Introduction
Hello everyone, welcome to the Mattacritic. This is Matthew Hemenway. I hope you are doing well. I am doing as well as I can. In this episode of the Mattacritic, I will be reviewing and analyzing the Dark Knight which is a DC comic that is currently on Max. You can go to, Amazon, or you can go directly to Max and subscribe to watch the movie. You can also watch the DVD if you feel more comfortable doing it that way. This is the movie that is after Batman Begins which I reviewed for this channel and blog. The movie will start off with the Joker and a bunch of people dressed as clowns going to rob a Mob Bank. The Joker was teased at the end of Batman Begins as that movie will show. Batman told Jim Gordon that he will investigate the Joker since he did a double homicide at the end of that movie and a case for the theatrics like Batman does. The Joker hired a bunch of punks that he found off the street. He is one of those people who likes to go outside what is normal even with criminals as well. As the crew that he hires found out he decided to rob a mob bank. One of the people that was on the roof disabling the silent alarm found out that the alarm was calling out to private number, not 911. That seems odd to the guy to say the least. He is surprised by this to say the least. I will explain more as this review goes on and explain how the Joker likes to create chaos. As the Joker said, “I am an agent of chaos”. I will let you know who I believe that reminds me of. As mentioned in the last review of Batman Begins, I will use images, but clips to the film will be in the description below. The clips will be referenced in the blog, and you can watch them there. Thank you. I will give you my rating at the end of this review. I hope this episode will inspire you to read, watch, and learn.
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Rest of the Review and Rating of the Dark Knight
As was mentioned before, the Joker hired a bunch of low life criminals that most of the police force do not even know about. The Joker and the crew that he hired to rob the mob bank. One of the people said, “why do the call him the Joker”? One person says, “he wears makeup, war paint to scare people”. The crew goes in the mob bank to rob it and with force. They have the bank tellers hold grenades as they do not want them to able to call for help. They want the bank tellers to hold on for dear life as one of the men say. The one that killed the silent alarm person told the other person that the boss told to take him out when he disabled the silent alarm. As that guy said, “the boss told me to take him out once the silent alarm was disabled. One less share”. One of the other guys said, “that’s funny he told me the same thing”. The guy who shot the silent alarm person said, “no” as he does not want to die. The person who is the one running things seems to be one person then it is another. There is a person who is in the mob bank that has a gun, he starts shooting at them and this is where it gets interesting. He goes around and says, “do you know who you are stealing from, you and your friends are dead”. They thought he was out of bullets, and they were wrong. The man said with one of the clown masks, “where did you learn to count”. The other one shot him and the man with the gun went down. The man who seemed to be running things ends up saying to the one who shot the man with the gun down, “I’m sure the Joker told you to kill me before this all said and done”. He said, “no, I killed the bus driver”. The man said who appeared to be running things, “what bus driver”. The bus came in the bank and ran over the man who appeared to be running things. The one who got the bus came out and said, “school’s out”. He asked, “what happened to the other guys”. The man in the clown mask killed him. The man in the suit who had the gun said, “you think you are so smart. The one who hired you will do the same to you. Criminals in this town used to have respect, decency, and honor. They believed in something. What do you believe? What do you believe?” The man took off his mask and reveals he is the Joker and says, “I believe, whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stranger”. The Joker puts a grenade with the man who had the gun and lets it go off with smoke that is probably deadly. The Joker drives off with the school bus and hides in plain sight with the other school buses that are driving down the road. It is clever as the police are coming to the mob bank once they know it has been robbed. The Joker is a man that only cares about himself, and he has no rules. The Joker used the men that helped to rob the mob bank to get what he wanted. He robbed the mob as to why the man in the suit said that would be in the manager’s office, you and your friends are dead. The mob will hate the fact that this happened. Please go here to watch the clip of the mob bank robbery.
