8.03.2008

The Dark Knight

I try to like movies. I really do. I stride into that cinema full of hope... but am only rarely rewarded for my enthusiasm.

When I walked into the Cote des Neiges cinema tonight, my belly happily filled with tonkinese soup, I was positively giddy. After all, I was going to see The Dark Knight - I had every hope of being treated to a cinematic experience.

[sound of loud buzzer]

The performances were everything they were hyped up to be. My beef is with the screenplay, which had holes in it a mile wide. It makes me angry that filmmakers will serve us inconsistencies and doubtful plots without the least remorse. I have questions that the blinding lights and crumpling metal of an exciting car chase cannot obliterate, and until someone can answer those questions, I am staying off The Dark Knight bandwagon (not that they need me anyway).

Here goes:
  1. The mob money was irradiated to help the police track it. How and when did they irradiate the mob's money? Did they know it was going to be stolen? How did they know the irradiated money would end up in the mob's hands?
  2. If the Joker stole the mob's (irradiated) money during the bank robbery, did he then place it into the five banks? If the police were able to track it, then I would have to assume that it was the same pile of money. And yet, the mob bosses were acting like they knew about the money in the five banks. If that was not the money stolen by the Joker, then was the money in the five banks (of unknown origin) irradiated too?
  3. If the Joker stole the money from the mob bosses, why was Lau able to get it out of the banks before the cops arrived? Seems to me that Lau was working with the mob bosses, and not the Joker. It couldn't possibly be the same pile of money, and yet the plot would suggest it was... and that it wasn't.
So which money is which? And what's with the fake Batmans? And that scene in the parking garage? And what was happening in that scene under the highway? Aaargh!

Good luck.
Signed, The Party Pooper

NB. Super coolio trailer for Watchmen though!

8 comments:

Steve said...

Why so serious?

Let's talk about Heath Ledger's teeth!

ad said...

...or the reptilian way his tongue kept licking his lips!

dina said...

The money that the Joker stole wasn't all the money, just some of it. I'm not positive when it was irradiated, but Batman helped them do it and then the police helped it get into the mob hands, probably through undercover means.
What I want to know is why the mayor wears so much eyeliner...

ad said...

He's secretly Zorro.

Tha Connoisseur said...

Awwww, I agree with Steve! I LOVED that movie and I am going to see it again on Thursday...lol Although, I, like you, did wonder what was up with a few of your mentioned points. But I decided to try not to think about them. Darn you Palanca!...lol

ad said...

Try living inside my head... :(

Abby (aka AgatheAthena) said...

In answer to your questions:

1. When Gordon and Batman were discussing the irradiated bills in the vault that joker robbed (as a plot device to explain that they were being used), Gordon mentioned that cop had been slowly planting the bills in fake drug deals. Basically reverse money-laundering - feeding the bills to the drug dealers so they would mix them with all the other cash.
2. The Joker stole the money from ONE bank - only a small sum (yes, $28 million is only a small sum) of all the mob's money. The REST of the mob money was dispersed between FIVE OTHER banks, which the police confirmed after Joker pulled off his heist.
3. And so - Lau took the money from the other five banks (aka the other banks that HADN'T been robbed by the Joker).

and other random questions:
- The fake Batmans were other men inspired to fight crime themselves (see the scenes in which Joker questions one of them), though they can only afford guns and hockey pads, and not all the nifty gadgets Bruce Wayne can.
- The scene in the parking garage set the bar of the movie. Where a year previously (aka the last movie) Dr. Crane/Scarecrow was a foe of Batman's to be reckoned with, now he's a two-bit drug peddler who poses no problems for Batman. Demonstrates how much better at "crime-fighting" Batman has become in a year. And the scene is also a fun-filled introduction fight scene for Batman.
- And the scene on Lower Fifth (under the highway) was Joker and his crew in a Semi and a Trash truck trying to get to Dent in police escort while Batman foils their plans and gets the Batmobile blown up.

I hope that covers everything. I recommend watching the movie again and paying attention to dialogue - they explain a lot, but only once.

ad said...

Abigail, I feel as if I owe you my first born or a kidney or some such.

I will see the movie a second time - but this time I won't have a really heavy meal beforehand. I think the spring rolls made me logy.