The Dark Knight

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The Dark Knight

Director	Christopher Nolan
Producer(s)	Christopher Nolan Charles Roven Emma Thomas
Writer(s)	Christopher Nolan Jonathan Nolan David S. Goyer
Release Dates	AU: July 16, 2008 NA: July 18, 2008 UK: July 24, 2008
Running Time	152 minutes
Sequel to	Batman Begins

The Dark Knight is a 2008 movie based around the famous comic-book character, Batman. The film was co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan and is a direct sequel to Batman Begins, which was released three years earlier. The movie follows the story of Batman (Christian Bale) and Distric Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) as they struggle to keep Gotham City safe from the mob and a new criminal called "The Joker" (Heath Ledger).

Prior to the film's release, The Dark Knight had already sold more pre-sale tickets to first day showings than any movie in history. It also became only the second movie to gross over $500 million in the United States. Hype surrounding the movie was at an all-time high as it was being fueled by a very creative and unique viral marketing campaign.

Plot

The film opens with The Joker and some of his henchman robbing a bank in Gotham City that is controlled by the mob. The Joker is able to escape with millions of dollars after his men are all killed. That night, Batman drops in on a meeting between Scarecrow and The Chechen, who is upset over the side effects from Scarecrow's Fear Toxin. Batman is able to capture Scarecrow (as well as a few Batman posers) but the Chechen gets away. After the encounter, Bruce Wayne has Lucius Fox re-design his batsuit to be more flexible and lightweight. Then, while having dinner with Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes, Bruce Wayne decides to host a political fundraiser for Harvey Dent in order to boost Dent's public image.

Mob Boss Salvatore Maroni, Gambol, and the Chechen have a meeting with other Gotham mobsters to discuss the issue of Batman and their missing money. Lau, a Chinese business man who is working with these men, assures them that their remaining money is safe after he had it moved and hidden because the police were moving in on the rest of it. At this time, Lau is flying back to Hong Kong to avoid being interrogated within the states. Meanwhile, Joker shows up at this meeting, and after killing one of Gambol's men who tries to capture him, offers his assistance in capturing Batman for half of their money. James Gordon tells Batman of Lau's departure and he ends off to Hong Kong to capture him. Once returned and given to the Gotham City Police Department, Lau gives up the name of the men working for him in exchange for his eventual freedom. Maroni, along with his accomplises, are taken into custody.

After Brian, one of the men posing as Batman, turns up dead, Joker releases a video over the air declaring that unless Batman reveals his true identity, more people will die. The Joker then ambushes the fundraiser for Harvey Dent, but Batman is able to protect the patrons, along with Rachel Dawes who gets thrown out of a window by The Joker. During this time, Judge Surillo is killed after her car blows up with her in it, Commissioner Loeb is poisoned, and James Gordon gets shot protecting the Mayor. After realizing he is at fault for these incidents, Batman intends to reveal his idenity to the city of Gotham, but before he can, Harvey Dent holds a press-conference declaring that he himself is Batman. It is part of his plan to draw the Joker out so Batman can capture him, and his plan is successful.

Batman and The Joker in interrogation scene

While The Joker is in custody, James Gordon is appointed the new Commissioner of the city after it is revealed he faked his death. Batman then interrogates Joker and finds out that both Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent are being held captive in seperate buildings, each rigged with explosives. After Batman leaves to save Rachel and Gordon after Dent, Joker is able to escape from his cell and uses a cell phone from one of the cops to trigger a bomb to go off within the building. Joker then lets Lau out of his cell and takes off with him. Meanwhile, Batman arrives at the address given to him by Joker only to find Harvey Dent tied up instead of Rachel. Batman is able to save Gotham's district attorney but Rachel Dawes isn't so lucky as the building she is in blows up, killing her. During their escape, Harvey Dent's face got burned from the explosion.

Joker is then seen in abandoned building with the Chechen and some of his men. Lau is handcuffed sitting atop his entire sum of money. Joker then burns the mountain of cash, killing Lau in the process. Joker insists that criminals these days only care about money, and that he intends to give Gotham a better class of criminal. Afterwards, Joker releases a video declaring that unless Mr Reese, Bruce Wayne's attorney who has found out his secret identity and plans to go public with it, is killed within a certain period of time, he will blow up a hospital. During an evacuation of Gotham General, Joker visits Harvey Dent and convinces him Batman and Gordon are the ones to blame for Rachel's death. Both men escape the building as it blows sky high.

With the city in a panic, Joker broadcasts staying that citizens of Gotham are not safe tonight. Tunnels and bridges are closed down in Gotham, forcing citizens to evacuate via ferry. Two in particular have been rigged with explosives, with one of the ferries containing ordinary city folk, with the other full of inmates from Arkham Asylum. Joker says that both ferries will be blown up at midnight, unless one of the ferries blows the other up. Each ship captain has been given a detonator.

Batman tracks down the Joker's location with the help of his friend Lucius Fox. After getting rid of his henchman and saving some hostages, Batman and Joker engage in a hand to hand fight. Batman is soon pinned down by Joker as midnight strikes, but neither ferry has blown up. Batman tells Joker that the people of Gotham City aren't as pathetic and selfish as Joker believed. Batman then stuns Joker and ties him up, leaving him for the police.

