Show notes
When The Dark Knight Rises came out in 2012, expectations were sky high. After all, Christopher Nolan had shattered all box office records and blown critics away with The Dark Knight… what would he be doing now to dazzle audiences everywhere? Maybe it's inevitable that the reception would be mixed. For the first time in his career, a Nolan movie was given generally negative reviews. And while it ultimately made more money worldwide than The Dark Knight did, it didn't become the biggest movie of all time. Earlier that year, in fact, The Avengers had pulled that off, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe's reign had officially begun. Nolan said the only reason he would ever consider making a sequel to The Dark Knight was if he came up with a story that was so good it justified its own existence. So… does The Dark Knight Rises do that? Laci thinks so; Matt doesn't. In this episode, 1-Week Rental takes you behind the scenes of The Dark Knight Rises to give you the story of how Nolan developed this idea along with his collaborator David Goyer and his brother Jonah. Then, how Bane was selected as the villain, and how world events like Occupy Wall Street gave the film a fortuitous sense of timing. But is Nolan giving himself too much credit by saying Bane foreshadowed Donald Trump? What exactly is Nolan saying in this movie, anyway? And is he trying to say one thing but accidentally saying something else, instead? Then, Laci and Matt review The Dark Knight Rises. Is Bane ultimately a letdown? Would the Joker have made more sense carrying out Bane's exact plan? Anne Hathaway is excellent as Selina Kyle, but does her character make sense? And is Marion Cotillard as "Miranda Tate" the least developed of all of Nolan's female characters? All this and more in a supersized episode as the podcast concludes its coverage of Nolan's trilogy of Batman films. Watch Matt's video about The Road to El Dorado: https://youtu.be/y5x3zDnjXrg Watch this Dark Knight Rises podcast in full on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@1weekrental Get more 1-Week Rental on Patreon: https://patreon.com/1weekrental Next episode: We're off on July 31, but we shall return on August 7, 2026 with an episode about Interstellar (2014)! The Summer of Nolan is our summer 2026 miniseries covering the movie career of Christopher Nolan through nine movies on the main feed (plus additional episodes on the Patreon!), presented in chronological order, starting with Memento and going through Oppenheimer. And don't be surprised if our old pal Odysseus drops by to tell us about his long journey home to his wife. Time stamps: 00:01:24 — Opening thoughts on The Dark Knight Rises 00:20:15 — History segment: Nolan searches for a sequel to The Dark Knight; how they decided to use Bane and cast Tom Hardy; the politics of The Dark Knight movies; production, release, and legacy of The Dark Knight Rises 01:04:29 — Movie discussion + The Dark Knight Rises film analysis 02:56:20 — Star ratings + final review of The Dark Knight Rises THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012) was directed by Christopher Nolan. Screenplay by Nolan with his brother Jonah; screen story by Nolan with David Goyer. Starring Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Tom Conti, Matthew Modine, Ben Mendelsohn, and Glen Powell as a stock trader. Sources: "The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture" by Glen Weldon (2016) - https://amzn.to/4aNZi2Y "Christopher Nolan (Iconic Directors)" by Dan Jolin (2026) - https://amzn.to/4oEtmE3 "The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan" by Tom Shone (2020) - https://amzn.to/4yiNtw0 "The Dark Knight Trilogy: The Complete Story Of Christopher Nolan's Batman Films" by Dan Jolin | Empire (2012) - https://bit.ly/44KS6kW "Heath Ledger was planning to return as the Joker in The Dark Knight Rises before his death, say family" by Jacob Stolworthy | The Independent (2018) - https://bit.ly/3T8u5So "For now, Nolan and Batman will rest in 'Dark' glory" by Scott Bowles | USA Today (2008) - https://bit.ly/4yxUUiU "Christopher Nolan on 'Dark Knight' and its box-office billion: 'It's mystifying to me'" by Geoff Boucher | The Los Angeles Times (2008) - https://lat.ms/4hm5SSr Transcript: https://1weekrentalpod.com/2026/07/the-dark-knight-rises/#transcript Artwork by Laci Roth. Matt has two monthly spin-off podcasts! PodJob: A James Bond Podcast on Apple Podcast (https://bit.ly/4jRL2K1), Spotify (https://bit.ly/4a8jM6E), and YouTube (https://youtube.com/@podjob007). The Sign Post Up Ahead: A Twilight Zone Recap Podcast on Apple Podcast (https://bit.ly/4vtO6jG), Spotify (https://bit.ly/4w1qDat), and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@TheSignPostUpAhead). Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: "Summer of Nolan" - https://youtube.com/shorts/CAIzthDLrT8 "Winston-Salem" - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM "Snake Drama" - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg "The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet" - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ The "Summer of Nolan" theme song was written by Matt Stokes. Produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by TJ Barends. Performed by: TJ Barends - backing vocals Wade Hymel - drums, percussion, and backing vocals Laci Roth - vocals Matt Stokes - vocals, guitar, and bass Follow 1-Week Rental, a movie podcast: Twitter: @1weekrental | @MattStokes9 | @LRothConcepts Facebook: @1weekrental Instagram: @1weekrental TikTok: @1weekrental | @mattstokes9 Letterboxd: @loadbearinglaci | @mattstokes9 Bluesky: @1weekrental.bsky.social 1-Week Rental used to be Load Bearing Beams.
