My choice is the same as yours. To interpret the scene as each of us does. I don't really choose to watch that scene and find it not nearly as clear cut as you. Its how I see it. Everyone will see it differently, and whether you believe your interpretation to be the absolute and only correct one, you cannot deny that it all boils down to opinion.
Fair enough. But I have to confess that I find your reasoning behind your interpretation to be rather weak. No offence meant. But It's mind boggling how you can miscontrue Joker's dialogue like that.
*Shrug*
It would be rather foolish of Nolan and Co. if I could name six or seven instances where someone else had written such a similar scene... This scene is rather original, as it should be because we don't exactly want the screenwriters copying scenes word for word out of multiple comics now do we?
I'm not asking for six or seven instances. I'm asking for just
one instance so we can make a comparison. I mean we can list dozens of stories where Joker tries to kills lots of people and Batman has to stop him. We know how he deals with them.
But we cannot do such a comparison here with the interogation room scenario, can we? So your arguement once again falls flat. You're dictating what Batman should have done, then when asked to make a comparison of a similar situation, you cannot provide one. Nor can you offer any suggestions at all as to how Batman could have improved his methods to get Joker to talk.
I think you see my point.
Ok. 1) You did not ask me to provide examples of Joker humor in situations similar to the interrogation scene in the Dark Knight.
I didn't think I'd have to spell that out in black and white. Since we're discussing a particukar scene here, I thought you'd know comparisons to such a scene was the obvious thing I was asking for.
I mean I can list dozens of other examples of great humour from Joker in TDK. But we're talking about this one particular scene here in specialzied circumstances. So the comparisons would be invalid.
2) Again, if I could find too similar a scene of Joker being interrogated by Batman to gain information crucial to the survival of loved ones, we'd all be bashing Nolan and whomever wrote the script for being unoriginal. Or perhaps not, but I believe you see my point. At least I hope so.
Exactly. But we can't. And you, like me, cannot offer any better alternatives to what was given. But I, like most of the fanbase, feel that Nolan did a top job portraying Joker's dark humour in this scene.
You for some reason feel unsatisified, and yet you can offer no suggestions for any improvements, yet you're a Batman fan and know these characters inside out.
The Batman? That cartoon series that practically everyone dislikes?
I wondered when you might pick up on that. No, that is probably one of the pieces I like least about that movie, it demonstrates exactly the opposite range from earlier work in The Animated Series, which I use as my baseline for how Batman really should act.
Because Batman was not faced with any such scenarios earlier in the series. So why would we see him act that way? Nothing like that happened to anyone he cares about until Return of the Joker.
I assure you that I fully understood Jokers infatuation towards Vicki, however, Jack Nicholson's Joker being the truly unpredictable villain we all know from the comics, Batman knows that at any moment Joker may randomly decide to throw her off the roof.
And how do we know that Batman knows that? If Joker wanted Vicki dead, he could have killed her in the mueseum or in her apartment.
Instead Joker went to the trouble of seeking her out because he doesn't want to kill her. He's romantically infatuated with her.
Why should Batman believe Joker was going to toss her off the roof? It makes no sense. And Joker had not inflicted any harm on Vicki. So why would Batman attack him so viciously? Batman did pummel the s*** out of Joker. But not because of Vicki. But because he killed his parents.
Indeed, he was there when Joker was telling Vicki about Alicia's (his previous love interest) 'accident' where she supposedly threw herself out the window. Joker's speech leaves no question that it wasn't exactly voluntary.
How does Joker's speech leave no question that it wasn't voluntary? Alicia was a beautiful woman who was mutilated by the Joker. It's no stretch to imagine she snapped and killed herself.
At any moment, Batman knows this could be Vicki if she says or does the wrong thing to upset him, or if he just randomly feels like it.
Again you have absolutely no idea what Batman knows. This is utter speculation on your behalf. Alicia allowed the Joker to mutiliate her.
From the two scenes we saw of her, she seemed to be reduced to some kind of ******ed vegetable that did anything Joker asked.
