Except that he doesn't really, as there's not really any exploration of the concept whatsoever. He represents how Foley feels about Batman. Nevermind that saying "Batman is a villain" is kind of redundant filmwise after the Mayor gives a speech about how Dent was betrayed murdered by this "thug". Also, the whole police force chases Batman, so that kind of represents how they feel about him. Foley becomes somewhat redundant in that case.
Which means exactly that. Hell, for all the people of Gotham know, the Bat-symbol just means "Ha ha! I, Batman was behind Bane's occupation of your city, and now I will create this flaming symbol to show you just that!"
Even though the city pretty much did. I'm curious how a flaming Bat-emblem inherently shows that.
Or...a combination of Gordon's encounter with Foley coupled with knowing Batman was back was...although something people seem to miss the point on is that Foley being inspired by Batman's return makes no sense, as he thought Batman was a murderous thug, and I'm hard pressed to remember a sequence in the film where anything else is shown, except when Batman fights with the police, which is after Foley made his choice to stand with them in the first place. What's with Foley's sudden trust in Batman?
The biggest misfire with Foley is that the writing is half-baked. There's supposed to be an emotional payoff to Foley's final stand/sacrifice, but really you just think "Well, he's slightly less of a dick now for actually doing his job".
Yes, in regard to the merry chase. Pretty sure he's talking about the fact that there were tons and tons of police cars, etc after Batman. Not the state of the police in general.
Except that that's a congressman, not a cop. Its not any indication that the police force itself is bloated, complacent, or cocky.
That's basically just Foley being grossly incompetent and a dick.
Which is all well and good. My point is that the sequence doesn't show a police force that is bloated, cocky or complacent, but one that is on top of things.
Who really had no reason to be inspired by Batman to begin with.
We gained a crappy caricature...er, character.
And that person apparently had to be a blithering idiot, because only a blithering idiot could make Gordon look competent...
Correct. What makes it atrocious, terrible, etc, is the fact that tonally, his character barely fits the film he's in, he's incredibly poorly and broadly written, which makes him come across as a caricature of a cop, and his character's "exploration" consists of half-baked ideas and seemingly random resolutions about his few issues which make little to no sense in context.
Because Jen isn't the main character in a film, but a plot device that is more an extension of a main character, in this case, Selina.
Because apparently only being temporarily replaced by a blithering idiot could make Gordon look good by comparison. If anything, it would have been more impressive if Gordon's temporary replacement was COMPETENT, so there'd be at least SOME associated dramatic potential to "Will Gordon retire"?
I didn't really see Foley making a play for Gordon's job. His character might have been a bit more interesting if he had. The film makes it fairly clear that Foley was more or less next in line anyway, and sooner rather than later.
