Though the second sequel to Batman Begins is undoubtedly one of the most hugely anticipated movies over the last few decades, Warner Bros. is apparently quite concerned about "The Bane problem."  That's according to unnamed sources who tell The Hollywood Reporter that the studio is so concerned about online nay-sayers saying nay that they want Nolan to change the sound mix on the eventual film to make the villain more intelligible.

But the man who delivered the last two Batman films, as well as Inception and The Prestige, has reportedly told the studio that he will alter the sounds only slightly, foregoing any major changes to Bane's voice. 

And Warner Bros. will, in all likelihood, be cool with that.  Nolan gets a long leash at the WB, and in return he made The Dark Knight and Inception, two massive hits for the studio, both of which challenged the audience to follow along with unrelenting stories.  One anonymous but "high-level" executive explained, "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.”

A lot of the complaints aimed at Hardy's voice in the prologue assumed that the sound mix was unfinished, but Nolan publicly stated at the premiere of the IMAX prologue that the sound on that section of the film was complete, from which you can surmise that any difficulty in understanding him is wholly intentional. It's not a result of the fact that the actor is wearing a bulky muzzle, as any footage filmed with IMAX cameras is necessarily subject to ADR because the cameras are so damn loud. 

There are a lot of interesting things about this little story-turned ridiculously big story, up to and including Nolan's choice to intentionally make his bad guy difficult to understand.  I'm most intrigued by the public relationship that we've been having with The Dark Knight Rises for the last couple of years, the way we spent so long obsessing over hypothetical plots points, casting, and set photos, and now we're here, divided into two camps.  One is defending Bane's voice with a near-religious zealotry, the other decrying it as gibberish.  Can any mere movie endure this sort of energy and attention, or will the film inevitably suffer for the sheer amount of time we've all spending being insanely interested in it?

Here's one thing: For once, nobody's talking about Christian Bale's six-packs-a-day-grizzled-scream of a Batman voice.

The Dark Knight Rises is set to arrive in front of your eyes on July 20, 2012.