A few things that were batty about The Dark Knight

July 21st, 2008 Elliot

Like almost everyone else in America, I enjoyed the new Batman movie The Dark Knight.

But here are a couple of things that nagged me about the messages in the film (and Batman in general, for that matter). None of these are spoilers, per se, but if you haven’t seen the movie, you might want to skip the rest of this post:

1. Because Batman refuses to kill, the criminals he apprehends are free to escape over and over again to commit further atrocities. Doesn’t that make Batman an accomplice to every future murder that someone like the Joker commits? Just kill the bad guy and be done with it. Some folks just need to die. Think Hitler, or Dahmer, or they guy who invented crocs
2. You’re supposed to wonder what separates Batman from the other run-of-the-mill vigilantes in the film – well, isn’t it obvious? The same thing that lets anyone in America get away with murder…money. And lots of it.
3. The Joker is supposed to represent pure anarchy. He even tells Harvey Dent that people like Commissioner Gordon and the Batman are planners, but he’s not. He’s the one that ruins plans. Righhhhhhht. Come on. The Joker is the most intricate planner in the movie. Plus, he’s ridiculously lucky. His plans all rely on him having perfect insight into what others will do and having absolutely nothing go wrong with his Rube Goldberg-like schemes.
4. Batman tortures/beats answers out of people and uses electronic surveillance on innocent citizens to stop terrorism. But he recognizes that he shouldn’t do it…but it works. Sort of confusing for all of us folks trying to figure out how that part of the movie relates to the Bush administration.
5. You’d think by now that everyone would know that Batman wears body armor. Just because he falls down when you shoot him doesn’t mean he’s dead. Bad guys, take note.
6. You might think Batman was being noble when he takes the blame for all the killings at the end of the movie, but really it was a cynical attempt to compensate for his one weakness. Because the bad guys know that he won’t kill them, he loses leverage every time he tries to make one of them talk. Next time he interrogates someone he can casually mention that he’s a mass murderer…that should loosen a few lips.

Tags: Movies

Entry Filed under: Movies