Question: Who is the actor that plays the bank clerk at the start of the film (the one with the shotgun)? He's really familiar, but I can't put a name to his face.
Answer: It's William Fichtner. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001209/.
Question: Still can't quite get this to make sense: why would the citizens of Gotham buy the story that Batman killed the five people, as planned by Gordon and Batman in the effort to maintain Dent's status as a hero, so as to keep hope alive? Last word from Harvey was to the reporter: "Batman saved my ass." Other reasons the fake story might not be believed are that Batman has never killed anybody before. As well, what would his motivation be? Are they planning to cover up the kidnapping of the Gordons, saying that Batman was there alone with Harvey Dent and killed Harvey? Why would any of that happen? And asking the Gordon family who underwent trauma to lie about how it happened is taking a big chance, especially since there are kids involved, who might slip. Thematically, the ruse makes sense, and it makes sense that Batman would be willing to be hunted. But I don't see why the citizens wouldn't question why he killed the people.
Answer: Harvey's never killed anybody before either, and what would his motivation be? In the absence of direct evidence, people will generally believe what they find it most comforting. The citizens of Gotham will not want to believe that the decent, trust-worthy, law-abiding man that they elected as their protector could have been torn down and turned into a monster, dispensing life or death at the flip of a coin. Batman, on the other hand, is entirely self-appointed, hides his identity and uses tactics that are often very similar to those of the criminals themselves - people would find it far easier to believe that he could somehow snap and descend to killing. Yes, there will always be questions, rumours about what really happened, but the vast majority of people will accept the fake story that they're presented with, simply because it's easier for them to do so than to consider the alternatives.
Question: When the joker escapes the interrogation room he has a sharp object against his hostage's neck. Is it a shard of glass or a knife? It looks like a knife, but there was a shard of glass behind him in an earlier shot (that had magically appeared).
Question: When the joker is caught by the police he does not talk to any of his henchmen regarding a revision of plans. Then how can the Joker have planned all along that Dent and Rachel get kidnapped and rigged to explosives - before unsuccessfully trying to kill Dent with a bazooka? Had Batman's tumbler not hindered the missile's trajectory it would have hit the side of the van, killing Dent - ruining the plan involving Dent and Rachel and the explosives. Furthermore the Joker thought Dent was Batman so he could not have anticipated the tumbler would take the hit from the bazooka and allow his master-plan to live on. And the Joker's plan to get caught also came down to Gordon, whom the Joker's plan could not have taken into account because he was believed dead. Everything in Joker's plan seems meticulously planned (i.e. knowing that police will call in a helicopter and that it will fly by exactly where henchmen are posted with wire-guns etc.) - but how can his plan be so flawless that it takes every implausible twist of events into account? Had these implausible twists not happened (so that everything is as it seems and Gordon is really dead, Dent is the Batman; Joker fires the bazooka into van killing Dent alias Batman) then isn't Joker's further plan completely ruined?
Answer: He's anticipating, covering his options ahead of time. He knows that the police have access to helicopters, so he positions his henchmen along the route to take one down. He knows that he could get captured, so he arranges things to ensure his escape in that eventuality; kidnapping Dent and Rachel to distract the cops and sneaking the bomb in to allow him to break out. He doesn't need to contact his people to say that there's a change of plan, because his henchmen already have orders how to proceed in particular situations. None of this is implausible, none of this somehow relies on impossible foreknowledge. It's purely and simply the Joker anticipating possible outcomes (of which there are few variations - largely just success or failure) and planning ahead what to do if they occur.
The joker wanted Dent dead, plain and simple. He organized several scenarios to make that happen.
Question: Batman is able to deduce the fingerprint from the the bullet hole in the wall. How is it that the Joker knows that Batman has this ability? As soon as the fingerprint is identified, (which ends up not being Joker's real identity; random thug?) he is able to set up a window shade to go off like clockwork? Designed to get police snipers to shoot at the window. Was it set up by the Joker? If so, was it an intended trap for Batman? How did he expect Batman to find the room with the tied up cops without prior knowledge of Batman's abilities?
Answer: The whole thing's a distraction, not for Batman, but for the Gotham City Police Department. Something to get the attention of all the snipers, while the Joker's standing right there, directly in front of the mayor with his henchmen and a load of rifles. Point the attention of the authorities elsewhere for a moment and it gives him the chance to kill the mayor and escape cleanly (which he does). There's nothing to suggest that he expected Batman to locate it. If he had, he undoubtedly would have set up something more interesting for Batman to find rather than just a bunch of tied-up cops, who, as we see, are able to tell Bruce exactly what the Joker's up to. Given his plan to assassinate the mayor, the Joker wouldn't have left people who could spoil his plan anywhere that he expected them to be found.