Commissioner Gordon gets a call from Harvey Dent, and he tells him that he has his family (wife and two kids) held up at the place where Rachel died. Batman finds out about this and goes to the location, finding that Dent has them all held at gunpoint. He wishes to exact revenge on them for letting Rachel die. Dent flips his coin to decide the fate of himself and Batman, afterwards shooting Batman in the stomach and sparing himself. Just as he flips his coin to determine whether Gordon's son lives or dies, Batman dives at Dent and knocks him out of the building. Batman is able to break his fall, but Dent is killed upon impact with the ground. Earlier in the night, Dent had killed a few dirty cops who were aligned with mob, but Batman didn't want him to take the fall for it. He wanted Gotham to remember Harvey Dent for being a symbol of what is right in the city, so Batman tells Gordon to send the cops after him. Batman then takes off on his Batpod with the police chasing behind.

Characters

Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale): The current owner of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce is a young, successful, and charismatic billionaire who spends his nights patrolling the streets of Gotham as Batman. He is highly athletic, proficient in the highest level of jujitsu, and is an excellent detective, sporting a new suit that is lighter and more flexible allowing him to be more agile. Batman continues his partnership with Lieutenant (eventually commissioner) Gordon, and then forms a partnership with Harvey Dent, the new district attorney. In spite of all he has done to assist in purging Gotham of its most dangerous criminals, Batman realizes that Gotham's true heroes are people like Harvey Dent, who managed to incarcerate a vast majority of the mob without assuming a secret identity.

Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine): Bruce Wayne's trusted butler, Alfred has served the Wayne family for several years. After Bruce's parents died, he became Bruce's legal guardian until Bruce was able to take care of himself. Alfred serves as more of an adviser to Bruce, often counseling him about the decisions he makes and about life in general. On more than one occasion, he has helped Batman whenever he found himself in a predicament.

Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhall): Bruce Wayne's childhood friend and love interest, Rachel spends most of her time finding ways to exploit and apprehend criminals who are involved in organized crime as the assistant district attorney. Having rejected Bruce, she begins to spend more time with Harvey Dent and eventually develops a close, however ephemeral relationship with him. Nevertheless, she maintains a strong friendship with Bruce Wayne, who is still pursuing her as a love interest.

Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman): The current commissioner after Loab's death, Gordon continues to actively fight criminal activity which has taken a turn for the worst with The Joker on the scene. He maintains positive relations with Batman, even saving him at one point from The Joker when he was temporarily incapacitated. He also gains assistance from district attorney Harvey Dent in apprehending the criminals involved in organized crime. However, their partnership is short-lived as an incident involving Dent caused the death of Rachel and the permanent disfiguration of the left side of Dent's face.

Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman): The new executive officer of Wayne Enterprises, Lucius is a well educated man who assists Bruce with his job as a businessman and as Batman. As CEO, Lucius handles most of the company's business plans and transactions, sometimes seeking assistance from Bruce. He also becomes more actively involved in assisting Batman, developing various new sophisticated gadgets for him and even redesigning his suit.

Harvey Dent/Two-Face (Aaron Eckhart): The current district attorney, Dent plays a crucial part in the arrest of several hundred members of mob organizations. His unrelenting passion for passing justice on the criminals of Gotham makes most of Gotham's criminals weary of him and has almost cost him his life on more than one occasion. On one fateful night, he and Rachel were kidnapped and held captive in two different warehouses both filled with barrels of gasoline and explosives. In that incident, although he survived, he suffered terrible burns that permanently disfigured the left side of his face, thus referring to himself as Two-Face. After he recovered, he began to take revenge on all the people for Rachel, who died in the aforementioned incident, starting with The Joker and ending with Commissioner Gordon. Two-Face kidnapped Gordon's family and took them to an abandoned building, where he threatened to kill Gordon's son in retribution for Rachel's life. Batman intervened, tackling Two-Face which sent them both flying off the side on the building and crashing to the ground two stories below. Harvey unfortunately died in the encounter, and Batman decided to take the blame for his actions, preventing the destruction of Dent's reputation as Gotham's "White Knight" which would undo all that he did as district attorney.

The Joker (Heath Ledger): The Joker is described as a murderous, psychopathic schizophrenic who delights in the suffering of mankind. At the onset of the film, The Joker seems like nothing more than a common criminal trying to plunder the wealth of society, though his antics are rather unconventional. The Joker, to many people's dismay, proves to more of a dangerous threat than anyone predicted. As time progresses, The Joker begins to reveal his satanic self by brutally murdering several people on the premise of spreading a message of anarchy and chaos. He expresses no sympathy or compassion for others, enemy and ally alike.

Gallery

Poster	Poster	Teaser Poster	Teaser Poster
Teaser Poster	Teaser Poster	Batman	Bruce Wayne
Alfred Pennyworth	Rachel Dawes	Harvey "Two-Face" Dent	The Joker
Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow