The Dark Knight Rises Gets An Official Plot Synopsis

Earlier today, ComicBook.com told you that The Dark Knight Rises had an official runtime, clocking in at 164 minutes and officially taking the title of the longest Batman film ever to hit theaters. Now, it's also got an official plot synopsis, and it comes with some surprises. Says the synopsis, obtained via Digital Spy's transcript:

"It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of DA Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. "For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. "But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane."

There are a few interesting points of order there: not only does it imply that Gotham was a bit of a police state under the Dent Act, but it also confirms long-held suspicions on the part of the fans that it's Bane who drives Batman out of seclusion. The latter is particularly relevant in that it differs somewhat from his tactics in the comics. There, he certainly wanted to crush Batman as a symbolic gesture, but Batman was active and so it wasn't exactly difficult to find him. Here, it seems as though--whatever his endgame--he takes time out of his master plan to attend personally to making sure Batman comes out for a fight. That's an odd, and oddly sadistic, move on Bane's part and it will be interesting to see how it plays out on film and whether it ends up making more sense in context. Maybe part of the reason Bane is able to stage an uprising of the city's criminal class that reaches beyond just a handful of nutjobs in masks is that "crushed under the weight of the...Dent Act" sure sounds like the law--revealed not long ago as part of the Dew Gotham City viral site--takes a pretty harsh hand with the city's undesirables. History teaches us that when a state imposes extraordinary burdens on its people, they won't tolerate it for long, and while most Gothamites might be okay with a law that brings some order to the chaotic and corrupt city, you can't ignore the fact that a place with so many criminals is likely to boil over a bit when they all collectively decide they've had enough. The Dark Knight Rises will be in theaters on July 20.