So yesterday on a whim, I decided to watch all three Nolan Batman films — Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, in one day.
Why did I choose to rewatch something instead of watching the countless brilliant movies already out there? I don’t know. Maybe there is a comfort in Nolan films. They are realistic but detached from our socio-political reality in 2021. It reminds me of less polarising times.
Or maybe I just wanted to see a man wearing eyeliner, dressed in black damage his vocal chords and beat up people. Who knows?
But the time that has passed since their release also makes me acknowledge, much to my dismay, that everyone’s favourite filmmaker, Christopher Nolan, is fallible. Things that led to Tenet(2021) being an emotionally hollow technical marvel were always present in his work.
Tension and Editing
We think Nolan, we think big screen, huge practical set pieces, mind-bending concepts. We do not think — editing. But really, this is what makes The Dark Knight an absolute marvel.
The tension, the game of chess, the cat and mouse chase, the clash of Joker’s nihilism with Batman’s existentialism; all these make The Dark Knight. We enjoy watching the conflicts escalate and resolve. Nolan uses the renowned rule of three and applies it to editing to maximise the conflict.
Let’s take the opening scene of The Dark Knight for instance and break it down as a five-minute short film.
Scene Analysis — Bank Robbery
This scene serves to introduce the Joker. So first and foremost, through the opening conversation between the bank robbers, Nolan establishes what the criminals of Gotham currently think of the Joker.
Then the scene splits its focus in three.
First, the scene focuses on the robbers on the roof. The betrayal there raises the stakes and increases the tension. The murder of the robber at the roof also sets up the mob bank angle.
The second scene is the interaction of the two robbers (one of them being Joker himself) and their interactions with the people of the bank.
Again, build up.
The third focus, which is the smallest of them all and easily missed, is the attention that is paid to the bank manager. It is a medium shot that lingers on him for a few seconds. He remains calm and silently powerful.
Now that the three pieces are set, the director chooses to show only the most important parts of all three focuses. Rapidly cutting to whichever scene has the maximum tension at any given moment.
As soon as the tension upstairs subsides, a new conflict pops up. We see the bank manager spring into action with his shotgun. As Joker neutralises this point of conflict, a third conflict arises. One of the thugs realises that he is about to be killed next leading to the absolutely unexpected bus reveal.
Everyone is now dead except for the last thug.
After these 3 points of tension de-escalate, “Who is Joker ?”, the first question asked in the scene is finally answered, in a dramatic reveal in the conclusion of this 5-minute scene. Along with Hans Zimmer’s single deep note, a close up shot reveals the Joker as he imposes himself on the trembling Bank manager, who was in a position of power only a few seconds ago.
The gas grenade gag along with Joker’s absolute disregard for human life sets up the unpredictability and apathy of the character.
Nolan has applied this principle of cross-cutting to multiple conflicts at the same time throughout the movie, making it such a thrilling watch.
Notably, this technique is observable in the Harvey Dent- Rachel double bomb scene. Cutting between Harvey, Rachel, Batman, Joker and Joker’ thug in the holding cell.
And also in the final scene of the film; between the two boats, Batman and the SWOT team.
Story and Character Structure
On a larger scale story structure-wise, we can see three different stories play out for three characters that are perfect foils for each other.
Batman (The Dark Knight of Gotham)
Harvey Dent (The White Knight of Gotham)
Joker
The reason the characters work so well in The Dark Knight is that they are fundamentally similar but have some glaring differences that cause all the conflict in the film. We do not only observe their characters in isolation and facing the consequences of their actions but also in opposition to the other characters in the story.
All these 3 characters can be seen as “What-If” scenarios for each other. This is what is known as a foil.
Batman-Harvey Dent
They both want to lock up criminals and clean up the city. They are both passionate and unafraid about their causes. Rachel clearly has a type. The difference lies in their approach and surprisingly, their extremism.
There are two ways to solve a problem, revolution vs reform. You can either burn down the system and let something else take its place, or you can work within the system. In Batman Begins, Batman refuses Ra’s Al Ghul’s revolution, choosing reform instead. Bruce Wayne, despite his night-time antics, is a moderate liberal. Harvey Dent also sides with reform but watching the corruption in the police following the death of Rachel, he goes the way of Revolution.
Bruce Wayne is aware of his flaws but Harvey is too self-righteous to see them leading to his eventual downfall.
Batman — Joker
This has been done to death so I won’t spend a lot of time here.
