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Best Moments in the Dark Knight Film Trilogy

Lapis Exilis

Lapis Exilis

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Now that it's all over, let's hash it over until everyone is sick of it! (It is what we do best after all..)

To force some selectivity on everyone - let's hear your top three absolute most awesome moments from the trilogy.

The look on Bruce's face when Ra's knocks him on his ass on the ice after saying that it was his father's fault that the Waynes were killed. The ferocity and pain there really captured a key component of Bruce's psyche and totally sold me on Bale in an instant.

My favorite action sequence in the entire trilogy has to be the Hong Kong snatching of Lau - the skyhook exit is the kind of ballsy, near-insane move that makes Batman a superhero, while still being almost entirely plausible.

But one of the cleverest moments, which manages to bring humor and a little self-referential flair to the whole thing, has to be the nebbishy accountant guy going to Lucius Fox with his discovery of Batman's identity, and Fox's reply:

"Let me get this straight. You think your client, one of the richest, most powerful people in the world, is secretly a vigilante who spends his ights beating criminals to a pulp with barehands and your plan - is to blackmail this person?

Good luck!"
 
I'll go with one from each film:

Batman Begins: Carmine Falcone's monologue to Bruce about power and how he really doesn't know fear. It's a fantastic bit of dialogue, superbly acted by Wilkinson, and it was a sign of good things when a comparatively minor piece of the puzzle like Falcone was handled so well early on.

The Dark Knight: The unrelentingly bleak moment where Rachel realizes that she's going to die. It's a note that has gotten a bit old hat in the comics, but superhero movies had never gone there before. It packs a punch.

The Dark Knight Rises: I considered three different parts, and I guess I'll settle on Batman's initial reappearance to chase down the gang members, especially the old cop's reaction (my other choices were the general Batman/Catwoman dynamic, much more comic booky than the film series often was; and Alfred's graveside despair).
 
Hoo boy. Near impossible. I'll do my best though. I'm gonna try to pick one from each movie:

The party at Wayne Manor: From the reveal of R'as Al Ghul's true identity (I'll admit, they fooled me) to Bruce's fake drunken rant to get everyone out, this scene is intense, humorous, and exciting.

The Interrogation Scene: This scene is Ledger's crowning moment in the film. It's the moment where the Joker revels, that despite being locked up, he's really the one completely in control.

Batman vs Bane Part 1: I think this is about the only clearly lit fist fight in the whole trilogy. Every blow that Bane lands on Batman thunders like a cannon, and we know pretty much from the start that this is a fight Batman cannot win. Bane also get's some excellent lines "You merely adopted the darkness. I was born in it." and the iconic "I will break you."


EDIT: Huh. Looking back, all three of my memorable moments end in the villain defeating Batman. Unintentional, but there it is. There's just so many great moments across this trilogy that narrowing it down to three is impossible.
 
Batman Begins - Uniformed Policeman #1: [describing the Batmobile] He is in a vehicle!
Dispatcher: Make and color?
Uniformed Policeman #1: It's a black...
[looks at his partner, who shrugs]
Uniformed Policeman #1: ...tank!

The Dark Knight - James Gordon Jr.: Why's he running, Dad?
Lt. James Gordon: Because we have to chase him.
James Gordon Jr.: He didn't do anything wrong.
Lt. James Gordon: Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight

The Dark Knight Rises - Batman: [on a rooftop, Batman turns away from Catwoman, then turns back and realises she has gone] So this is what that feels like.
 
In BB, when Jim Gordon gets to drive the Batmobile (okay, Tumbler). I mean, who doesn't want to drive the Batmobile? And just cool that it's Gordon who stands in for us. Oldman plays the combination of OMG-what-do-I-do?/OMG-this-is-so-cool! perfectly.

In TDK, another Jim Gordon moment -- "We've got you, you son of a bitch!" I love the reveal that Gordon's alive after all. And not just that, but in one fell swoop he's saved both Batman and Harvey Dent and bagged the Joker.

