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| The Joker concurs... long live the Batman! |
Wihtout warning it comes... crashing through the window of your study... and mine... I have seen it before... somewhere... it frightened me as a boy... frightened me... yes Father. I shall become a bat. -Bruce Wayne (Batman: Year One)
I've decided to compile a list of thoughts on Nolan's Batman films; a countdown in anticipation to The Dark Knight Rises when it debuts tomorrow.
10. Fear
I seek the means to fight injustice, to turn fear against those who prey on the fearful, Bruce responds to Ra's Al Ghul inquiry. Fear plays an important role in the first film. Bruce struggles with this as a child and adolescent, traumatized by his experience with the bats dwelling in the caves beneath Wayne Manor. In turn, he blames himself for the death of parents, gunned down by the mugger Joe Chill. A nomad-like Bruce travels the world searching for the appropriate skill sets required to battle the corruption of Gotham. Ra's Al Ghul and his League of Shadows use fear to their advantage and as a means to accomplish their views in bringing balance to the world. Ra's gives a young Bruce much needed direction by training him to use the fear within him as a brutal outlet in taking down the scum of Gotham. Throughout the film, the fear angle is played up to varying degrees. The Scarecrow abuses it by driving his victims to the brink of madness, Batman wields it through interrogation and action as he returns to his city to take down the mob and crooked cops, and Ra's returns
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| Prepare your anus.... for some pants shitting! |
Your real face is the one that criminals now fear, Rachel reveals to Bruce as he overlooks the reconstruction of Wayne Manor. This is another theme that Nolan's films revolves around. As the audience has come to understand, the real mask is the act Bruce puts on as the reckless billionaire by day. Bruce, Scarecrow, and Bane all need masks for practical reasons. Two-Face's mask accentuates his scarred psyche collapsing under the pressure in his moral struggle to fight the good fight. The Joker too has masks, multiple ones at that, as shown in the several ways he details the origin of his scars. A clown mask he wears only to reveal... another clown mask lying beneath.
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| Duality |
Wayne Enterprises and Lucious Fox. It's a match made in heaven for nocturnal spelunking base-jumping enthusiasts. Magnetic grappling hook, memory cloth, The Tumbler, and The Batpod; all rejected military grade technology at the disposable of a billionaire vigilante. Yes, they do come in black.
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| This ain't your candyass Burton/Schumacher Batmobile |
Gotham is not beyond saving. There are good people here, Bruce argues as Ra's threatens his city. Batman needs Gotham just as much as Gotham needs Batman. Thomas Wayne dedicated his life to this corrupt city and paid with his life. Batman adheres to his father's mission albeit a different approach. Gotham at the beginning of the trilogy is brimming with corrupt cops, greedy mobsters, and apathetic citizens. Only a few strive to distance themselves from the oppressed and oppressors; Bruce, Rachel, Gordon, and Dent. With the odds clearly not in their favor, viewers discover that the endeavor of good versus evil is not an easy one, but one that these characters must endure... with their very lives.
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| Prisoner... Batman or Gotham? |
You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain, Harvey explains to Bruce and Rachel. Gotham's White Knight. Unbeknownst to Dent at the time, he would come to realize those words the hard way. As Gotham's DA, Harvey constantly had to prove his naysayers wrong. In a city overflowing with crooked crops, mobsters and politicians, Dent eventually falls under the weight of his altruistic struggles. As a result, Two-Face is born thru fire, thanks in part to the Joker's 'all part of the plan' scheme. In the end of the second film, The White Knight falls from grace, killing a couple of cops; the Joker triumphant. With his death, it appeared that Gotham would be lost within the anarchy created by the Clown Prince of Crime. Batman took it upon himself to take the fall. Gotham believes in Harvey Dent, the question is for how long?
