Greetings fellow CBM fans. I come to you today not with the intention of starting an all out war about whether The Dark Knight is or isn't the greatest CBM of all time because honestly, what's the point? Rather I am here simply to address some of the most frequent complaints about the film. Like many of you I am a regular on this site. We come here to momentarily escape our mundane lives and fish for the most recent rumors and details concerning our favorite CBMs. But more often than not I find myself more interested in the comments than the articles on which they are posted. It's a guilty pleasure which I suspect many of us share. As a result of this addiction I have come to know the complaints regarding TDK all too well. People often refer to these complaints as "Plot Holes". This is where I find my biggest problem. A plot hole is by definition "a gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic established by the story's plot, or constitutes a blatant omission of relevant information regarding the plot.". In other words, if it does not directly affect the story's plot, it cannot be considered a plot hole. That being said, I would re-label these complaints as "Minor Inconsistencies". I use the word minor because their overall significance to the story is minimal and the only thing that they may be inconsistent with is the reality driven environment and not the plot.
The term "reality driven" carries with it a lot of baggage. It is largely in my opinion where most of the complaints derive from. How you feel about Nolan's realistic approach to Batman is a non factor or at least it should be. The issue here is when you ground your story in reality you open your film to the utmost scrutiny. It is easier to recognize flaws in this sort of environment, because most of us (and I say this loosely) have a firm grasp on reality. Fantasy/Science Fiction movies have a free pass in this department because they require a suspension of disbelief to begin with allowing the audience to accept flaws with far less opposition. But it’s time we admit that the real problem here is not these minor inconsistencies. People simply place too much emphasis on the word “realism”. They have taken this word as verbatim and milked it for all its worth with the sole intent of unraveling an otherwise tightly knit tapestry. Well I am here to say ENOUGH! This is a MOVIE! And like every other movie of it’s genre it still requires a certain suspension of disbelief even if it is to a lesser degree.
One of the other games people like to play regarding TDK is the over analysis of a scene. To be more specific, let’s use the “Joker Escape Argument” as an example. People love to site this particular sequence as being a plot hole suggesting that after Batman and Rachel fall from the building (which I will address in further detail below) that the Joker and his thugs would have no way of escaping the building. First of all, this can in no way be considered a plot hole. How the Joker made his escape does not affect the overall plot. Secondly, to suggest they would have no way of escaping only demonstrates your lack of imagination. The emphasis on this scene is not how Joker gets in and gets out but why he is there to begin with. To kill Harvey Dent. If Nolan felt that the Joker’s escape was significant to the story he could have wrote another action packed sequence similar to the bank heist where they shoot grappling hooks out a window and zip line onto another building. One could imagine a 100 ways in which they orchestrated a brilliant escape. However, it is not important information and if you dwell on something as trivial as this for any longer than a few seconds then you are really just ruining the movie for yourself by over analyzing the situation and straying to far from the story‘s focal point.
Having established the ground work for my defense of TDK, allow me to summarize the main points. There are plot holes, there are minor inconsistencies and then there is over analysis. The 3 ways in which I will address the following complaints. Distinguishing between the 3 will be my goal in the remainder of this editorial. “And here… we… GO!”.
First up in is the infamous “Batman and Rachel Fall”. This particular argument addresses the scene in which the Joker drops Rachel out of a window and Batman leaps after her. They fall somewhere in the range of 40 to 60 floors (who knows?) and somehow manage to land on top of a car unscathed. This is the most frequent complaint I hear about on this site. Now even if you aren’t sold on the idea that Batman’s cape appeared to slow them down enough to prevent serious damage, most of us know this is obviously what they were trying to convey in the scene. Picture a person who is parachuting and the wind suddenly disrupts their chute and they begin falling at a fast rate. It is plausible that someone in this situation will survive the fall. The chute may slow them down just enough to endure the landing with minimal injuries. Add the fact that they are also wearing body amour and it becomes even more plausible. In a movie, all you need is plausible. Is it unlikely? Yes, absolutely. But since we know this is a Batman movie and that Batman uses his cape specifically for jumping off rooftops it would not be a completely wild idea that the cape prevented them from smashing the ground at 100 mph. For the sake of argument though, lets say this is a perfectly valid complaint. That it was simply poor execution on Nolan’s behalf. This would still not qualify as a plot hole. The fall has no relevance to the story’s plot. If anything you could call this a minor inconsistency with the reality driven environment. But again, this is just a movie.
