The Dark Knight The Official Plot holes thread.

[Indrid Cold]

In regards to the plot holes, whatever happened to suspension of disbelief?

 

[The_Raganork]

In regards to the plot holes, whatever happened to suspension of disbelief?

There hasn't been one valid plot hole in this thread yet

 

[Motown Marvel]

Ha!

 

[Rikxiepoo]

There hasn't been one valid plot hole in this thread yet

I agree. The only thing that comes close to being a plot hole is the hair changing color in the bank heist. But this is more of a make up flaw than plot-changing or damaging event.

 

[graveyardtramp]

While there wasn't anything like the silly and unbelievable microwave emitter from Batman Begins, a few MINOR plot holes I found in The Dark Knight were (and sorry if these have already been raised in the past 30 pages):

- How did the guy on the witness stand who tried to shoot Dent get a gun into court? Surely everyone entering a courtroom is thoroughly searched, especially if they are a suspected mob member testifying at a big trial. I guess this one could possibly be explained away by assuming Maroni paid a security guard off...

- In the Hong Kong segement, Bruce boards the smugglers' plane as Bruce Wayne, then a few hours later the smugglers are picking up Batman from a skyscraper in HK. Surely this would tip the smugglers off the Wayne is Batman? And if Wayne hired the plane anonymously one of the smugglers would surely recognise a famous face like Wayne's?

- Also in the HK segment, when Fox exits Lau's office building and he shows the guard that he alraedy has his mobile phone on him, would the guard really just toss the other phone back into the desk drawer? Lau is obviously very security concious...it seems strange the guard would not find this a bit suspicious and report the incident or have the phone left behind checked out carefully.

 

[Shedhut]

- How did the guy on the witness stand who tried to shoot Dent get a gun into court? Surely everyone entering a courtroom is thoroughly searched, especially if they are a suspected mob member testifying at a big trial. I guess this one could possibly be explained away by assuming Maroni paid a security guard off...

Remember, Gotham is a corrupt city. This theme reoccurs often in the movie and was one of the points I really liked.

 

[Dr.Doom]

Joker puts out an obituary for the mayor in the paper and the paper actually prints it without any kind of research.

 

[The_Raganork]

While there wasn't anything like the silly and unbelievable microwave emitter from Batman Begins, a few MINOR plot holes I found in The Dark Knight were (and sorry if these have already been raised in the past 30 pages):

- How did the guy on the witness stand who tried to shoot Dent get a gun into court? Surely everyone entering a courtroom is thoroughly searched, especially if they are a suspected mob member testifying at a big trial. I guess this one could possibly be explained away by assuming Maroni paid a security guard off...

- In the Hong Kong segement, Bruce boards the smugglers' plane as Bruce Wayne, then a few hours later the smugglers are picking up Batman from a skyscraper in HK. Surely this would tip the smugglers off the Wayne is Batman? And if Wayne hired the plane anonymously one of the smugglers would surely recognise a famous face like Wayne's?

- Also in the HK segment, when Fox exits Lau's office building and he shows the guard that he alraedy has his mobile phone on him, would the guard really just toss the other phone back into the desk drawer? Lau is obviously very security concious...it seems strange the guard would not find this a bit suspicious and report the incident or have the phone left behind checked out carefully.

#1: You answered your own question. Use the Long Halloween Theory with Maroni. He had an insider.

#2 You're Mistaken. Bruce Wayne Boards one Plane and Batman Leaves Hong Kong in Another. It's entirely possible that there wasn't the same Crew on the second plane as the first. Also those type of Planes used in "Sky Hook" don't have very accessible cockpits to the passenger area. It's can be assumed Batman hung out with Lau til the reached Gotham and before it landed jumped out and got away without anyone seeing.


While these are good questions; they still are not plot HOLES. At most if there was no explanation they'd have us thinking about the possibilities; but, without their explanations the story doesn't suffer any and nothing that follows them makes less sense.

 

[The_Raganork]

Joker puts out an obituary for the mayor in the paper and the paper actually prints it without any kind of research.

No one sure if the Gotham Times actually did print it. Someone did; but, it could have easily been one of his goons going into someplace and doing it in a matter of hours or days.

There's no proof it was MASS produced. As far as I see only the important people got it.

also I was under the impression it was early that morning and Joker had gotten the papers and just defaced them, not made them. because around 1 am they deliver papers and he could have gotten a bunch and written all over them just like in www.thehahahatimes.com

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Joker puts out an obituary for the mayor in the paper and the paper actually prints it without any kind of research.

The mayor mentions even the journalists are corrupt, so joker could easily get to one of them and make him do a print or something.

 

[Dr.Doom]

But the newspaper was clearly printed, not defaced.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

yea i know thats what i mean, the journilists are corrupt so they make a new page of the mayors orbituary and sneak it into mass print. Joker only defaced the paper at the crime scene.

 

[The_Raganork]

yea i know thats what i mean, the journilists are corrupt so they make a new page of the mayors orbituary and sneak it into mass print. Joker only defaced the paper at the crime scene.

True I forgot that the news in the paper wasn't actually the real news. Either way he could have gotten someone to do it for him.

 

[JL Unlimited]

I agree. The only thing that comes close to being a plot hole is the hair changing color in the bank heist. But this is more of a make up flaw than plot-changing or damaging event.

It really bothers me when people use the word "flaw" or "error" when discussing the hair changing colors. This would imply that the film crew made a mistake but it was so obvious that this was done on purpose for dramatic effect to conceal the Joker's identity.

It's not a coincidence that the moment the bus crashes through the bank and the audience starts realizing what's going on that Joker's hair color magically changes in the direct sunlight. It's also not a coincidence that while the audience is starting to realize that this thug is no ordinary thug that the Joker shoots the bus driver in a cool (no-look way) and his limp when getting the last bag of money is exaggerated. It's all for dramatic effect. I've heard gasps and some whispers like "Look, it's Joker" in this scene in some of the showings I've been to.

