With The Dark Knight Rises set for a Summer release, we were delighted to be invited down to London’s IMAX for the European premiere of the first six minutes of the Batman flick this afternoon and we’ve come back with a few thoughts.

1. Christopher Nolan’s wife and The Dark Knight Rises producer Emma Thomas says the film is intended to be watched in IMAX where possible. Based on having seen the prologue at the London IMAX, we’d have to concur. Who needs 3D?

2. Emma Thomas suggests there will be more than one villain, with Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman believed to be a friend to the caped crusader, you can start your guessing now.

3. Aidan Gillen [The Wire's Mayor Tommy Carcetti] is the first new character we’re introduced to. He works for the CIA and he knows of Bane.

4. Bane is bad ass.

5. Bane is seriously bad ass.

6. Unfortunately, having tried to ignore all leakage from the US screening of the prologue, we caught wind that Tom Hardy’s Bane is fairly unintelligible, struggling to project his dialogue through his breathing mask, our experience certainly bares that story out. We tried really, really hard but we just couldn’t understand what he was saying. Something for post-production to deal with or are we not catching one of the subtle strokes of Nolan genius that make his films so incredible? Both possible, the former most likely.

7. The prologue had a very strong Inception feel featuring a zero gravity blood transfusion.

8. The boat is pushed and pushed to a whole new extreme in terms of action choreography. For a scene inside the first six minutes of the film, the major maneuver that sets The Dark Knight Rises going will go down in history.

9. Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks like he’s set for a fairly major role in The Dark Knight Rises as we’re treated to a second of montage screen-time after the prologue clip.

10. In the concluding montage it’s indicated that Bane is coming to a war ravaged Gotham City and he’s coming straight for Batman.

Bonus: Bane is seriously, seriously bad ass.

Tags: Batman, Dark Knight Rises, Film