The Dark Knight Rises (2012) is a superhero epic of a scale that is difficult to explain in a few short paragraphs. This is the third film in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. This film takes place over several months, primarily in the fictional Gotham City, an American city that was until recently plagued by crime and corruption and had made great strides in these areas thanks to the events of the films previous ones. The protagonist is Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), the eponymous Dark Knight, who retired his Batman alter ego after taking responsibility for Harvey Dent's crimes at the end of The Dark Knight. Wayne abandoned a fusion reactor project out of fear. it could be used as a weapon, resulting in lost profits for Wayne Enterprises. Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) steals Wayne's fingerprints and gives them to Phillip Daggett (Ben Mendelsohn), a businessman who intends to take over Wayne Enterprises. After a kidnapping gone wrong, Selina escapes a double betrayal from Daggett's associates. Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), riddled with guilt over the lies told to the public about the events of the last film, writes the truth, but chooses not to make it public. He is captured and brought to Bane (Tom Hardy), a mysterious man who escaped CIA custody and now lives with his men in the sewers of Gotham. Gordon escapes and is soon impressed by a police officer named John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) whom he promotes to detective. Bane attacks the Gotham Stock Exchange at Daggett's request in order to bankrupt Wayne. Wayne resurrects the Batman persona in a failed attempt to thwart Bane's attack. To prevent his company from falling into Daggett's hands, Wayne hands over the reins of the company to Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) with...... middle of paper ......wanting to be the people's champion. He begins his public takeover of Gotham at the football game with the first in a series of speeches advocating populism in its wildest and most militant incarnation. “Gotham is yours,” he tells people. Like the Parisians in 1789, the revolutionaries stormed the prison. In Bane's mind, criminals are forced into crime because of the domination of the elite. Blackgate and the Bastille are symbols of “oppression”. They are the people's allies and not their enemies. Bane tells the people the truth about Harvey Dent, that he is a "false idol" who is stopping the people from tearing down a "corrupt city". According to Bane, a corrupt and lying elite keeps the people down with a "myth of opportunity." Bane's Uprising is a cautionary tale, it's 21st century populism taken to the militant extreme.