The Dark Knight: The Deleted Scenes
August 1st, 2008 by Gavok
Usually, whenever a big comic book movie comes out, Im there with a little article about comparing the film to the novelization. After all, the novelizations are based on earlier scripts of the movie and shed some light on what was taken out. Sometimes things are for the better. Sometimes theyre for the worse.
Theres a reason Im so late with the Dennis ONeil adaptation of Dark Knight. While the books for Marvel movies come out about a month or so before release, it was decided, for spoiler purposes likely, that Dark Knight would be released as a strict-on-sale title. It came out the same day as the movie, but my Barnes and Noble didnt receive it until days later. As a fun aside, ONeil himself came to the store, wondering if we had it yet.
At first I wasnt even going to bother. Reading the book after seeing the movie didnt sound like as much fun. That decision changed after seeing what I have to call the best movie of the summer. I picked up a copy and spent the next week or so reading it.
I should point out that this is going to be spoiler-heavy, but this is a comic site and you are a person reading a comic site. If you havent seen Dark Knight by now and havent at least been spoiled about the scene where David Allen Grier appears as Oswald Cobblepot, then theres probably something wrong with you.
Theres something inadvertently comical about ONeils writing style. When he starts out the book, he gets very wordy. Very wordy. Recalling the events of the last movie is fine, but ONeil decides to share Bruces exploits from the time he tried skiing without Alfreds permission. Then he spends many, many pages on the backstory of the Scarecrow, otherwise known as the guy who showed up for maybe two minutes. Granted, its nice that he was able to bridge the end of Begins and how it led to his situation in Dark Knight, but for such an unimportant character, we didnt need a history lesson in why he became the Scarecrow in the first place.
Even sillier is backstory for that mobster with the dogs. Im sure we all wanted that. The part where it delves into Harvey Dents past is pretty brilliant, giving us a better grasp at his outlook and personality. The descriptions are longer around this point and it catches up to ONeil, who rushes the hell out of the second half.
To put things in perspective, the halfway point in the book has Batman still in China, picking up Lau. Not very far at all, is it?
Towards the end, ONeil blazes through scenes like a lightning bolt. Description is left to a minimum, typos reign supreme and some scenes are just dropped. Off the top of my head, theres the whole thing about Alfred burning Rachels letter and the ending scene where Lucius Fox types his name into the sonar machine and it self-destructs. Without that, it doesnt redeem Batmans actions and instead makes it look like he planned on continuing its use.
Its interesting to see that the dialogue is almost exact with the movie. While Iron Man was filled with a lot of improv, which gave it a lot of its charm, the actors in Dark Knight could only add to the scene instead of change. It shows that when you get past the growling voice that everybody seems to hate, Christian Bale is a good actor in the sense that he doesnt mess up the lines hes been given. Eckhart and Ledger ruled because they took great lines and punched them up. There are parts that you read where the movie version was so awesome, but it just doesnt come close to being as great in written form. Or things just arent included, like Jokers HIIIII! in the hospital and Um
yeah? during the mob meeting. Even the, Why so serious? bit comes across as more, well, serious instead of the tension-breaking delivery Ledger uses before slicing the victims neck.
Now lets get to the scenes that are missing in the movie. Most of this stuff falls into one of two categories. Either its something that ONeil invented for the story or its something really redundant that had no need in being in the movie. When the Dark Knight two-disc edition comes out, dont get too excited about the deleted material. Just skip to the dozen memorial clips about Heath Ledger.
- Alfred enters Bruces bedroom to find that Bruce isnt in it, but the bed had been slept in. In another room in the penthouse, he finds Bruce doing a kata. He explains that hes so used to being in shape that he finds himself unable to sit around and be dormant. They briefly argue about whether or not Bruce should remain fighting as Batman, as well as how he can continue it from the penthouse. The bunker is discussed as an alternative.
- Bruce meets with Rachel for a little bit and she also argues with him about his life as Batman, though far more persistent than Alfred. Her fear is that one day hes going to kill somebody, whether he means to or not. She thinks that this job will cause him to lose himself, but Bruce insists that he wont.
- Very strange Joker scene right before getting picked up for the bank job. He sees a bus coming down the street and theres an old woman waiting at the corner. Joker stalks over to her, making us expect him to shove her into traffic. Instead, the bus goes by, Joker taps the woman on the shoulder, gives her a hundred dollar bill and leaves. I dont get it either.
