Question: Two questions: First, why didn't Dent kill the Joker in the hospital? Okay, he left it up to chance with a coin flip. But the coin was double-sided! So after all the agony, and all the crime busting Dent has been through and achieved, why let the Joker live? Secondly, and this is a pretty major thing, how is it the Joker knows every move that either Batman or the Police/Commissioner Gordon, etc., makes or has planned? It literally seemed like no matter what Batman did, the Joker correctly predicted his move and was already one step in front of the Batman. That seems a little ridiculously impossible to me, unless the Joker is one smart smart con man. Anyone else realize this?
Question: When Gordon comes back "from the dead", what does he say? There was so much screaming and clapping that I couldn't catch it.
Answer: He says "We got you, you son of a bitch."
Question: Does the Joker win since Batman becomes the villain? And does the Joker have a plan even though he says he doesn't?
Answer: You could certainly say that the Joker won - he tore Harvey Dent down from a highly-principled man to an insane vigilante; he turned Batman into a villain in the eyes of the general population, he brought chaos to Gotham. As for a plan, not really. His aim in the world is pretty much to spread chaos and confusion around the place - as such, he'll come up with ways to do that, which are obviously plans of a short-term nature, but he doesn't really have any sort of long-term scheme, which is the sort of thing he's talking about when he refers to plans.
Question: Near the end of the film, we are shown what is presumably a memorial service to a deceased Harvey Dent. Yet, I read on IMDB a few days back that Aaron Eckhart, the actor who plays Dent, has signed up for a sequel. My question is this: since Eckhart IS coming back, does that mean the memorial service, and the smashing of the Batsignal were mere speculation on Gordon's part, or is he brought back to life somehow, despite Nolan's insistence on a "realistic" take on Batman?
Answer: There's no way to know as the next film isn't written yet. While Dent's demise could have been faked, it's also possible he'll be back only in flashbacks, or that the rumour of him signing up for a sequel is wrong. The answer is not knowable at this time.
Question: Does Two-Face (Harvey Dent) die at the end? The film makers make it seem as if he does die from the fall, however, Two-Face is the main villain along with The Riddler in another film. Even if they don't plan on making another movie with Two-Face as the villain, they left the question of whether he's alive open.
Answer: The suggestion appears to be that Harvey dies - Gordon and Bruce talk as if he's no threat any more and certainly show no rush to call an ambulance or to restrain Harvey, as you might expect if he was still alive. You can ignore Two-Face's appearance in Batman Forever - the two franchises have no connection other than character.
Question: Commissioner Gordon's son, not the daughter, is featured as a Batman admirer. In the sequel, is there going to be a Robin that's the Commissioner's son, even though Joker's semi had the circus on the side?
Answer: There's no indication at all that the creators of the current film series intend to add Robin as a character and given the aim towards a certain realism in the film series, it's hard to see how they could realistically work the character into the film. Christian Bale, for his part, has stated that if they try to introduce Robin, he'll chain himself to something in his trailer and refuse to come out until they ditch the idea.
Question: Towards the end of the film while Harvey has fallen on the ground and Batman says, "The Joker won", what does he say after that? And what does he mean by this? I watched this in the cinema but was a bit 'distracted' towards the end.
Answer: They say that the Joker "won" because he managed to make Dent, a truly good person, become evil, which would show Gotham that everyone is evil at heart. That everyone is capable of corruption, and that there is no hope to save Gotham. Batman then explains that they have to hide what Dent has done. They need to cover-up the murders he committed and make them look like Batman did them. Dent is a much better symbol for the people than Batman, and Batman knows that if they find out the things he has done, their spirits will be crushed. Batman and Gordon decide they have to make Dent look like the hero and Batman look like the villain in order to keep the people of Gotham fighting for what is right.
Question: This is minor, but it's driving me crazy. Does anyone know why does the Mayor wear heavy eye-liner? I understand that actors wear make-up sometimes but this is very noticeable.
Answer: He doesn't. That's just the way the actor's eyes look. It's seen in everything he does.
Question: Has there been any information as to will happen to Joker's character who was not killed off in the film? Will it be retired or recast?
Answer: At the moment, no, there hasn't. Plans for a third film are only in the very early stages; while Nolan may have a few ideas about what he wants to do, it's highly unlikely that any detailed story proposal exists at this point. In all likelihood, Ledger's death will probably lead to the character's retirement, but, if using the character proves to be necessary for the story that they want to tell, I'm sure that they'll do their best to recast.
Question: Doesn't Batman show up only during the night? If I'm not mistaken, I believe he showed up during the day in the movie, no?
Answer: Batman shows up when he's needed. If that means appearing during the day, that's what he does. While, yes, he generally does his stuff at night, it wouldn't be terribly heroic of him to fail to save somebody or foil a crime just because the sun hadn't gone down yet.