Giving more thought to my third pick, though...
 
Batman Begins: The training montage. Bruce and Alfred assembling the Bat suit. Any moment or scene between Bruce and Lucius. Bruce, in prototype outfit, visiting Gordon ("Now we're two"). Batman's first night out. The Tumbler car chase. Batman appearing like a demonic figure to the poisoned citizens of Gotham. The train fight. The rooftop scene between Batman and Gordon. The Joker card.

The Dark Knight: The parking garage sequence/aka Batman's reintroduction. Joker's magic trick. The scene between Batman, Gordon and Dent on the rooftop. The Hong Kong extraction. Joker crashing the party. Batman on top of the Sears Tower. The Joker semi flip. Gordon's return. Batman using "lenses" for the first time.

The Dark Knight Rises: The aerial spectacular. Batman's initial reappearance. The first appearance of The Bat. Batman and Catwoman working together ("No guns. No killing." "Where's the fun in that?"). Bane breaking Batman (probably the most iconic moment in any of Nolan's Batman films). The whole "cops get trapped in sewers, stadium gets blown up, Bane frees prisoners of Blackgate" section of the film. Bruce climbing out of the prison. The "cops vs. mercs" battle and the final chase between Batman, Catwoman and Talia.
 
Begins: Alfred taking Bruce to task after the Batmobile chase. During I'd been thinking "It's all gone a bit Tim Burton with how Batman is destroying as much stuff as the villain" so having Alfred not only point this out but but being genuinely angry at the mayhem and very near loss of life caused was fantastic.

Honorary mention: Going "It's Shane Rimmer!" when he turned up.


Dark Knight: The final three-way confrontation between Harvey, Batman and Gordon. Ledger was fantastic, but the over hype as a result of his death means it tends to get overlooked that his wasn't even the best performance in the (extremely well acted) film, let alone of the year. Oldman, normally a bit of a large ham, is just pitch perfect during this and the chap playing Dent (name brain fart) is very close behind. Heartbreaking stuff.

Honorary mention: Actually making you think they've killed Gordon. And getting to go "Gordon's ALIVE!" when he turns up again.


Rises: Tough one as I really want to see it again to solidify my opinion on a couple of bits which I can't decide if they were brilliant or really stupid, but for now...

That moment with the bridges when it suddenly hit me that this film wasn't just doing Knightfall, it was adapting No Man's Land as well. Something totally unexpected that filled me with geekish glee and also meant the plot totally changes for the second half.

Honorary mention 1: Crane's appearance. Actually got a cheer in my screening.

Honorary mention 2: Getting to shout "Somedays you just can't get rid of a bomb!" at the end. I hope the explosion creates a giant radioactive shark Batman has to fight with repellent spray in the next one.
 
The moment where Nolan shows he truly understands how Bruce Wayne ticks, in Batman Begins.

Gordon: "I never said 'thank you'."
Batman: "And you'll never have to."
 
I also really loved The Leap, in TDKR. But mostly because to me it felt a lot like the Leap during Knightfall, when Bruce is training to become Batman again after he heard of the things JeanPaul did as the Batman. He's standing there in the edge of a roof, not as the Batman yet, but just masked. Ready to perform the first leap he did as the Batman, to prove to himself that he is ready again, but he stops right at the last second. Then, after being trained by Shiva, he found what was holding him back, why he couldn't do the leap. Then, standing on that same rooftop again, but now in his full suite, he's ready to face the leap again, and does so, finally reclaiming (for himself) that HE is the Batman.

The Leap in the prison reminded me a lot of that. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but I liked it.
 
BB:

Falcone putting young Bruce in his place in the bar.

The docks and the Arkham basement or whatever with Batman really feeling like this inhuman ghost of vengeance.

"SWEAR TO ME!"

