The Dark Knight

Five Observations From First Section of The Dark Knight

Batman is portrayed as the anti-hero, especially when he is out of costume. This holds true when it comes to the former relationship Bruce Wayne and Rachel Dawes shared. For reference in this instance, during the fundraiser that was held for Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne makes fun of him in a way that he doesn't get, but Rachel does.

The Joker is a very twisted and intelligent man. His idea of a magic trick involves a pen and a thug. In the scene where this occurs, the thug approaches the Joker and has his head slammed on the table and the pen being inserted into the skull of the thug, effectively killing him and making the pen disappear.

The overall setting of Gotham City is very dark and forboding.  During many of the fight scenes there are a lot of shadows at play and this gives Batman a chance to hide and surprise his enemies. It also implies that evil is always lurking in the shadows, and that is where it is found.

There is also a lot of secrecy at play and we are shown special snippets of identity revealed as the movie plays out. The very beginning of the film is a good place to start. A bank heist is occuring where all the goons are doing the grunt-work for the Joker. They start complaining about their cut as the Joker is not there doing the work. More that he is the brains of the operation at hand. After the money is procured the Joker reveals himself to be one of the goons as he shoots the majority of them to cut down on splitting the money. Another example of the secrecy and the want to have it removed occurs when the Joker takes one of the Batman copycats and kills him, saying that he will kill one person a day until Batman removes his mask.

And lastly,as this seems to be a really big part of this film are the connections with all of the characters therin. It is very interesting how everyone is connected in some crucial way to another character in the film. The domino effect is very strong in this instance and it really helps tie the film together nicely.  Batman is tied to Harvey Dent from Rachel Dawes and the Joker is tied to Batman from Harvey Dent and Wayne Enterprises(i.e. Bruce Wayne and Mr. Fox) is tied to the entire mafia and the Joker from the business dealings with the Japanese businessman and even the copycat "Batmen" we see at the beginning of the film are brought back to the forefront when the Joker has his scene with the ultimatum for Batman to reveal his true identity.