The Dark Knight (film)/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

** Most versions of Batman are significantly more competent than the Batman presented here, so he manages to save everyone even without resorting to guns. Or, to put it another way, most adaptations of ''Batman'' are [[Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism|more idealistic]].

** Also, and though it's not a movie source, consider Batman's philosophy on guns as expressed in Frank Miller's ''The Dark Knight Returns'': "A gun is a coward's weapon; a liar's weapon. We make it too easy to kill, sparing ourselves the mess and the work..."

*** Early on, when DC wanted an angsty action hero. It was only later on that they gave him his code of honor and hatred of guns. [[Characterization Marches On]].

** Batman doesn't ''want'' to use guns or kill people. Keep in mind, he's not a police officer or a soldier; he doesn't have a ''responsibility'' to protect anyone. He does it because it's what he wants to do. You may not like that he does things the way he does, but would you rather have him go back to just being an idle rich playboy?

*** I think the fear worked a bigger factor than the money did. Not at first, probably, but once word got around that there was someone pulled the bank caper, a few more people joined his shindig. After he faced the mafia during their meeting, insulted them, came out alive, and then took out the head of one of the warring gangs, I'd be willing to bet that a lot of mobsters thought they'd rather join the Devil be on the side that fights him. And once he pulled off his jail gambit, which involved fooling Batman himself, I wouldn't be surprised if ''every remaining unjailed thug in Gotham'' flocked to him, knowing that he was their greatest leader against the Dark Knight. Rats clinging to the floating piece of wreckage, you know?

** Also keep in mind that there are still a lot of uncaptured escapees from Arkham, as mentioned near the beginning of the film (or possibly the end of Batman Begins, in any case.) Batman mentions that the {{spoiler|police officer wearing the Rachel Dawes nametag is a paranoid schitzophrenic,}} and some of the captured lackeys, {{spoiler|including the lackey with the bomb in his stomach}} are also clearly insane.

*** All I can say is, those are some pretty disciplined, obedient psychos.

**** At least with the big guy in the jail cell, it seemed Joker played on his psychosis and fed him some mumbo-jumbo about "putting bright lights" inside of him.

** That's a common error made in most movies. Very few directors know about backblast.

** If you re-watch the film, the door behind the Joker is open as well

** The RPG was partially poking out the door of the truck. Considering the Tumbler has equipment precise enough to pick out humans against a relatively warm background, it would make sense that he'd have something as simple as a ''camera'' on the thing.

* Why is such a big deal made of Bruce not revealing his identity? Its like, [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|he has a ton of cash.]] Why not just get lots of security for loved ones and bribe the jury?

** Did you completely miss the scene where Joker manages to kill every single person under police protection, often right infront of them? It wouldn't do much, no matter how much security.

** See [[Just Bugs Me/The Dark Knight|The Dark Knight]] page for a reasonable answer.

** He isn't tattooed (you see him without the makeup for a split second after he shoots Gordon, and you can see the sweat making the makeup run in some shots), and washing his face isn't going to help ID him unless someone recognizes his face personally.

** "vast array of weaponry"? The Joker has a few dozen assault rifles and submachineguns, some grappling hooks, and a single rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and a lot of bombs and timers. You can get that at Omar Al-Terrorist's Discount Generic Soviet Arms Shop, and can manufacture most of the explosives, timers, and radios using easily-acquired chemicals, electronic parts, and a basement lab.

*** Which is precisely the point: TDK's Joker is being drawn as a ''terrorist'', and not some lighthearted I-Hate-America ''mujahid'' that the Air Force can go after or whose [[Doomed Hometown]] could even make him sympathetic to some, but a full play at all the terrifying implications of a [[Terrorist Without a Cause]] who does it all [[For the Evulz]]. Ledger!Joker just wants everyone to stop kidding around and see that all their laws, all their faith in each other, means nothing next to the fundamental chaos of the universe, and he wants to have as much extremely violent fun proving his point as possible.

* I've seen the pencil scene in ''Dark Knight'' twice, and both times it looks to me more like Joker shoved the pencil up the guy's nose, but everyone else seems to think it went into one of his eyes. Does anyone else concur?

** It always looks like it's going into his mouth to me.

** It's gotta be the eye. A wooden pencil isn't going to penetrate the throat well enough to kill someone, and Joker would have to bring the head down on a ''really'' specific angle for it to have any ''hope'' of doing damage through the nose. The eye, by contrast, is a big squishy hole in the face leading ''directly'' to the brain.

** Who knows, maybe Joker didn't do anything special with the pencil. He could've just slammed the guy's head on the table while simultaneously making the pencil disappear like a regular magician would.

** He tied them up and hung them from the side of the building. That was probably the most "non-violent" way he could have stopped them, and despite how it sounds describing it, it was a pretty harmless ordeal.

 

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[[Category:Headscratchers]]

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