The Dark Knight (pt. 3)

Final Entry for The Dark Knight


Bruce Wayne, still in most of the Batman costume continues an earlier conversation with Alfred if he caught the bandit and how. Alfred tells him that he had to burn the forest down.  This alludes to what happens later when Batman uses the sonar Lucius Fox had used to find the corrupt Chinese businessman.  They effectively locate the Joker through use of the the phone sonar system, much like the burning down of the forest to catch the bandit.

The scene where the Joker burns the money speaks volumes for his motives. He, unlike all of the other thugs, isn't in it for the money.  He says that the town deserves a better class of criminal and then sends one of the mafia bosses to his death. His quote, "It's not about money, it's about sending a message-Everything burns." This still doesn't make much sense to me, but I don't think it necessarily has to. I think it is said to show just how twisted the Joker really is and how psychologically he is as freakish on the inside as on the outside.

When the Joker infiltrates the hospital and taunts Harvey(now calling himself Two Face), he starts the ball rolling for him to unravel all that he did as D.A. for Gotham City.

All while this is happening the Joker has scared the entire city and threatens to blow up all the hospitals unless Mr. Reese(who is planning on exposing Bruce Wayne as the Batman) is killed within the next 60 minutes. 

Another scene which shows the purity of man even in his darkest hour is best shown with the ferry boat scene.  The corrupt businessman who wants to pull the trigger ultimately can't go through with it. The largest and most likely to kill prisoner takes the trigger and throws it into the water.

One of the most climactic scenes is the final one with Batman and the Joker. Even after all that the Joker has done(killing Rachel, scarring Dent and killing other individuals), Batman still saves him for certain death.  The Joker tells him that he has an "Ace in the Hole", which is Dent.  In an earlier listing I said that much of one scene with Dent and Batman would be ironic later on, and indeed it is.  Batman was ready to expose himself and Dent told him otherwise.  After Dent lost half his face and Rachel, it wasn't much effort needed by the Joker to send him over the edge and become a killer. I think the moral here is that even if you always do right in front of the world it doesn't make you a hero.  It's doing what's right, even when there is no recognition since it is the right thing to do.  Batman does this when he saves Dent's reputation by telling Gordon to stick him with the murders instead of Dent. In his view it is the greater good.