Comments on: Body Language: A Love Letter to Tom Hardy’s Bane

By: Brad

Brad — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:56:43 +0000

great letter i think mostly actors will appreciate how great tom was. the man is my idol and it does annoy me that such a subtle and believable performance is taken for granted. watching bane i could not see tom hardy the actor i just saw bane the brutal tactician. i will even go so far as to say that his bane is better than heaths joker (which was great) because he didnt have to play an outlandish larger than life personality.. the way he moved alone create this “dont fuck with me” atmosphere.

By: Limberg Cedeño

Limberg Cedeño — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:54:33 +0000

Sara, amazing letter, truly amazing. Believe it or not, those are my thoughts exactly, albeit no so technical.
I do believe Hardy´s portrayal of Bane was majestic, imposing, commanding… He was a force of nature…
I did focus on the phisicality of his performance, just like you did, and found an incredible amount of expressions to my delight..
Absolutely amazing…..

By: Sara Clemens

Sara Clemens — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 17:29:00 +0000

Sam, thank you, and you make some excellent, excellent points yourself. Sometimes I think being an actor helps me see things that may be missed by those who have never tried it. It is, like many things, much more difficult than it looks. Being terrible at it is easy, but even being mediocre takes effort. So once you have someone like Hardy—who I think is one of the greatest physical actors working—laying out some pretty subtle, intricate choices, I worry that audiences may miss his genius! Hence the above love letter, of course.

Also, I haven’t seen The Take—so thanks for the suggestion. I can’t wait. And I’m here every Wednesday morning, and often float around the comments the rest of the week, so please come back!

By: Saint Sam

Saint Sam — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 15:42:57 +0000

First of all, I would like to say how beautifully constructed I found the above review. If other critics were to set their work with such a theme, they may well find people starting to pay attention to them again.
I completely agree with Sara’s thought’s on Bane’s body language – I am also an actor and was just as curious as to what Tom Hardy was hiding beneath his armour. Though it was never spoken of, it seemed as glaringly obvious as the metal monstrosity on his face, even when he was sat down.
I loved the sense of menace literally emanating from Hardy whenever Bane was in a good mood – the aforementioned thumbs-in-the-harness was a fantastically simple way of portraying an emotion with a covered face, but I had no idea how effective it could be. And although it is essentially a human trait, tell or habit, it seemed to put Bane in a more God-like light. It made him look not only unmovable, but bloody smug about it too.
The voice and accent I found somewhat odd, but as the film went on I found myself thinking about it less and less. It was a necessary tool to portray Bane as a great mind as well as a brute. Had his voice been gravelly and dark, there is no way the audience would have seen him as the mastermind he actually is.

I have been a fan of Tom Hardy for a while now. after watching him in Bronson and The Take (anyone who hasn’t seen The Take, please, please watch it!). Though he has always (to me) been a master of expressions and often carried the gormless countenance of someone who likes to punch things whenever the role called for it – and that is not an easy expression, guys, sluggishness and malevolence are hard to mix – so it was a real eye-opener to see him conquer such a character with half of his face obscured. This, to me, is akin to juggling chainsaws while blindfolded – it takes absolute skill.

And, while I am here, I really never used to rate Hathaway. I am now prepared to eat my words.

Sara Clemens, I hope to read more from you. Please, do keep up the good work.

By: Sara Clemens

Sara Clemens — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 02:57:11 +0000

Thank you, dinobot. I accept love notes, always. And thanks for the good words towards actors—we’re actually not all a bunch of dummies!

By: dinobot

dinobot — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 01:14:50 +0000

I don’t often comment on stuff like this, but this article was so well-written that I had to. Someone already said this, but you pinned down everything that went through my head while I was watching the Dark Knight Rises in regards to Bane. I actually LOVED how his voice was refined and light, because I think it was so much more fitting than a garbly garble garble. What’s so wonderful about the social nature of the human race is that we’re able to pick up on gestures like his thumbs-in-the-harness gesture and know what they mean without actually realizing what we’re reading. It’s why I admire actors so much — you lot have learned how to quantify and convey the subconscious things we do with our bodies and emulate them convincingly. I never would have broken down all the gestures he made the way you did, and yet I was able to understand every one. Your analysis called to light all the things I LOVED about this movie and Tom Hardy’s performance, so thank you!

There’s no real point here, I just thought I’d respond to your love letter with a love note.

By: Sara Clemens

Sara Clemens — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 04:19:09 +0000

Hey Roman, I absolutely agree that being unsettled by a villain is the only way to be. Either that or outright liking them, Hans Gruber style. Grassy ass, Remy! Niklas, glad you came back! And I really am sorry, if I came off too snarky up there. Thanks for keeping things cool. Craig, incredibly well-reasoned explanation for the sound mixing. You? You I like.

I don’t know, Covalent. I don’t think purely evil sadists cry silent tears while someone is recounting their story, or go out of their way to protect anyone from their fellow prisoners. I think he was tragically devoted to Talia, which is too bad because she sucks and is also insane. PS. Let the record show I’m only operating within the world of the trilogy, no comics.

I see you, Bane! I will kiss your tears away! Or we can just cry it out, whatever you want! I hear that Alfred guy loves a good sob! Come follow me around and I’ll be nice to you forever!

And Bane is absolutely alive until proven dead. But I have to agree with Paul—Tom Hardy’s Bane? He’s gone. Like so much Darth Vader/Sean Connery love child dust in the wind.

BK, way to hit a thousand nails on the head (and crack me up). Boss fight analogy? You’re speaking my language. The film wasn’t absolutely ruined for me, but I 1000% agree that once the “endgame” started rolling I definitely thought to myself, “Did Charlie Kaufman write this? Is this really Adaptation II: The Dark Knight’s Boogaloo?”

CATWOMAN. The only thing keeping her from perfection are those goddamned heels. There is no woman who’d take stock of her needs to run around, scale walls, and possibly fight a bunch of dudes who would choose to wear those shoes. Some women may tell you they would, and that they think heels are “totally comfortable,” but these are the same women who say “It’s okay, it happens to everybody.” It doesn’t happen to everybody, it’s not okay, and she would be rocking some kick ass combat boots, plain and simple. Otherwise, someone get Hathaway her own movie, stat.

trashcanman, you sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. While I cannot agree wholeheartedly with all of your points, your unfailing politeness and formality are beyond charming, as ever. Please, stop by anytime! And do give my regards to Flagg.

By: trashcanman

trashcanman — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 02:36:16 +0000

Ms. Clemens, allow me to point out that while my strong dislike of this film as a lifelong Batman fanatic whose love spans decades, this is another great article from you. Bane’s voice was distractingly odd, the fights looked like pro wrestling anyway you look at them. In fact, somebody erroneously told me he was one of the Hardy Boyz tag team and I believed it before checking up on that little factoid. Also, the notion that a man like that would knowingly go head to head with Batman knowing that all it would take was one good shot to the kisser to unleash hell on him was stupid at best, but Hardy’s physical performance was not the problem. I still think he was a good choice for the role. I’m laying the blame at Nolan and Goyer’s feet for not giving a shit. I’d also like to point out that while Bane had ZERO resemblance to the character Batfans know, Hathaway captured the essences of Selena Kyle pretty flawlessly.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 01:09:26 +0000

Also, Anne Hathaway stole every scene she was in. I was not expecting that at all.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 01:08:01 +0000

All I heard when he spoke was Sean Connery. As much as I love Sean Connery, it took away from the character.