The Dark Knight - Grading & Discussion

Just got back from watching it a second time. Just as fantastic the second time around as the first, if not better!

I caught all of the little things I missed before but were pointed out in this thread: the hydraulic device on Batman's arm in the beginning, the cape slowing down Batman and Rachel's descent, Maroni's henchman being pulled off screen by Two-Face, and probably a few other things that I've now forgotten about.

Oh, and my one complaint after my initial viewing, the court scenes, I no longer have a problem with. Now there is nothing I don't like or love about this film.

 

I can't even imagine the problems he would have as a prisoner at Arkham, being the former director. Didn't he test his fear toxin on the inmates? I'm sure there's more then a few inmates who want him dead.

 

If the police still haven't secured the Narrows, would he have been taken to Arkham?

 

Even if there is, there surely isn't one that explains non-dairy powdered creamer.

 

In the novel it was one of his own test subjects that came back to look for him to help him. There was a certain degree of loyalty in the people he experimented on toward him. This isn't exactly uncommon in psychology either for the person being experimented upon to remain loyal to or become loyal to the tester.

 

A Stonegate was mentioned in the novel.

 

Oh I'm sure some of his test subjects became loyal to him but I doubt all of them are. Some of them probably hate him for what he did to them.

Then of course there's the normal prisoners who weren't test subjects but knew he was the prison warden. I wouldn't be surprised if the guards played it safe and never let him have contact with other prisoners, if other prisoners were allowed contact with him I wouldn't be surprised if we saw something similar to what happened it Watchmen.

 

^ Unless he conditioned them to be fiercely loyal to him, which is another possibility. The novel also suggests that all of the prisoners were loyal to him which was why he was so easily able to lead them in the Narrows.

 

Oh yeah, I think I remember hearing them mention Stonegate Penitentiary in the movie, though I think it was in connection with something else.

 

"That was a hell of a thing."

A+

For any one interested, Nolan did a half an hour public radio interview on The Treatment, a show which tackles film critique and analysis on more than the surface level. Worth a listen.

 

More likely too scared of him to do anything but scream and run away, or cower and obey.

 

I liked the part where Fox finally met The Batman. For over a year, he's playing this game of plausible deniability with Bruce. When he finally sees Bruce in the suit, he's admiring this monstrous machine and still talking in that strange Batman voice. Fox has to be thinking "Oh hell. What have I done? This guy is actually completely insane".

 

Or he just realizes that Wayne is using that voice out of habit.

 

^ In the novel he was genuinely frightened of Bruce when he heard the Batman voice. It was like they were two different people he comments.

 

which is the whole idea and why i *love* the Bat-voice. it's intimidating, yes, but it also serves to set Batman apart from Bruce.

i mean, honestly, how no one ever twigged Clooney-Bats or Kilmer-Bats were Bruce I will never know...

and as for Robin...

 

I like the bat voice personally....

"I killed those people"..... sounds like he is about to sneeze

 

That's a great theory and it would do a great job of explaining how it was able to work the way it did in The Narrows. It would not explain, however, how it worked on the ship it was stolen from. Any water in the pipes of the ship would not have had the fear toxin in it.

 

I liked how Batman didn't always show up when the bat signal was turned on and that Gordon and the force understood. It's a refreshing change from the old "he's not coming" let-down attitude we saw in the past. I've always figured that Batman can't always be there.

I'm also wondering how Batman made his way through the police station to meet Gordon without being seen. Or did he even have to since Nolan's Batman doesn't live completely in the realm of rumor and myth and has developed a partnership with the police. And since we're on the subject, how do people feel about Batman not being more of a mystery to the public?

 

i think he is still something of a mystery. they may know he exists, (like in Batman 89) but not a lot more. looking at the GCN viral site, there seems a lot of mystery attached to him. it's not like f***ing Batman and Robin with them attending a charity event and being interviewed on TV...

 

In the novel Gordon leaves the window open for him to come into the office. There are several parts (in both TDK and GK novelizations) where people are trying to see into Gordon's office to see if Batman is there. A lot of them had never seen him before.