactly what he does.
