We've seen The Dark Knight Rises!
(Well, six minutes of it, anyway)

Be warned: spoilers below

We were told this was "basically" the opening scene to the movie by producer Emma Thomas, but we imagine there's some context that's been left out of this preview. The scene opened with Gary Oldman's Commissioner Gordon, reading a eulogy at the funeral of Harvey Dent – the man who became Two Face at the end of The Dark Knight and who died at Batman's hand. Gordon, visibly moved, speaks of never being able to find another man who would inspire the people of Gotham like Harvey did: "I believe in Harvey Dent."

Then we cut to an airfield, and the sight of Aiden Gillen (The Wire, Blitz) shepherding some mysterious hooded figures onto his flight. Once in the air, Gillen's character threatens to throw one of the men from the plane unless they give up information about Bane, their employer. It soon becomes apparent that Bane is actually aboard the plane as well, and he has the upper hand. The hood comes off, and we get our first glimpse of Tom Hardy's villain: a bald, hulking figure, who speaks in a cracked, Darth Vader-esque voice.

The movie's first major action scene kicks off, as Bane's men "crash the plane" by hitching it to their own and letting gravity do the work – as it tips into a nosedive, the wings smash off and the rear-end breaks open. It's an incredible scene, all done for real with no CG effects, and given the sheer size and weight of the IMAX cameras used to film it, you suspect it was no easy task. That's testament to the dedication of director Christopher Nolan, who says IMAX is his favourite format – you can see why.

Finally, Bane plans one last bait-and-switch, dumping a dead body in the now-upturned plane and making off with his human bounty – a mysterious doctor who Bane grabs just as he drops the aircraft free, with one of his men still in it. Badass? Thy name is Bane.

We then saw a succession of quick shots of the rest of the movie: Batman fighting a number of goons outside a courthouse; Batman holding a crazy looking pulse rifle thing; Anne Hathaway in both her prison duds and her far more visually arresting Catwoman get-up; Joseph Gordon-Levitt's cop, er, opening a door and looking concerned; oh, and the best bit of the whole prologue – a two-second shot of what looked to be a prototype Batwing in mid-air. Hans Zimmer's bass-heavy score sets the scene perfectly.

Our only grumble is that, due to his mask, Bane's dialogue is very difficult to make out. His actual voice is unique and very cool, but whole sentences will pass you by – perhaps a by-product of not being able to see his lips move. It could be that the scene – set on a plane, a very loud environment at the best of times – didn't best suit his vocal stylings, or it could be Christopher Nolan has a problem on his hands. Still, there's plenty of time to re-record any unclear dialogue, and hey – if Jeff Bridges can get an Oscar nomination for True Grit with his unintelligible drawl, we guess Tom Hardy will be just fine.

All in all, the prologue is a fine teaser for The Dark Knight Rises, and one which has us even more excited for its release in July next year.

The Dark Knight Rises is released on Friday 20th July, 2012 | Follow us on Twitter