A Million Plot Twists: The Dark Knight

July 8th, 2010  |   By Rono   |   4,290 views  |   6 Comments »

“See, madness, as you know, is like gravity.
All it takes is a little push.”
-The Joker

The Dark Knight probably holds a record for the unusual number of twists and reversals in a two and a half hour narration. The proper word is roller coaster (and this time they mean it!) The filmmakers wield the continuous shift, twists and rebounds like true masters, offering the audience a rare masterpiece of storytelling virtuoso, a story that grabs hold of your brain from the first minutes until the final credits roll.

The setup

The first scene in the Dark Knight is a demonstration of the Joker’s intelligence and cold-blooded cruelty. He organizes a bank robbery that goes though almost without a hiccup. The plan was for him to be the last man standing. And he is. He strolls in — and out — as if he was in his own closet looking for something to wear on his way to work.

The bank he targeted is a mob institution, complete with 10,000-volt vault door. He kills the last man like he would wipe a speck of dust on his sleeve. He leaves in a school bus just as other buses drive by, undetected. Good introduction.

Batman disrupts a meeting between Scarecrow, the Chechen, their men, their dogs and a couple of copycat batmans. The Dark Knight is competent and fast, albeit a little awkward in a stiff suit; an upgraded suit is provided later by Lucius Fox.

Hero cop Gordon and Batman contemplate the result of their traceable currency operation to corner the mob and deprive them of their cash.

Alfred, knowledgeable, dependable, is always here to provide advice, wisdom, stitches and the occasional tasteful joke. Read Strong Characters: The Dark Knight for an analysis of the importance of Batman’s entourage in his campaigns.

And finally Harvey Dent, the star D.A., flanked by his lucky coin, along with his girlfriend Rachel Dawes demonstrates his resolve to fight crime in Gotham City. Dent along with Gordon are the best allies Batman can hope to have for their strength of character, their rectitude, their undeniable courage and their intelligence. With the witty and smart, if looney, Joker on the other end, Batman will need every edge he can find in this war.

Bruce, Rachel and Harvey get together with Bruce’s date Natascha, in a restaurant and Harvey delivers the memorable, “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” This scene defines the relationship between Dent and Batman. He understands Batman better than anyone else and he seduces Bruce Wayne by his potential for Gotham as a D.A.

On the other side of the city, the antagonists get together to discuss strategy. They need to protect their money. Gordon is decided to get it and he seems more and more like an unstoppable threat: the Batman is on his side.

Along the way, they meet the charismatic Joker visibly superior and capable of taking over one step at a time. Those men, though powerful, do not offer any kind of match for the Joker’s strength and devious intelligence, even as a group. He draws circles around the bunch, as easily as he gets rid of Gambol’s man with a pencil magic trick.

JOKER

(...) Dent, he's just the beginning.

The Joker has insight; like Harvey Dent, he understand what drives Batman, he understands Batman’s reach (like he predicts how the Dark Knight would find Lau “and make him squeal” wherever he is.) The joker has no fear to speak of; he does not seem to have any self-preservation instinct. To keep Gambol at bay, he reveals the grenades in his purple suit; no one tries to stop him as he leaves quietly.

This bunch of characters promises good drama and compelling conflict opportunities at every turn, and there are quite a number of those.

The first twists

With Lau’s help, the mob moves their money in time and Gordon can only collect the marked bills they intentionally left behind. Lau hides the money and takes refuge in Hong Kong.

Advantage: bad guys

Now, the good trio must rely on Batman to bring Lau back to Gotham. So Bruce takes off with the Russian ballet (Alfred’s idea) to meet with the Korean smugglers’ plane.

The Joker puts his takeover plans into action and starts by eliminating Gambol.

Fox’s device left in the LSI Holdings building provides Batman with a way into Lau’s lair, disabling their security systems. After a short fight, the bean counter is captured and lifted off the premises with relative ease. Gordon finds him with a note outside his office building. Lau wants to keep the money, but he offers a deal that will deliver the entire mob.

Advantage: good guys

Judge Surrillo starts the hearing of the 549 criminals together. Dent seduces the Mayor with the “18 months of clean streets” that would likely follow the entire mob in jail.

Advantage: good guys

Hired by the mafia, the Joker strikes back by killing one of the Batman copycats, Brian, and sending a tape to the press with a threat: “Batman must remove his mask and turns himself in or people will die” every day.

Advantage: bad guys

At the same time, The Joker attacks the other officials in his way. Judge Surrillo’s car explodes with her inside. Commissioner Loeb drinks acid poured in his favorite bottle. Gordon cannot to stop him from swallowing the poison.

Advantage: bad guys

Then the Joker crashes the fundraiser party in Dent’s honor, to try and catch or maybe kill the D.A. He settles for Rachel who offers herself to save Bruce’s guests. The Joker throws her out the window. Batman catches her in the nick of time.

Advantage: good guys

Now, when some would think the Joker intimidated them, Dent and Gordon are still determined to get a testimony from Lau in court. With insights from Alfred’s experience north of Rangoon, Batman’s situation facing the Joker is not rosy: the villain is not after power or money.

ALFRED

Some men just want to watch
the world burn.

With this done, the next target designated by the Joker, Mayor Anthony Garcia, looks like a sure kill. Now that the Joker is established as a serious menace, anything he promises to do will raise the stakes in the story.

Bruce investigates and joins Gordon in protecting the Mayor. During the brawl and the panic that ensues, the Mayor is kept safe, but Gordon dies.

Advantage: bad guys

An upset Batman goes after Marconi, to locate the Joker, while Dent interrogates one of the captured thugs, Thomas Shiffs, both without success. No one knows anything about the Joker; he has no friends, he is a ghost in the city. So Batman decides the unthinkable, despite Alfred’s advice. Bruce orders his faithful butler to burn all evidence of Batman that could lead anyone else.

Advantage: bad guys

The mother of all twists

At the press conference comes the mother of all twists. No one expected that one; not Bruce Wayne, who attended the event specifically to surrender. Harvey Dent turns himself in as the Batman.

Your eyes get wet when you watch this scene. It was such a brilliant idea, that whoever thought of it should take a week to congratulate himself shamelessly. He deserves it. The movie earns an additional star just for this snippet of narration. Beautiful!

This put a serious damper on the Joker’s plans and allows Batman a golden opportunity to catch the villain.

Advantage: good guys

Midpoint: the motorcade ambush

Dent’s goal is to serve as bait to draw the Joker out. Successful, after a long, hair-raising action sequence, Gordon comes out of hiding and arrests the Joker. All seems to go as planned. Harvey Dent, after a short press appearance, is driven home. Or so we think.

Gordon’s deception earns him a promotion to Commissioner and he can finally relieve his wife and loved ones who were meant to think he really died earlier.

The seemingly invincible Joker is down.

Advantage: good guys

Fade out Harvey Dent

Once again (read Strong Characters: The Dark Knight), the “torture” scene was a bad call, unnecessary and of questionable taste. This scene does showcase Heath Leger’s talent, rest his soul. He helps give us a very iconic character that will certainly inspire actors for years to come.

At the end of this sequence, the villain releases Gordon and the Batman with the information to try and rescue Harvey and Rachel. We should have seen the Joker’s trick. He sends them to the right addresses, but he switched their locations and Batman, on his way to rescue Rachel, ends up saving Harvey Dent. Mostly. He cannot avoid the burns when the charges in the building explode and the gasoline that drenched the DA’s left side ignites.

Having half his face severely consumed does not affect Dent as much as Rachel’s death. Gordon could not reach her in time. We lose her in the explosion. Harvey is so affected that he refuses any medication to relieve his pain or reconstruct his face.

Back at Gordon’s Major Crimes Unit, the Joker sets up his henchman with a wireless device sewn in his belly. The place explodes (the man loves his explosives); the Joker goes free, with Lau, and so, of course, the mob’s money.

At this point, if you are not glued to the screen, you should check yourself in the nearest psychiatric facility immediately. There is something really wrong with you.

Advantage: bad guys

Fade in Two-Face

There is now a new villain, just as dangerous as the Joker, except he is not after money. He wants to avenge his girlfriend’s death.

We should have gotten a glimpse of this capability when the story foreshadows his violent side: Harvey Dent tried to extract information from paranoid schizophrenic Thomas Shiffs at gun point.

Secret identity

Coleman Reese goes on TV. He wants to reveal the true identity of the Batman live, and probably for money. Why not? That is his nature after all.

The Joker retrieves the mob’s money and now he can take over the entire institution. He decides to douse with gasoline and throw in the Chechen’s cigar. The money burns, with a funny line:

JOKER

You know, I'm only burning my half.

Lau was sitting on top of the pile of cash, bound. Guess what happened to him, off camera.

The Joker calls the TV station and sets the city off with a threat to destroy a random hospital if Reese survives the next 60 minutes. It’s getting better, isn’t it?

Advantage: bad guys (Continued…)

---

Tags: aaron eckhart, action, batman, bruce wayne, chris nolan, christian bale, christopher nolan, classic, comics, heath ledger, jonathan nolan, masterpiece, narration, reversal, storyline, superhero, the dark knight, trailer, twist

---

---