Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight Rises' looks like one classy ride, but we hope it erupts into a 45-minute women-in-prison movie starring Anne Hathaway halfway through. Is that wrong?

Credit: Warner Bros/Legendary

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I'm not watching the MTV Movie Awards right now, but thankfully, I've long since realized that Twitter could also be called The Amazing Television Transcription Device, since anything that airs on TV is also live-tweeted moment by moment, line by line.

In this case, MTV made sure they had a big new "Dark Knight Rises" clip going up as part of tonight's presentation, and as soon as it showed up, my Twitter feed lit up with mentions of it.  Makes it very easy to go take a quick look without having to interrupt my screening of "You Only Live Twice" for more than a few minutes.  That makes me very happy, indeed.

The best thing MTV does during these shows is put together an exclusive package that often gives us one of our best looks at a film.  In this case, the footage they showed manages to make Bane seem even creepier than any of the trailer so far, and it also does a nice job of suggesting that Anne Hathaway and Joseph-Gordon Levitt both have significant roles in the film.  If Collider is right and this thing clocks in at 2:45 in theaters, there's going to be room for Nolan to really tie up everything for the characters he's introduced so far like Commissioner Gordon and Lucius Fox, and also tell this new story.

Honestly, I don't think Nolan's competing with any film this summer.  Instead, he's competing with his own work on the first two films, and the expectations that he's created for this final film.  I'm glad he's been able to do this series in his way, on his terms.  Like them or hate them, these Batman movies have been filtered through his very specific sensibilities, and at this point, if you're going to tell stories with a character that has been as thoroughly explored as this one, the only reason to do it is if you're going to let someone do something interesting and let them do it in their own voice.

Here's the clip they posted:

Okay, that's awesome.  I love that we're going to see a superhero film as joyous and rowdy as "The Avengers" in the same summer that we'll see Chris Nolan bring his serious-as-a-heart attack series to a close, and if both films work, I think that sends a very clear message that there is no one right way to do these movies.

"The Dark Knight Rises" on July 20, 2012.  And I can't wait.

Drew McWeeny
Film Editor

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A respected critic and commentator for fifteen years, Drew McWeeny helped create the online film community as "Moriarty" at Ain't It Cool News, and now proudly leads two budding Film Nerds in their ongoing movie education.