 

[JL Unlimited]

^^^^

And to add to my post, the whole hair color issue is similar to the lack of an explanation for the black make-up around Batman's eyes. We never see Bruce put it on or take it off. Even when he's standing on the skyscraper overlooking Hong Kong, we see him without the black make-up and when he puts his mask on, it's there. I really hope people aren't calling this a flaw or error. The same thing happened in the Tim Burton movies. It's all movie magic.

 

[ultimatefan]

Ha!

How insightful.

 

[Anita18]

#2 You're Mistaken. Bruce Wayne Boards one Plane and Batman Leaves Hong Kong in Another. It's entirely possible that there wasn't the same Crew on the second plane as the first. Also those type of Planes used in "Sky Hook" don't have very accessible cockpits to the passenger area. It's can be assumed Batman hung out with Lau til the reached Gotham and before it landed jumped out and got away without anyone seeing.

No, it's the same plane. Bruce and Alfred rent one from a guy in Arizona.

But it's entirely possible that it's a different crew - one to fly him there, then another to get him back. Nobody would see that the passenger is different.

 

[jackjack924]

It really bothers me when people use the word "flaw" or "error" when discussing the hair changing colors. This would imply that the film crew made a mistake but it was so obvious that this was done on purpose for dramatic effect to conceal the Joker's identity.

It's not a coincidence that the moment the bus crashes through the bank and the audience starts realizing what's going on that Joker's hair color magically changes in the direct sunlight. It's also not a coincidence that while the audience is starting to realize that this thug is no ordinary thug that the Joker shoots the bus driver in a cool (no-look way) and his limp when getting the last bag of money is exaggerated. It's all for dramatic effect. I've heard gasps and some whispers like "Look, it's Joker" in this scene in some of the showings I've been to.

Thank you!! It was a conscious decision to hide the Joker's hair color, not a continuity error.

 

[Shedhut]

Thank you!! It was a conscious decision to hide the Joker's hair color, not a continuity error.

funny how Jokers black eye-makeup disappears when he's wearing a mask while Bat's suddenly appearst:

thats just an unimportant little detail, although i love it in films if something hits you as a surprise but when you watch the film again you realise it is clustered with clues.

 

[Anita18]

Do you really think Reese would say anything after everyone tried to kill him--even a cop?
Also--Gordon is commish now---i doubt he will let any of that happen---he knows the really story---he wouldnt let anything compromise Batman's identity.

Reese could also easily say that he must have been mistaken - say that he found some inconsistencies in his theory within the crazy events that transpired in the past few days. Nobody would know he was lying, except for Fox and Wayne, and they're rather have it that way.

I'll have to see the film again to check, but it occurred to me that it would be a bit easier figuring out Bruce is Batman if Gotham Tonight mentioned that Reese was an accountant at Wayne Enterprises. Then again, Wayne Enterprises is a large global power, so I guess narrowing the Batman suspects down to "a current or former employee of Wayne Enterprises" won't help them all that much.

 

[JL Unlimited]

Reese could also easily say that he must have been mistaken - say that he found some inconsistencies in his theory within the crazy events that transpired in the past few days. Nobody would know he was lying, except for Fox and Wayne, and they're rather have it that way.

I'll have to see the film again to check, but it occurred to me that it would be a bit easier figuring out Bruce is Batman if Gotham Tonight mentioned that Reese was an accountant at Wayne Enterprises. Then again, Wayne Enterprises is a large global power, so I guess narrowing the Batman suspects down to "a current or former employee of Wayne Enterprises" won't help them all that much.

Reese was actually a lawyer (I'm assuming hired externally as a consultant) to do the due diligence on the LSI Holdings deal for Wayne Enterprises. Mike Engel said it when he was reading Joker's message after being kidnapped. I think it was something along the lines of "What does it take to get you people into the game? You failed to kill the lawyer...". So, I don't think Reese could directly be tied to Wayne Enterprises.

I understand the thinking behind Reese being an accountant though. I remember reading it somewhere that he was before the movie came out. So, wherever that rumor came from must have been wrong.

 

[Anita18]

Reese was actually a lawyer (I'm assuming hired externally as a consultant) to do the due diligence on the LSI Holdings deal for Wayne Enterprises. Mike Engel said it when he was reading Joker's message after being kidnapped. I think it was something along the lines of "What does it take to get you people into the game? You failed to kill the lawyer...". So, I don't think Reese could directly be tied to Wayne Enterprises.

I understand the thinking behind Reese being an accountant though. I remember reading it somewhere that he was before the movie came out. So, wherever that rumor came from must have been wrong.

Yeah, we'll have to look a little harder to see what Reese's role in Wayne Enterprises actually was. I did get the idea that he was a consultant of some sort, since Fox refers to Bruce as his "client." If he was a lawyer, he'd been doing some accountant-like things since Fox also asked him to check the numbers. But...anyway. Details.

 

[dr.strange]

i must've missed it,but at what point did lucius find out who batman was? and what happened to the guy who was gonna blackmail bruce wayne ?

 

[Killer Wolf]

About the gun in the court room, the book explains that it was a "ceramic" firearm, thus escaping the metal detector. *shrugs*

 

[JamalYIgle]

Not really plot holes, but more like, "how did these happen".

-How did Joker leave Bruces apartment after Batman fell with Rachel?

It's not really important

-Did Gamble actually die, or did he just pass out? how can you die from a slit in your mouth?

You can die from going into shock from a traumatic wound.

-How did Joker get a knife to be able to escape the interrogation room?

It wasn't a knife, it was a shard of the broken glass batman smashed his head into.