Both Batman and Joker are active characters with strong wills. They understand the importance of theatricality and have severe mental health issues. Though he faces existentialist issues, Batman has a strict code of Kantian morals(based on reason and consistency of morals), Joker, on the other hand, believes that man inherently does not possess any morals and thus the only way to live is without rules.
He is nihilistic but what makes him interesting is that he is not passive. Joker is a psychopath but he is not “crazy”, ironically he does all this to prove a point.
Joker — Harvey Dent
Again, both men possess great will. They both also end up sharing a liking for revolution. Harvey realises that there are truly no rules to life. Faced with life’s utter lack of meaning, along with his fiance’s death, pushes him to accept chance as something that is truly unbiased.
His autocratic beliefs are hinted at during the conversation where he discussed the concept of the ancient Romans where they “suspended democracy” and appointed one man to protect the city.
What Went Wrong
Batman Begins is too much of a fairytale. It is a classic superhero film whose first two acts perfectly fit in with the previous era of superhero films. Even the visuals, colour scheme and character archetypes are quite 90s.
Notice the colours and shot composition. It almost looks like a shot from Home Alone.
The Exposition
The exposition is atrocious.
Most of the flashbacks of Bruce’s childhood are set in one day. That is the one day where he falls in the well, gets a phobia of bats, learns what his father does in the city, is introduced to the train, watches his parents die. His parents are portrayed as one-note caricatures who deliver exposition at cue.
Rachel and Bruce just constantly talk about the day he fell into the well or the fact that they knew each other as children. We get it you are childhood friends. Rachel, Bruce’s “heart”, is the weakest aspect of the film. Time and again we see Nolan struggle with the more human aspects of filmmaking.
The Action
Both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight have poorly done fight scenes. They consist of nauseating, quick-cut editing which is disorienting. Usually, in fight scenes, the blame can be attributed to the actor’s ability to perform the choreography. But Christian Bale is renowned for his dedication to his craft. The problem lies with direction here.
Although this was improved a lot in The Dark Knight Rises. The two fight scenes between Batman and Bale are gritty and brutal. The foley sounds sell it completely.
The Dark Knight Rises
No question, this film is a mess. But at least it looks good while being a mess.
The film switches between IMAX digital and film cameras in action scenes or establishing shots. The IMAX scenes look absolutely gorgeous.
The problem with The Dark Knight is not its plot holes as most people like to think. You do not care about plot holes when there are great characters on screen in conflict.
The problem is that Bane and Miranda (Talia Al Ghul) do not share a philosophical conflict with Batman as Joker and Ra’s Al Ghul did. Their motivations can be chalked up to personal vendetta and achieving Ra’s Al Ghul’s goal. They themselves have nothing to offer.
Bruce’s primary conflict in this film is that he cannot let go. He is no longer fit enough to be Batman. So he faces an enemy so physically formidable that he realises this. But another way to go could be for the antagonist to share his inability to let go. The fight would be between two veterans then where Bruce would ultimately learn from his antagonist’s stubbornness.
Nolan chooses to end the film quite abruptly, closing any emotional arcs for the sake of it. Let’s break down This 5-minute ending sequence at the end of The Dark Knight Rises.
Scene Analysis — TDKR Ending
Within the first minute, the scene establishes the problem at hand. A quick cutaway to Fox visually demonstrated the problem at hand. Set scene.
My first problem. Talia was the primary antagonist. She betrayed Bruce and she was the reason for the whole debacle. In the final moments of her death, she is used as an exposition dump, a way to reach the end of the film.
The cutaway to John Blake, where he asks children to get back on the bus serves no purpose. It would have been used to establish some other conflict, instead, he is made a spectator to Batman’s heroics.
The third problem. During the entire film, Bruce and Selina have no chemistry. In an abrupt conversation between the two, they kiss. It seemed that the director was checking off items on a checklist rather than building tension.
Bruce’s red herring that he did not have autopilot was set up twice before in the film in a similar fashion. Utilising the rule of three, Nolan brings up the autopilot again. Unfortunately, it is done crudely. Bruce just lies.
Jim Gordon and Batman’s final exchange. The final line of dialogue is fantastic. A brilliant reference to the first film. But yet again, it is out of place and out of character for Gordon.
Finally, Batman zooms off into the sunset and the bomb explodes.
These five minutes try to do everything; give Bruce and Gordon a moment, culminate Selina and Bruce’s tension, solve a ticking time bomb problem.
However, nothing lands. It all falls flat. It is disconnected, disjointed, unnecessary.
In Conclusion
Either you die a hero, or live long enough to come to the heartbreaking realisation that the batman films were actually flawed.
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