Really, goddamnit, Batman Begins is a nearly perfect movie until the "exciting climax" which just turns it into another action movie. And I really could have used one less "Its gonna blow!"

The others have their great moments, but BB is really underrated, and it took going to the marathon and seeing it on the big screen again for me to remember that. It was the first time a Batman movie (other than Mask of the Phantasm, which doesn't really count) made me think "Oh, they get it."
 
I loved the end of The Dark Knight as well with Batman on the run and Gordon's voiceover. That's a real hero dedicated to the cause right there.

I also liked the end of The Dark Knight Rises with Bruce getting on with his life and Alfred seeing him in the café.

Lapis Exilis said:
But one of the cleverest moments, which manages to bring humor and a little self-referential flair to the whole thing, has to be the nebbishy accountant guy going to Lucius Fox with his discovery of Batman's identity, and Fox's reply:

"Let me get this straight. You think your client, one of the richest, most powerful people in the world, is secretly a vigilante who spends his ights beating criminals to a pulp with barehands and your plan - is to blackmail this person?

Good luck!"
Click to expand...
What's funny there is that Fox basically revealed that Batman is Bruce Wayne. There was no indication that the accountant knew that already. From what I saw, he only knew that Batman's tumbler was built by Wayne Enterprises and that the company was most likely supplying him with equipment.
 
Agent Richard07 said:
I loved the end of The Dark Knight as well with Batman on the run and Gordon's voiceover. That's a real hero dedicated to the cause right there.

I also liked the end of The Dark Knight Rises with Bruce getting on with his life and Alfred seeing him in the café.

Lapis Exilis said:
But one of the cleverest moments, which manages to bring humor and a little self-referential flair to the whole thing, has to be the nebbishy accountant guy going to Lucius Fox with his discovery of Batman's identity, and Fox's reply:

"Let me get this straight. You think your client, one of the richest, most powerful people in the world, is secretly a vigilante who spends his ights beating criminals to a pulp with barehands and your plan - is to blackmail this person?

Good luck!"
Click to expand...
What's funny there is that Fox basically revealed that Batman is Bruce Wayne. There was no indication that the accountant knew that already.
Click to expand...

He knew ( or thought he knew ). That was the whole point of his blackmail scheme.

You're not gonna tell me you didn't recognize your baby out there, pancaking cop cars on the evening news. Now you have the entire R&D department burning through cash, claiming that it's related to cell phones for the army? What are you building for him now, a rocket ship?
 
I just rewatched Dark Knight, and every scene with the Joker is just magic. I normally don't gush over someone's performance, but he's just so weird and different and charismatic in that role.

For Dark Knight Rises, I still gravitate towards that opening scene where the plane is dragging the other plane in the air and it looks like they filmed that practically... that was just amazing... :eek:
 
Set Harth said:
You're not gonna tell me you didn't recognize your baby out there, pancaking cop cars on the evening news. Now you have the entire R&D department burning through cash, claiming that it's related to cell phones for the army? What are you building for him now, a rocket ship?
Click to expand...
I thought he was referencing Batman, not Bruce Wayne. "What are you building for Batman now, a rocket ship?" That's how I understood it. I still see nothing to suggest that he knew Bruce was Batman. If the accountant was supposed to know, it certainly didn't come off that way. If I were in Fox's position and someone came to me with that exact line, I wouldn't have assumed that they knew about Bruce being Batman. All I would have seen was a guy who discovered that Batman's tumbler was built by Wayne Enterprises and that he guessed correctly that the company is supplying him with equipment.
 
Batman Begins: I'll echo Mage here. The final two lines between Gordon and The Batman were pitch-perfect.

The Dark Knight: Nothing tops Gordon's final monologue.

The Dark Knight Rises: Alfred made me cry a couple of times, first when he described his wish that Bruce never return to Gotham and second when he sees Bruce in the cafe. A close third is the final shot of Blake rising into the darkness in the Batcave.

Batman is forever.
 
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