Question: Why does the mob boss keep reappearing in the movie? Wasn't he thrown in jail in the scene with Dent and Rachel in the courtroom and all the mobsters shouting at once? Does the joker set him free? But then why does Gordon not arrest him again in the hospital?
Answer: Nope, the trials never got to the stage where Maroni faced jail. The first time, the star witness changed his story on the stand (plus tried to shoot Dent). The second time, when all the mobsters were present, Maroni had the money to make bail, so he's out again. Then the judge was murdered, leaving nobody to try the case anyway. Maroni's walking the streets on entirely legal grounds - Gordon has no reason to arrest him when they encounter each other at the hospital. Plus Maroni may be his only source that could possibly lead him to the Joker; arresting him wouldn't exactly help with that.
Question: In the very beginning in the fight between Batman and Scarecrow, Batman grabs a rifle and bends it with his bare hands. I've never known Batman to have super strength before. I know he is strong and agile above Olympic levels, but not to be able to bend metal. Or does his Batsuit give him a boost in strength? This is something also that would be new since Batman is known for his utility belt and being the greatest detective in the world, but not for super powers.
Question: Just wondering, does Jim Gordon realize in any of these two movies that Bruce Wayne is in reality the Batman? Because when Bruce and Gordon talk after Bruce crashes his Lamborghini, they talk as if they don't know each other.
Answer: No, there's no indication that Gordon has any idea.
Answer: In the first movie, he became a recluse then disappeared for several years. They never stayed in contact with one another. Even after Bruce returned they only spoke when he was Batman. While Gordon was trying to fight crime and corruption, Bruce was playing the boozy Playboy millionaire.
Question: Why did Batman ask Lucius to type his name into the sonar machine? And why did he walk away after typing it?
Chosen answer: It's a destruct code that Bruce set up in advance. He knows that using the machine is going way over the line, ethically speaking, but realises that that's what he has to do to catch the Joker. Fox also recognises the ethical implications of what Bruce is doing - he even threatens to resign over it once the Joker is captured. Bruce simply gives Fox the destruct code to use once the job's done. Fox types it in and walks away as the machine destroys itself.
Question: Why does Batman say he is going after Rachel when Gordon asks him, then go to rescue Harvey Dent? Did the Joker switch the addresses on purpose? But then why didn't Batman show any surprise when he's expecting to find Rachel and finds Dent instead?
Answer: Yes, the Joker switched the addresses on purpose. Batman arguably shows brief surprised when finding Dent, but his expression's hard to read as we're mainly shown Dent's reaction. I'd argue it's intentionally left a bit vague as to whether Batman knew the Joker would lie and intentionally went to the "Rachel" address in order to rescue Dent, or else intented to rescue Rachel but by the time he realised the deception what else could he do?
Batman is running on pure emotion at that point, when he learns the locations. There is no way he is going to purposely let Rachel die, no matter what the consequences. This is essentially the love of his life, his soul mate. He is not going to just let her die to save Dent. Joker knew that by the time he gave up the addresses, he would have Batman not thinking. He won't stop and think "Maybe he switched the addresses."
Question: How is it that nobody would notice a school bus driving out of a broken wall to a bank? People and cars were going by as the bus drove out of the rubble and mangled building as if nothing was out of the ordinary. I know this is Gotham, but wow.
Chosen answer: Some of the cars would have seen it, but what matters is that the police arriving did not see it. By the time the police start taking statements from people on the street or inside the bank (they would have seen the bus too), the bus would be long gone.
Question: Why couldn't both Harvey and Rachel be saved?
Chosen answer: There was not enough time. Only the Batmobile was fast enough to save one of them, hence the police being late to the other location. The Joker made sure one would die.
Assuming they sent all the other units to find Dent (Rachel instead), wouldn't it have been helpful and faster to send some cop patrolling near that location to save her? As fast as Batman was with his technology, another cop who might have been close to the location could have gotten there in time I would guess. Or am I missing something?
I think several things are in play (but me speculating). First, the cops were busy trying to safeguard Dent and then apprehend the Joker. Think Die Hard 3 were all the cops were so busy "you could steal City Hall." So while there might be some cops on patrol, not close enough. But given the level of precision in Joker's plan, it seemed like the explosion was going to go off when the cops got there, so even if they got there sooner, the place would still explode.
But I will admit that the Joker's "precision" really seems to be sheer dumb luck that we're suppose to accept as his criminal mastermind plan.
Yes, it could be indeed or maybe like Nolan said: Joker is a mysterious unstoppable force (resourceful one at that) that suddenly appeared. Gotham's extreme corruption at the time allowed for a psychotic (or anarchist if you will) one like Joker to play his cards with more freedom as well, which I think some people forget to consider. In that sense, Bane had to do things differently because the aforementioned aspect was highly reduced after TDK events.
