{"id":1907,"date":"2008-07-18T08:47:59","date_gmt":"2008-07-18T08:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=1907"},"modified":"2017-08-21T08:49:06","modified_gmt":"2017-08-21T08:49:06","slug":"the-dark-knight-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/?p=1907","title":{"rendered":"The Dark Knight, 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plot <\/strong>Gotham City. The Joker \u2013 a demented, violent anarchist \u2013 offers his services to Sal Maroni, whose criminal empire is suffering thanks to the crime fighting efforts of Batman (secretly billionaire Bruce Wayne), and District Attorney Harvey Dent. Honest cop Jim Gordon brokers an alliance between Batman and Dent. Batman visits Hong Kong and effects the daring kidnap of Lau, a corrupt businessman who is Maroni\u2019s banker. Dent convinces Lau to testify with a promise that he can be protected in the city jail, which Gordon controls. The Joker murders the judge assigned to Maroni\u2019s case and the police commissioner, and threatens mass murder unless Batman unmasks and turns himself in as an illegal vigilante, whereupon Dent claims to be Batman and is arrested. The Joker mounts an assault on the convoy carrying Dent to jail, but Batman and Gordon save Dent and catch the Joker. However, this was always the Joker\u2019s plan: once in the city jail he snatches Lau, whom he burns to death along with a pile of mob money; meanwhile, he kidnaps both Dent and Batman\u2019s love interest Rachel Dawes, and although Batman chooses to save Rachel he is tricked into saving Dent. Explosions mutilate Dent and kill Rachel. Now calling himself by his old nickname Two-Face, Dent tracks down Gotham\u2019s corrupt cops, while the Joker holds two ferries hostage, giving each detonators which can blow up the other and insisting he\u2019ll destroy both unless one is sunk by midnight. The passengers \u2013 a group of convicts and a collection of innocent civilians \u2013 defy the Joker\u2019s expectations and show self-sacrificing heroism, whereupon Batman beats him. Two-Face kidnaps Gordon\u2019s family, and is apparently killed in a fall after Batman intervenes. To save Dent\u2019s reputation, Batman insists Gordon, now police commissioner, ascribe Two-Face\u2019s murders to him, and takes on the mantle of \u2018the Dark Knight\u2019, operating outside the law (adapted from Newman 2008).<\/p>\n

Film note<\/strong> Since the turn of the century, superhero films have become increasingly pervasive in the global market, both in terms of absolute numbers, and in their box office earnings. The Dark Knight <\/em>is a symptom of a much larger surge in superhero films within Hollywood that is the result of various industrial factors; a trend which does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon (Fussell). As far as superhero films go, however, The Dark Knight <\/em>is exceptionally dark and bleak. The film is often read as a post-9\/11 allegory, and critics have drawn comparisons between George W. Bush\u2019s War on Terror and Batman\u2019s (Christian Bale) battle for Gotham’s soul, and the problematic positions they inhabit outside the law. Their exceptional status is thus justified by their enemies and \u201cthe exceptional threat to the legal order\u201d they pose (McGowan). Indeed, the Joker (Heath Ledger) is unlike any other criminal in Gotham: he rejects the clear division between good and evil, creates moral dilemmas that make Batman question his own moral code, and overall exposes the \u201cantagonism inherent in society\u201d (Goodrum 233).<\/p>\n

The rise of the superhero film in the 21st<\/sup> century<\/strong> Superhero films have been a product of Hollywood since the 1930s, but they have never previously played such a huge role in the film industry. For nearly every year since 2000, at least one title has made it into the list of top twenty worldwide grossers (Bordwell) and they overwhelmingly function as tentpole films for major studios. When The Dark Knight <\/em>came out in 2008, it became the highest grossing superhero film of all time, with a worldwide box office of $1bn, but since then it has been overtaken by other superheroes in turn. To understand how superhero films have come to dominate Hollywood in this way, it is necessary to identify a number of broader industry trends.<\/p>\n

Hollywood cinema is first and foremost a business, and so the driving force behind the continued popularity of the superhero genre can be attributed to the rising profitability of the genre (Gray and Kaklamanidou 3). What big studio executives seek is predictability and profitability, and superhero films tend to provide that. Of all creative types of films released between 1995 and 2016, superhero films had the highest average gross of $150m. To put that into perspective, the creative type with the second highest average was children\u2019s fiction film, with an average of \u2018just\u2019 $57.5m. Similarly and relatedly, films based on comics or graphic novels (many of which are superhero-themed) made on average $86m, compared to original screenplays, which made on average $14.5m. Superhero films clearly make more than the average film, so there is an incentive for studios to keep producing them, investing a lot of money into the marketing of those films, which consequently leads to the continued pervasiveness of the genre.<\/p>\n

A way of sustaining this business model is through sequels. Shane Snow has analysed over 600 recent sequels, and found that the amount of major movie sequels released in Hollywood has increased significantly over the past 10 years (Snow), with many of these sequels being part of superhero franchises. Thus, the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise has become the highest grossing film franchise in the world in just eight years, with a worldwide box office of almost $11bn from just fourteen films (as of 2017). Similarly, the Batman franchise has made $4.5bn from just nine films over the past three decades, with $2.5bn coming from The Dark Knight<\/em> trilogy alone. Through franchises, studios have aimed to retain audiences, with recognisable characters tying various films together.<\/p>\n