Next up is another favorite. The “The Thumb Print on the Bullet Scenario”. Most people argue that this sequence doesn’t make any sense or that they don’t understand it. So allow me first to describe what is going on in this sequence for clarity. (Deep breath…) Batman cuts out a chunk of concrete from a wall containing fragments of a shattered bullet. He shoots a scanner into the hole where the bullet entered the concrete to get a full scan of the shattered fragments. He then sets up an automatic gun to fire rounds into separate small pieces of concrete. Each round fires a different bullet. He then looks over the freshly shot concrete blocks to figure out which bullet hole matches the original. After locating the match he now knows what the original bullet shell looks like so he can scan the it and enter the information into a specialty software. The software takes the shattered bullet scan and recreates it to look exactly like matching bullet shell. The recreated bullet shows up on screen with a heat signature revealing the thumb print left on the shell when the shooter pushed the round into the clip (…and exhale). Hopefully this clears things up a bit... or not? Moving along! It’s pretty well known at this point that Nolan incorporates some technology in his Batman films that is perhaps beyond our current technological reach. Bat-gadgets, doomsday devices, etc. This is where we must utilize a suspension of our disbelief. Although the technology may not exist, it does provide a plausibility factor by incorporating a degree of science that is within the realm of our current understanding. If Nolan decided to throw a time machine or a teleportation device into his movie then I would agree that he crossed the line in terms of believability. When it comes to technology the trick is knowing exactly where that line of believability is and then pushing it rather than jumping right over it. Again, even if this explanation does not sit well with you, this is still not a plot hole. The whole scene is only relevant to locating the shooter and can only be considered at most a minor inconsistency.
The next complaint is a perfect example of over analysis, “The Bomb Dilemma”. How did the Joker manage to get all those explosives into the hospital and how could he have possibly had enough time to do so? The answer to this question is quite simple actually… WHO CARES! How he got the bombs into the hospital is not relevant information to the story. What is relevant is why he put them there is the first place. The Joker is attempting to show just how ugly society really is by setting up elaborate human experiments that puts our morality to the test. Don’t put yourself in the position where you have to question every single event unless you are deliberately trying to ruin the experience for yourself. People who do this with real events are conspiracy nuts. People who do this with movies are douches.
The last complaint I will cover is one that I can actually agree with to an extent. This is the “Joker Cuts Gambol” scene. I’m actually surprised that this is the complaint I hear about the least seeing as it is one of the most obvious in my opinion. Joker is holding a knife against the corner of Gambol’s mouth as he is telling him the story about how he got his scars. Long story short the Joker cuts Gambol’s face and Gambol falls to the floor dead. Now it is easy to recognize that Gambol would not have died from a cut to the face. He would more than likely be holding his face screaming in pain. But what you have to consider is we are dealing with a movie that is rated PG-13. And while there is some material in this movie that may push the envelope in terms of ratings, a man screaming in pain and bleeding everywhere would definitely fall in R rated territory. So lets try and understand this scene from a PG-13 standpoint. This is undeniably a great scene which showcases just how frightening and twisted the Joker is. The question is, do you ditch the entire scene because of the unrealistic nature of dying from a cut to the face? NO. Because the beautifully written dialog and amazing performance takes precedence over a minor inconsistency. And like I mentioned before, not many people even notice it. A tribute to a performance so captivating that you completely ignore such an obvious hick-up in the scene.
Finally we’ve reached the end! Now I’m sure I haven’t addressed all the complaints regarding TDK. People will forever nit-pick at this film which is fine because the important thing is we are still talking about it. Even with The Dark Knight Rises right around the corner we just can’t let this film go. That's how you know a movie will stand the test of time. Whether people praise it or despise it, they just never shut up about it. Thank you for hanging in there with me if you have made it this far. I look forward to your responses and I’m open to criticism. As they say, you got to take negative with the positive. “Unbiased. Unprejudiced. Fair.”.
Hope everyone enjoys the greatest CBM summer of our lifetime!