True. With many things at play, possible situations and Joker's preparation, there can be multiple reasons why everything happened the way it did (the film makes a wise decision to not over explain this and leave it to imagination), specially because Joker most likely wanted one of them to die, or they would have both died anyway since explosion occurred either way. Based on everything Joker did, maybe it was always supposed to be Rachel. He wanted to make a point with Dent and Bats after all.
Question: When Batman rescues Harvey in the warehouse, Rachel says something but is cut off when the bomb explodes. "Harvey I have to tell you something. Som..." Does anyone know what is said? This is driving me crazy.
Chosen answer: Don't know what version of the film you were watching, but in the one I have, their final conversation runs like this. Rachel: "Harvey, just in case, I want to tell you something, okay?" Harvey: "Don't think like that, they're coming." Rachel: "I know they are, but I don't want them to. I don't want to live without you and I do have an answer for you. My answer is yes." Bruce then arrives and drags Harvey from the room and Rachel's final words are "Harvey, it's okay. It's alright. Listen. Som..." and then the bomb detonates. What Rachel tells Harvey is a reply to his proposal earlier in the film, telling him that she will marry him, something that she says quite successfully before she's killed. What she may have gone on to say is unknown, but she certainly got out what she had to tell him. As she speaks after discovering that someone's come to rescue Harvey, it seems likely she's about to say "someone will come for me too" or similar.
Question: If Bruce Wayne's penthouse was so safe, how did the Joker manage to bust into it during the fund-raising party? Also, if the penthouse was safe, why in the world did Alfred let the girlfriend just leave?
Answer: Wertz is shown at the door holding up his badge as the Joker bursts in. The implication (to the party guests and the audience at the time) is that Wertz was forced to use his police credentials to get past building security. We find out later that Wertz is dirty and probably was ordered by Maroni to help the Joker. Alfred lets Rachel leave because she insists that she is safe, since she was never the Joker's intended target.
Answer: The Joker got in there during the chaos of a party; people are coming and going, guests, caterers, waiters - security is inevitably going to be compromised under such circumstances. Later on, when only Bruce and Alfred should be present, the place is much more secure. As for Alfred letting Rachel leave, what choice does he have? He can hardly keep her there against her will. Short of resorting to physical restraint, he can't stop her leaving and trying to do so, when she's already angry at Bruce for letting Harvey pretend to be Batman, would only annoy her further.
Question: Why couldn't Batman just follow Lau to his house and kidnap him there instead of this elaborate plan with the plane?
Answer: To add to the other answer, Lau is likely to have heavy security no matter where he is, so an equally elaborate plan would be necessary even if he left his tower.
Answer: Lau probably lives and works at his tower.
Question: When there is a street march and the mayor nearly gets killed, what was the timer on the window sill supposed to do and why did Bruce get shot at by one of the police snipers when it opened? Even if Bruce was a supposed assassin trying to kill the mayor, he could have just been looking out the window, so why did he instantly get shot at?
Chosen answer: The timer was there as a diversion for the police snipers. As soon as the timer ended the blinds went up causing a sudden movement alerting the snipers to it. They were probably trigger happy or identified the telescope as a weapon and thus they fired. Not unlikely as the threat of an assassination was very high.
Question: How did Ramirez know who the DNA on the Joker card belonged to (the commissioner, the judge, and Dent), considering that their DNA would have had to be in the system for comparative analysis? My understanding is that only criminals are in the system. The obvious answer is she had insider information but the bigger question is why would Gordon or any respectable police agency not question this fact?
Answer: It's possible that the Gotham Police Department works differently and most citizens of Gotham are in the system. It's also quite common that everybody involved with the police (commissioners, and former policemen included) has a DNA sample taken in case of accidental crime scene contagion. The judge could be in the system simply because she had her DNA taken as a youth for a small offence.
Question: My question is regarding the first shot of the film. You see the back of a henchman holding a clown mask with a suitcase. Later you realize that this is the Joker, however he is in full make up. So does this mean he was standing out in broad daylight without a disguise on at the very beginning?
Answer: Yes. No reason not to. Nothing's happened yet and people in a big city like Gotham would just walk past the guy with the weird makeup and not think anything of it. (And since they wear masks in the holdup, nobody's going to think that the guy in the mask is in weird makeup under it).
Batman was shown a joker card in an evidence bag at the end of Batman Begins so would not at least some of the police be looking for him?
This doesn't mean that the general public is on the lookout for a guy in makeup.
Answer: Harvey Dent dies after the Joker is finally in police custody, so the Joker couldn't have killed him. The only other people who could have killed him are Gordon or Batman. Blaming Gordon would be just as bad as saying Dent turned bad, so Batman took the blame. The film ends before anyone is officially blamed, so it's possible that the Joker could be blamed for some of the cops' deaths, but the death of Dent (which is the most symbolic) would still be blamed on Batman.
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