And you seem to have locked on to this idea of 'immediate danger'. I'm not really talking about 'immediate danger' to Batman's loved ones. I'm talking about his consistant and ironclad control, that is present in absolutely any situation he is presented with. Being angry is not what Batman is about (as I see it anyways, again, opinion is everything in these debates). Justice is what Batman is about.
Who said she had to be in immediate danger for Batman to lose his cool? Batman often reacts to a situation AFTER the damage is done.
Going back to the Return of the Joker, when Batman arrived in Arkham and accosted Joker and Harley. He didn't start beating up Joker on the spot right away. He asked him where Robin was. It was only AFTER he saw what Joker had done to Robin did he lose his cool and go crazy.
While its true he went right after the Joker, reading through it yet again, its clear his intention was never to mutilate the Joker.
Please explain where that is clear. He got out of the Batmobile and took an immediate dive on the Joker. That was his first reaction, to attack the Joker. If Joker had not sprayed Batman with acid, we both know Batman would have been beating the crap out of Joker.
Yes he reined himself in even further after his talk with Gordon, but he was still fully in control of himself and not smashing the Joker left and right.
He was in control because Gordon told him to be. Prior to talking to Gordon, his only instinct was to attack Joker.
How can you say that he was in control?
Again, you do not give the poor police officer enough credit. He specifically states that from his twenty year experience he has learned the difference between punks who need a lesson in manners and freaks like the Joker who would just enjoy it. If the screenwriter was intending this cop to have just learned the fact that Joker is one of those from watching the interrogation, why would he have added the direct link from 'twenty year man' to 'knowing the difference'.
Ok, I'll play devil's advocate here for this poor police officer. Say I simply ignore the fact that he had just witnessed Joker getting his jollies from Batman beating him up, you just said yourself there that the Cop had
20 years experience.
How many does Batman have at this point? And explain why he should know better when he's never faced anyone like Joker before.
Indeed. Those who share my opinion are much too timid and are unwilling to risk their opinions being jumped upon in a similar manner as to what has been happening in this thread.
If they're afraid to have their opinion
challenged then that is just ridiculous.
Freedom of speech on this forum. Mind you, Batman fans never struck me as the type who were afraid to speak their minds
And it is indeed very sad, too many people have latched on to what is currently 'in style' and not gone with an alternative. I trust that this phase will pass as people realise that the Joker is much more than just this one image.
Most people have. The difference is that most people like the Ledger Joker image the best. It's not that they dislike Joker's other images, it's just he's the fan favourite with most.
Nothing sad about that. We all have our favs. Doesn't mean the other styles are not loved.
No, not really.
Dirty purple suit, thats unkempt. Dirty,unrestrained, washed out greenish yellow hair. Muddy looking sometimes white face, lipstick covered lips.
Lets see... we're missing style, flair, class and consistancy.
I'm sorry, but I don't see any big absences of consistency.
As for style and flair, if you think a little bit of dirt on the suit dramatically changes the look, then you're having a laugh, man. All the Joker costume ingredients are right there.
As I've stated before, if I knew exactly what I would write Batman thinking of in his extremely intelligent mind to interrogate the Joker, I'd be writing the movies rather than this. I wish very much that I was clever enough to come up with things like that, or for that matter that I was as clever as the Batman himself.
As I mentioned above, you don't have to be a Hollywood writer to know a character. You're a Batman fan, yes? You've probably seen him use his smarts in every concievable situation, yes? But you can't think of anything different that he could have done when interrogating Joker in TDK.
Why? Probably because there is nothing else he could have done to get Joker to talk.
Because Nolan and Co. proved themselves capable in showing how creative and intelligent Batman was in the previous film, why shouldn't they succeed here?
Batman was dealing with ordinary common street scum who peed their pants at the sight of Batman in Begins. The methods he used in Begins were standard Batman techniques shown in millions of Batman comics.
As was shown in TDK, those types of terror tactics don't work on the Joker. This is a guy who'lll laugh when you beat the living hell out of him, or throw him off a building.
Unless they've all had strokes that now impair their creative talents... Hmm, perhaps we should send them a fruit basket.
We should......to congratulate then on delivering a brilliant Batman movie with TDK
