Brad

24th Feb 2014

The Dark Knight (2008)

Question: How did Dent figure out that Lau was dirty? Before the rooftop scene, where he yells at Gordon for not keeping him in the loop, there was never any indication that Dent was aware of Lau's dirty dealings.

Brad

Chosen answer: Lau transferred all the mob bosses' money to China and fled to Hong Kong, because he said the DA's office was about to raid the banks. So if Dent's office was keeping tabs on the mob accounts in preparation for the raid, they would have detected the transfers and linked them to Lau.

26th Feb 2013

The Dark Knight (2008)

Question: The whole point of the ending is that if it was revealed that Dent was a murderer, the criminals that he locked up would be released. Same thing with the fake cop he was threatening. I get all this, but here's the problem: Dent falsely proclaimed that he was Batman in front of the press. Yes, he was lying and the real Batman later showed up, clearing his name, but wouldn't it be just as damaging to Dent's image to show him as a vigilante thug that half of Gotham hates for being responsible for the deaths of innocent people? Surely, at least for a brief time, the locked up criminals would have sufficient grounds for appeal.

Brad

Chosen answer: It might, had the story lasted more than a few hours. Immediately after the Joker's capture, which occurs on the same evening as Dent's press conference, reporters are already asking Dent about working with the Batman, indicating that they're already aware that the story is false. From the public point of view, Dent told a lie in order to set himself up as bait to draw out a dangerous criminal. This can only enhance his reputation, and, given that the story lasted, at most, a few hours, there could be no possibility of any criminals managing to get an appeal in.

Tailkinker

19th Feb 2013

The Dark Knight (2008)

Question: Where did Harvey get the gun that he threatens Schiff with while interrogating him after Commissioner Loeb's funeral?

Brad

Chosen answer: I don't recall that it is specifically shown on film where Dent got the gun, but in the chaos of the shooting at memorial service and all of the police officers present it probably would not have been too difficult for Dent to find a gun, or take one from someone.

Answer: He's Gotham's DA, he would likely just carry a gun at all times for his own protection.

4th Jan 2013

The Dark Knight (2008)

Question: Why not just say that Harvey perished in the hospital explosion? It wouldn't cover up the people he killed, but still it would be painless and easy.

Brad

Chosen answer: Well, as you say yourself, it wouldn't cover up the people he killed. It would also immediately raise questions that couldn't be plausibly answered, principally why a senior public official was left to die in the explosion of a building from which everybody else had been evacuated. Likewise, it wouldn't explain how Dent's body was found a long way from the hospital a considerable time later - given the number of police officers who attended the scene, enough people would have seen the body that there's no realistic way it could have been kept a secret. Finally, there's a myth to be built; in terms of Dent's legacy, being brutally murdered at the hands of a crazed vigilante is a much better story to arouse public feeling than him simply dying in an impersonal explosion. For the apparently quite draconian Dent Act to be passed into law, Dent has to be seen as a martyr by the public, so that the public outrage is strong enough to allow such measures to be set up. The hospital explosion story, with all its holes, would never do for that; the story that they go with, that Batman killed him, works much better.

Tailkinker

23rd Jul 2012

The Dark Knight (2008)

Question: How on Earth did the Joker know that Reese wasn't dead when he blew up the hospital? It seemed like he just guessed and blew it up anyway.

Brad

Chosen answer: Why not? That'd be Joker's style to blow up the hospital anyway, so it's very likely he didn't care whether Reese was dead or not.

Phixius

25th Jul 2008

The Dark Knight (2008)

Question: Why did Batman ask Lucius to type his name into the sonar machine? And why did he walk away after typing it?

Brad

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.

Tailkinker

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