There will be people wanting to run into Batman and someone said, “you have a better chance of winning the lottery than running into him”. A newscaster was asking Mayor Anthony Garcia, you said you would clean up and reduce crime in Gotham City. The mayor said the work has started on that. There are those that wonder if Batman has been helping in that effort.
The investigation of Batman is ongoing according to one of the detectives. He believes he is close to the Batman as he has pictures of Abraham Lincoln and what have you. It is crazy to think that would be the case. He also has Elvis like he is alive pretending to be a masked vigilante.
Detective Ramirez will ask Jim Gordon if you plan to see your wife and kids. She told him that her mother was back in the hospital. Jim Gordon tells her, that he is sorry that her mother is not doing well. This leads to the question if Ramirez could be influenced by dark forces. It is possible. She says, he did not show up. Jim Gordon says, he usually doesn’t. She says, why is that? Jim Gordon tells her, I hope is that he is busy.
Batman will be busy in protecting Gotham City. There are a bunch of people who work for the mob who are meeting someone for a product they need. The people meeting this person brought dogs which makes sense as they want to be protected from Batman. The person they were meeting was Scarecrow. Scarecrow told them, “I told you my product would take you places, not places that you wanted to go.” The man said, “it is hurting my business.” Scarecrow told him, “You can always buy from someone else, if Batman left anyone to buy from.” There are a bunch of copycats that are dressed as Batman that are shooting at the people from the mob. As one of them said, “this is why we bring dogs”. One of the dogs start to go at one of copycats that are dressed as Batman. Scarecrow shoots his toxic gas into one of the copycats of Batman and he ends up having nightmares of being shot with his toxic gas which is a hallucinogen. It makes you feel your worst fears and you end up seeing them in your mind. The tumbler will come out and end up intimidating the bad guys. Batman comes out and bends the gun of one of the copycats that were shooting Scarecrow and the mob. Batman ends up beating up the criminals badly. Batman goes after Scarecrow, and he is ripping up his vehicle. He drops off the van. Batman waits to see where the van will be in the parking lot and drops down on it before the van with scarecrow can get away. Batman catches scarecrow, and tells the copycats, “I do not want to you see out here again.” One of the copycats say, “What gives you the right. What makes you different than me?” Batman says, “I’m not wearing hockey masks”. The copycats were trying to help Batman and Batman claims he does not need help. As Dr. Crane AKA scarecrow observes that is not my diagnosis.
Alfred is in the penthouse and Bruce Wayne is not there. Bruce Wayne is at a private property that is near a body of water. Bruce Wayne is in a private garage where he keeps the Bat Cave since Wayne Manor was not rebuilt from being destroyed by the league of shadows. Bruce Wayne will talk to Alfred and tell him that this is not what he had in mind when he said he wanted to inspire people out of apathy. He was not planning in having copycats going around as Batman. Alfred told Bruce Wayne, “Maybe you should hire them”. Bruce Wayne is having cameras at Harvey Dent as he wants to know if he could be trusted as Gotham City’s new DA. Alfred is wondering if Bruce is worried about who Rachel is hanging out with. Bruce will feel who Rachel hangs out with is her business. That is true that it would be Rachel’s business in who she hangs out with. Rachel is a grown woman, and that is up to her who she decides to hang out with. Rachel was his oldest friend since they were both eight years old.
One thing I do not understand is why they felt the need to replace Rachel Daws with Maggie Gyllenhaal after Katie Holmes played her in the first Batman Begins film. This is not the first time, or will it be the last when they started with one actor and replaced with another in the next movie. In the first Iron Man film, Marvel had Terrence Howard playing Jim Rhodes, but then by Iron Man 2, they went with Don Cheadle, and he has been playing Jim Rhodes since the actor change. There are numerous examples of that. The Batman movies that came out in the late 1980’s and 1990’s, the first two films had Michael Keaton, then they went with Val Kilmer and George Clooney to play Batman. Ironically Michael Keaton reprised his role of Batman in the Flash film that came out in 2023.