Question: I was wondering if I had missed something. Near the end of the film the Joker has rigged the two boats w/explosives, and has said if one of them doesn't destroy the other by midnight, they will both blow up. So, why, at midnight, do they not both blow up? I don't remember seeing the scene where that detonator was found and dismantled. I suppose it could all have been a ruse, and the Joker was certain one of the boats would blow up the other, so he had no need to carry through with his real threat, but then again, earlier in the film, he had talked about how his consistency would be a thing gotham could count on. If he said, for example, he was going to blow up a hospital, then it would happen and people would derive some sort of comfort from that. So what happened with the two boats? And I know the Joker is crazy and might not always act rationally, but this does seem to fly in the face of the character. In fact, it would seem more likely that he would hope neither would destroy the other just so both would explode and there would be more carnage. Can anyone help out?
Answer: He was sure that one boat would blow up the other, but the goodness in the people on the boats showed through and they didn't do it. He pulls out his own detonator (saying something along the lines of "if you want something done properly, do it yourself" and was about to blow them both up when Batman threw him off the building which made him drop the detonator. We didn't see it destroyed, but we can assume it broke when it hit the ground.
Question: The minor character of Mr. Reese sounds very similar to the word mysteries, could he be a future Riddler?
Answer: Unless the name Reese is subsequently revealed to be an alias, it's unlikely. The two films so far have been consistent with the comics with regard to the real names of characters; the Riddler's name in the comic universe is Edward Nigma (or Nygma).
Question: I know this question isn't specifically related to the movie itself, but I thought it was something interesting to ask: There's a lot of buzz that Heath Ledger might get posthumously nominated for his role as "The Joker." If that happens, could he win? Or asked another way, how many actors have won an Oscar posthumously, if any, in motion picture history?
Answer: Peter Finch is the only actor to have won a posthumous Oscar for Network (1977). Sidney Howard posthumously won Best Screenplay for Gone with the Wind (1939). James Dean was posthumously nominated for East of Eden (1956) and Giant (1957) but didn't win.
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: How was Batman able to get to Harvey Dent faster than police to Rachel? I mean, I can think Bat's technology being way faster of course. But for example: if all units were sent to Rachel's location, there might have been some units patrolling near her location so it would have been faster to have them go there first. Right? What other possibilities am I not considering?
Answer: I honestly think within the context of the movie, we are just meant to assume that most units are either at the police station (given a high-profile terrorist suspect - the Joker - and many of his goons were just captured) or still at the scene of the massive chase that just occurred earlier in the night, since there was a lot of destruction or chaos. Thus, there simply wouldn't be any available units closer to Rachel's location. It's a little far-fetched, sure... but it's basic "suspension of disbelief." It's required dramatically for the plot to progress. (Similar to the fact that in the sequel, many of the Gotham City PD got stuck underground by Bane... it's a little far-fetched, but it works for the plot.) Batman was simply able to get to Dent's location faster since he's using the batpod, which is a bit of a technological marvel and can get around much quicker and easier than a police car.
Answer: This could be a plot hole, but I would posit: Given how corrupt/easily corruptible the Gotham police are, it's likely the Joker may have bribed/threatened/otherwise coerced the beat cops to a) steer clear of the areas where he was holding Dent and Rachel, or b) ignore the call to go to that location. You're right that Batman's tech is what allows him to reach Dent faster than Gordon et al. Reach Rachel; the Joker set it up that way, so that whoever Batman saves means the other one dies.
Answer: Batman showed up only a few seconds before the GPD, they arrived as the building blew.
Question: When Gordon faked his death, many people think he faked getting shot, but if you look closely you'll see he really was shot. So how did he fake his death? He would've needed to go to hospital.
Chosen answer: Gordon is a smart man. He knew for sure that someone was going to try to kill the mayor so he hatched a plan just in case that went down. Since we see blood, it could be assumed that he was wearing a bulletproof vest with a fake blood pouch to make it seem more realistic. Some other officers knew about this plan, so they were more than likely the ones that transported him away quickly before anyone could see that he was faking.
Answer: Harvey's coin isn't identical on both sides any more. One side is pristine, one side is damaged (scratched and scorched), so it's truly a fair coin flip now. Joker persuaded Harvey to leave it to chance - the coin came up undamaged so Joker lives. As for predicting their moves, that's precisely the point - they are predictable, because they live their lives according to rules, laws and ethics. Joker, as an agent of chaos, has the edge over them because he doesn't. He's smart enough to know that people react in predictable ways in particular situations. So it's not that he has some mystical ability to know ahead of time what people will do, he just anticipates the most likely course of action and prepares something to counter that course of action ahead of time.
Tailkinker ★