As excited as I am to see the finale of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy (it's an excitement that can't really be put into words), I will admit that I am a bit nervous about Bane's voice. As I wrote when I came back from a preview screening of the Dark Knight Rises prologue two weeks ago, the mask that the character wears over his nose and mouth makes it hard to understand what he is saying, and while you can make out a few words and can figure out what's going on through context, it's still frustrating. The solution to the problem is simple: during the editing process, bring Tom Hardy in to re-record his dialogue and mix it into the final cut. Simple as that may sound, though, Nolan isn't that keen on doing it.
THR has learned from inside sources at Warner Bros. that the studio wants the director to alter Bane's dialogue for the final cut of the film, but Nolan is only willing to go so far changing the mix. The trade says that WB is "scared to death" about backlash, as the franchise is one of the biggest in their stable and they can't risk it underperforming at the box office. But while the director is willing to change Bane's voice slightly, he won't be doing a drastic overhaul because he simply respects movie-goers too much. Said an unnamed executive, "Chris wants the audience to catch up and participate rather than push everything at them. He doesn't dumb things down."
While this doesn't happen often, I actually disagree with Christopher Nolan on this point. It would be one thing if Warner Bros. was trying to get the filmmaker to change Bane's dialogue because he uses too many five-syllable words, but this is a simple matter of understanding what a major character in the movie is talking about. While I was entranced by the scope and action in the prologue, the inability to understand what Tom Hardy was saying was distracting and did take away from the experience. Nolan has spent the first two movies in his Batman trilogy trying to build a superhero story within the context of the real world, but would it be too much of a stretch to believe that Bane would install a speaker into his mask so that his followers could understand him? Making a sound mix wouldn't be dumbing the film down - it would be improving it.