Batman will be in the safe of the mob bank meeting where the Joker robbed in the beginning of The Dark Knight with Jim Gordon and Batman believes the Joker could wait when they needed to go after the mob. This made sense, but the Joker needed to be dealt with immediately.
Bruce Wayne will have dinner with Rachel Daws and Harvey Dent with Bruce’s date. They talk about the Batman. Harvey points out that Batman does not want to do this forever. How could he? He makes a statement about the Romans selecting one man to protect the Republic. Rachel points out that man was Cesar, and he never relinquished his power. As Harvey will point out, “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain”.
Jim Gordon will meet with Harvey Dent to get warrants after Harvey Dent was in court looking to get Salvatore Maroni put in prison. Harvey Dent is not happy with Jim Gordon having his own unit. It is called the Major Crimes Unit (MCU). Harvey Dent is concerned that it possesses police officers (cops) that he investigated when he worked with Internal Affairs. Jim Gordon implies he can only do what he can with what he has. That is true, this is not a perfect world, and we can only do what we can. Harvey Dent will give Jim Gordon his warrants. He wants his (Jim’s) trust, and he would like to meet Batman. This is the effort to go after the mob.
Lucius Fox lets Bruce Wayne know that Lao’s company was working too much like clockwork, and it may be illegal. Mr. Reese was concerned about Bruce Wayne sleeping during the meeting. Lucius Fox assures Mr. Reese that his job is to look after the trust fund, he will worry about Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne lets Lucius Fox know to cancel the deal. Bruce Wayne was aware of what was going with Lao’s company. Bruce Wayne needs a new suite.
The movie will show with Lao, the accountant with the mob is moving the mob’s money. He told them, I cannot have you know where your money is. He assures them that their money will be safe. Joker comes in the room laughing as he thought his jokes were bad. Joker wonders what happened to the mob. He knows that these cops and lawyers would dare not cross them. He knows that they lost their balls. He lets them know that the television’s plan is not going to work. Lao is a squealer, and he will tell all their plans. The Joker lets them know that the solution is easy, they need to kill the Batman. As Maroni points out, if it is that easy, then why have you not done it. Joker lets him know, if you are good at something, don’t do it for free. The Joker lets them know he wants half of the money. They think he is crazy and this gets interesting. One of the mobsters is frustrated and says, “Enough from the clown. You think you can steal from us and walk away. I’m going to put the word out $500,000 for this clown dead, a $1,000,000 for him alive, so I can teach him some manners”. You can watch the magic trick scene here of the clip.
Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon meet with Batman, and everyone is frustrated that Lao got away. This is where they devise a plan to get Lao back after Harvey Dent assures Batman, he will get Lao to sing.
Bruce Wayne will meet Lucius Fox on a new suite, and they figure out how they will get Lao back to Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon. They have an idea of a plan that they cook up with Alfred. They need an excuse of why Bruce Wayne was going to be gone. Bruce takes the entire Russian Ballot with them.
Lucius Fox will place a device that will disable Lao’s security which has sonar. He lets Bruce Wayne know that it will not be easy. Bruce Wayne will get in as Batman and capture Lao and they use the plane that he needed to get Lao out with and take him back to Jim Gordon. You can watch that clip here of Sky Hook.
Lao is talking to Rachel Daws, and she lets him know just give us the money. Lao lets her know that he can’t give her the money, but he can give her his clients. Harvey Dent is outside listening and understands if you charge one crime on all the mob. It is called RICO. It is a conspiracy which is what they have been doing.
Jim Gordon comes in arrests not only Salvatore Maroni, but also his friends. There is over 500 of them in court. They end up being indicted.
As Harvey Dent tells Mayor Anthony Garcia, “think of 18 months of clean streets”. He points out to the mayor that yes, some will get out, but others will not, and they will deal. This is good. Mayor Garcia points out that you better not have anything that can come back that can be bad and all those people you arrested will be back on the street.