- The bank job is the same, but the order of segments is in a different order. The movie version feels far more natural.
- The Chechen, also known as the mob guy with the dogs, is told about the Scarecrow by a subordinate, who sets up the business deal between the two. Notable mention, the subordinates name is Burton.
- We see Scarecrow hook a junkie up with some of his fear-laced drugs for cheap. Scarecrow ends up killing him and makes a call, saying that he wants to examine the corpse more closely.
- Likely never filmed, but there is a flashback to explain how Harvey and Rachel got together in the first place. The two worked together and Harvey asked her to join him for coffee. Not wanting to go far with it, she agreed as long as she paid for herself. When discussing their thoughts on the law at the coffee shop, Harvey goes to pay for the bill. Rachel refuses at first, but Harvey pulls out his coin and says that if it lands heads-up, hell pay for it.
- Harvey becomes a media sweetheart and Batman doesnt trust it. He especially doesnt trust a news article that gives Harvey a picture-perfect biography. He thinks that something is up with Harvey and discusses his hunch with Alfred.
Nobody is that virtuous.
Perhaps you might consider speaking for yourself, Master Bruce.
Point taken. You are a saint.
I wouldnt say that. But you can.
Bruce then investigates Harveys real history. He discovers that Harveys parents were also dead, though he was a teenager at the time. It was a murder-suicide by his corrupt cop father, but the evidence suggested Harvey may have done it. Under the disguise of Charles Malone, Bruce pretends to be a reporter and talks to a detective who investigated the case. They wanted to stick it on Harvey, but he had an air-tight alibi and definitely didnt do it.
Bruce soon admits to Alfred that he was wrong about Harvey and that he just might be what the city needs. They share similar childhood tragedies, but Harvey worked his way up to where he was from scratch while Bruce had his money to fall back on. Though he has a newfound respect for him, he still feels bad knowing that Rachel will eventually leave Harvey for the man shes really in love with.
- On television, that one talk show host (at least I think it was him) goes on a long tirade about how Harry Dent is the citys true hero and that they dont need Batman around. Bruce watches this, feeling that theres a lot to the rant. Alfred waits for Bruce to elaborate on this feeling, but he instead just remains silent.
- Harvey reacts to the rant in the opposite way. On a car ride with Rachel, he explains that he thinks that the city needs Batman, at least for the moment. The two could have a strong partnership, with Batman going places and doing things that Harvey cant do due to his legal limitations. Rachel asks about what will happen when the streets are cleaned up and Harvey isnt sure. He hopes that Batman will just vanish and never be heard from again, causing uneasiness in Rachel.
- After the mob meeting, Maroni has one of his men look for every piece of information he can find on the Joker. A disheveled lackey comes to him days later, acting as if he doesnt believe in the Jokers existence. Then he starts laughing and gasps for air before falling over and going into convulsions, showing that the Joker poisoned him somewhere along the way.
- When the Batman imposters body is discovered, the note on his chest is stuck in with a knife. This was changed to a pin instead to keep it from an R rating.
- After Batman rescues Rachel at the party, Joker and his men ride off in an SUV. Joker talks about how Batman went after Rachel without second thought and wondered if hed do that for just anybody. Either way, Batman really is about saving the innocent and thats going to be his downfall. When one of the henchmen asks about Dent, Joker smiles and says, Oh, Im a man of my word.
- Alfred tends to Batman and they discuss how close Batman came to killing himself when he jumped for Rachel. Batman explains that he just had to trust the moment without having time to hope for the best.
- After getting the Jokers directions, instead of saying that hes going for Rachel, Batman gives a far colder reaction, Dent knew the risks. Gordon responds to his men, Hes going after Miss Dawes. That makes Dent our job.
- Rachels last words are Bruce
Harvey
I love you. Man, screw that. The MACGRUBER!! version is a million times better. MACGRUBER!!
- After the explosions, Gordon and his men spell it out that Joker purposely gave Batman the wrong addresses.
After that, there arent any anomalies. Just stuff ONeil forgot to mention. There really isnt anything up there that would have made Dark Knight a better movie with its inclusion. Its a pretty damn good edit job.
Oh, and for those of you who still cling onto the hope that Gordon has Harvey Dent hidden in Arkham for the third movie, hoping that somehow nobody figures out that Dent is alive and well? Dents dead. Neck twisted. Even in the shooting script that they now sell its crystal clear. Deal with it, hombres.
t:.....
