By While a lot of people have enjoyed the action of the Dark Knight Rises prologue, there’s been a lot of concern about Bane’s voice. The complaint is that he’s hard to understand. Our own Sean Walsh mentioned that Bane sounded like a McDonald’s drive-thru.
Christopher Nolan is addressing the issue and has decided to “alter the sound slightly, not to rework it completely.” An anonymous high-level studio exec said the following about Nolan’s decision: “Chris wants the audience to catch up and participate rather than push everything at them. He doesn’t dumb things down. You’ve got to pedal faster to keep up.”
I dare you to say something like that to your grandma when she adjusts her hearing aid and asks you to repeat yourself. “I’m not dumbing things down for you, nana! Get on your stupid high-wheel bike! But wear a helmet, because I love you. And don’t pedal so fast, because of your hip, you know.”
I have yet to see the prologue for The Dark Knight Rises, but based on the trailer released yesterday, I’m glad Nolan is making an adjustment of some kind. During a loud action sequence or a scene with a lot of background noise, Bane will be completely unintelligible; Hans Zimmer’s score will swallow him whole. Something can be done to enhance the clarity of his voice while maintaining that masked sound, and that’s especially important if Bane’s going to be an articulate villain. Should be interesting to hear a before-and-after comparison a few months down the line.
[Via Collider]