Joker will kill Judge Sorella, Commissioner Loeb, and attempt to kill Harvey Dent. Bruce Wayne will have to become Batman to stop him from killing Harvey Dent. Batman will have to rescue Rachel Daws from falling. The party scene will be in this clip here.
At the memorial service for Commissioner Loeb, Joker will attempt to kill Mayor Anthony Garcia. There will be men that the Joker hired, and chaos will happen. You can go here to watch the clip.
Batman will attempt to get Salvatore Maroni to talk, but he refuses. Maroni points out that no one will give him up to you. Batman has rules, the Joker has no rules, and it is never too far for the Joker.
Batman will encounter Harvey Dent and tell him he will not have any more blood on his hands. Harvey Dent does not want Batman to give in. Batman was going to turn himself in. You can watch the clip of Harvey Dent interrogating Joker’s thug here.
Bruce Wayne will go to the press conference, and he was going to turn himself in as Batman, but Harvey Dent decided to take his place. You want to go here of this clip of Dent turning himself in.
This will set up the awesome scene where Joker fires a rocket launcher at the prison truck. The tumbler will get seriously damaged, and Batman has it come out as a motorcycle. The tumbler will self-destruct. This is where Batman will rope a bunch of streetlamps and a tip over an eighteen-wheeler. This is where Jim Gordon will get the Joker and arrest him and take him to the MCU. You can watch it here of this clip of the car chase scene. You can go here to watch the clip of the eighteen-wheeler flip scene.
Batman will later interrogate Joker and ask where Harvey Dent and Rachel Daws are. Joker is enjoying this. Joker tells them where they are as that is the point. He wants Batman and the police decide who they will save. It will end badly as Batman pulled Harvey Dent, but Jim Gordon was too late to save Rachel Daws. You can watch that scene of the interrogation here.
The movie will progress. Joker will burn his half of the money as it is not about money but watching the world burn. Joker will have people attempting to kill Mr. Reese as he does not want him to reveal who Batman is. He told people, he will blow up a hospital. This is an attempt to create chaos. Joker like Donald Trump likes to create chaos and will get people do things that they would not normally do. Donald Trump told the people go and they attacked the capital on January 6, 2021. Joker does the same thing.
Joker wants to see if people will be willing to blow each other’s boat up. If they do not, he will. Joker wants to see if people can be as ugly as him. Here is a clip of what happens on one of the boats.
As not to be revealed, nothing more will be here. The story gets to the climax and sets up another movie in the Dark Knight trilogy.
I will give you, my rating. I give The Dark Knight, a 10 out of 10. I understand why it was a 2-time Oscar winner. The movie does well as crime drama and an action film. It shows how one man like the Joker can cause so many problems and like Donald Trump, they both like creating chaos. They bring out the worst in us. Yes, Joker is fictional but is based on real idea. Adolf Hitler did the same thing and brought out the worst in people. Sometimes to fight men like this, you must do things that are unethical and illegal. Life does not always present great options but letting men like these do these horrible things is worse. You must have courage to fight men like this. It will not be easy but people like this thrive on people not having the courage to do what is right. Doing the right thing is not easy but it is necessary to fight such evil.
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Music: A Day to Remember from Clipchamp video editor as well as No Filter Trap
References are these links below:
Images form IMDB for The Dark Knight (2008)
Image from IMDB of Jim Rhodes in Iron Man (2008)
Image from IMDB of Jim Rhodes in Iron Man (2010)
Image from IMDB of Bruce Wayne in Batman (1989)
Image from IMDB of Bruce Wayne and Selena Kyle in Batman (1992)
Image from IMDB of Bruce Wayne in Batman forever (1995)
Image from IMDB of Bruce Wayne and Alfred in Batman and Robin (1997)
Clips are below:
Harvey Dent interrogation scene
The Dark Knight Car Chase Scene Part 1
Batman Interrogating the Joker
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