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| Harvey: Dude, Joker! You said you'd quit messing with my campaign posters. Not cool bro, not cool. |
The only honest cop amidst a sea of utterly crooked cops. Batman sought out Jim's assistance and trust early in the first film and the rest, as they say, was history. Gordon forms the backbone in his partnership with Batman. He serves as a liaison between Batman and the GCPD. In Begins, Gordon proves his merits as an ally are irreplaceable. The second movie takes it up a notch in depicting a tale of three decent men in an indecent time with Gordon in the middle. Jim receives a brutal first hand lesson in the effects of escalation, something he probably never imagined as he stood waiting for Batman's arrival as the Batsignal lit the night sky as Begins ended. Now world weary and consciously debilitated under the lie behind Dent's death, can Gordon still endure?
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| Don't let the eyewear fool you, Gordon owns! |
Batman: a symbol for positive action; the will to act, or a figure for exalting turmoil? Nolan and crew challenge the audience by posing the question on what happens when you have a man dressed up in a bat-suit take on organized crime. Obviously, he's meant to clean up the streets, but what are the long-term effects it will have on the city's citizens. For some, angry or displeased hockey-padded yahoos who are convinced they have just as much right to dress up as a masked vigilante as Bruce does. Oh, and unfortunately for a Batman still early in his career, a foe he also cannot fully comprehend leading into 'number two' of this countdown. We start carrying semiautomatics, they buy automatics, we start wearing Kevlar, they buy armor piercing rounds, and you're wearing a mask and jumping off rooftops...
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| Take this guy: armed robbery, double homicide. Got a taste for the theatrical, like you. Leaves a calling card. |
Introduce a little anarchy, disrupt the established order and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos, Joker explains to a flustered Two-Face. Mr. Ledger, you indeed performed at a level I could describe in so many ways, but feel the most fitting word would be 'epic-worthy.'It was definitely a performance for the ages, and this not coming from someone conforming to the bandwagon. Team Nolan opted to reserve a more familiar villain for the the film's second outing as evidenced by the teaser ending Begins. From the onset until the final moments of The Dark Knight, the Clown Prince of Crime wreaked complete havoc on every level of Gotham. Politicians, cops (crooked or honest), mobsters, defense attorney's. ordinary citizens, and a certain billionaire garbed in black; no one was safe. Alfred explains to a confounded Bruce, Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn. Imagine a speeding 10-wheeler engulfed in flames crashing through car after car, flattening people left and right, and that is exactly what the Joker represents. There is nothing premeditated in his actions, he just does what he does, for the shrill *gulp* enjoyment of it. Nolan confirmed that there will be no mention of Heath's Joker in the final movie in respect to his memory. I completely understand where Nolan is coming from, although I disagree to some degree. It's a shame honestly.
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| Soaking in the chaos |
The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules, Joker taunts Batman. This very moment has been building up since the reveal at the end of Begins and when it finally happens, it's a collision of epic proportions. Batman subduing multiple victims shrouded in darkness, the tumbler intercepting a blast from a bazooka, the ridiculous truck flip preceded by the intense pursuit of the Batpod; the interrogation scene trumps them all, it was the centerpiece of the second film. This is the moment when the shit hits the fan. Gordon and Batman believe they are in complete control with the Joker in police custody, only to find out that the clown always has an ace up his sleeve, and that its effects on them will be disastrous and life altering. Even with the Dark Knight Rises out, it's difficult to imagine Nolan and crew outmatching this unforgettable scene as two opposing ideologies clash; paying much deserved respect to the Batman mythos.
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| Unstoppable force meets immovable object |
What more can I explain about this. Batman goes into hiding after he and Gordon decide to cover up Dent's unforgivable actions. Eight years has passed since the second and third film. We'll just have to see if the mark left by Bruce in his absence has convinced the inhabitants of Gotham that only a figure of true justice can save them now. Full circle folks. If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you, then you become something else entirely...
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| A legend... Mr. Wayne |
Enjoy the movie my comic movie brethren!
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