Box office earnings account for just a small portion \u2013 15 per cent as calculated by Phil Drake \u2013 of total film-related revenues, with 85 per cent coming from ancillary markets (Drake 76). As David Bordwell notes, superhero films \u201cfit neatly into the demand that franchises should spawn books, TV shows, soundtracks, toys, apparel\u201d, but also things like posters and paintings, phone cases and watches, and even roller coasters, as was done for the marketing campaign for The Dark Knight<\/em> (Bordwell). Superhero films are veritable transmedia franchises that can exist across a range of media, providing revenue from an array of sources. Thus, when a film has stopped its theatrical run, it continues to generate profit, until the next sequel comes along.<\/p>\n

The development of digital technologies over the last few decades has also had a significant impact on superhero films. Taking the cinema of attractions to the next level, special effects have become an integral part of Hollywood cinema to the point where the effects are one of the main selling points of films. Superhero films, with their natural tendency towards the spectacular, have thrived with the advent of CGI and special effects, which have allowed filmmakers to display the fantastic powers of the protagonists. Batman\u2019s superpowers are relatively modest in this regard, and in The Dark Knight<\/em>, director Christopher Nolan placed a focus on practical effects rather than computer graphics. Nonetheless, The Dark Knight <\/em>contains a significant amount of visual effects shots that would not have been imaginable before the arrival of special effects as we know them today.<\/p>\n

Because of their focus on spectacle, superhero films appeal to a broad audience, including foreign markets. Asian markets, and particularly China, have started playing an increasingly important role in Hollywood box office, to the point where \u201cChina could overtake the U.S. in annual ticket sales as early as 2017\u201d (Sakoui). This veritable globalisation in Hollywood cinema means that foreign audiences have begun playing a big role in the films the studios produce, and the increase of Asian markets and the popularity of superhero films within them has contributed to an increase in superhero films. A further way in which studios appeal to foreign markets is through digital technologies particularly popular in Asia, like 3-D and 4K projection, immersive sound systems and \u2013 in the case of The Dark <\/em>Knight \u2013 IMAX, the extra price of which consequently generates more profit for the studio (Mead). Furthermore, in an effort to appeal to the emerging East Asian market, a short sequence of The Dark Knight<\/em> was filmed in Hong Kong, the only real-world city to be explicitly mentioned in the Dark Knight <\/em>trilogy, pointing to the importance for Warner Bros to appeal to East Asian audiences (Pearson, Uricchio, Brooker 95).<\/p>\n

Batman\u2019s war on terror<\/strong> The years following the 9\/11 terrorist attacks produced a range of films about the attacks and the subsequent War on Terror. Superhero films emerged at this time as powerful allegories for the fight against evil, and among them, the Dark Knight <\/em>trilogy stands out for its bleakness. The Dark Knight<\/em>, the second of the three films, deals with topics such as torture and surveillance, topics which came to the fore after the attacks. Nolan\u2019s film is more political than most superhero films and \u201cengages with the tumultuous decade in a sustained and interrogative fashion\u201d (McSweeney 121). The Dark Knight<\/em> does away with the Manichean morality of comic books, and instead explores the complexities of the War on Terror through the myth of Batman, calling into question his extra-legal status.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the attacks, President Bush signed the Patriot Act into law in an effort to strengthen domestic security. The act aimed at enhancing federal anti-terrorism investigations, and resulted in an increase in surveillance, but was criticised for giving the government too much power, threatening civil liberties and undermining the very democracy it sought to protect. But Bush and then Vice President Dick Cheney argued that exceptional times called for exceptional measures. As Todd McGowan argues, the \u201clogic of the War on Terror [\u2026] derives entirely from the idea that [Bush and Cheney] rule in a state of emergency where the normal rule of law will be insufficient for safeguarding the U.S. populace\u201d (McGowan). For Andrew Klavan, this makes The Dark Knight<\/em>\u2019s Batman and Bush alike: they both do what is necessary fight terror, knowing that they sacrifice their popularity and their reputations. Klavan argues that, like Bush, \u201cBatman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past\u201d (Klavan). Though many have rightly criticised this conservative and overly simplistic reading, it does provide an interesting comparison between Batman and Bush, and their respective fights against \u2018evil\u2019. The Dark Knight<\/em>\u2019s message is nonetheless an ambiguous one; it can be read as \u201cboth an endorsement and a critique of the Bush administration\u2019s policies\u201d (McSweeney 125).<\/p>\n

A central theme of the superhero genre is the inadequacy of the law to fight against evil. The law alone is insufficient, and consequently the need arises for a superhero operating outside of the law to secure justice. Unrestricted by rules, the superhero \u201cgoes where the law can\u2019t go and accomplishes what it can\u2019t accomplish\u201d (McGowan). What this means however, is that the superhero\u2019s relation to the law is problematic. The superhero is at once an \u2018extension\u2019 of the law, and at the same time outside it.<\/p>\n

At the start of the film, Gotham, once a city riddled with criminality, has now become a more lawful place under the new District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), who is affectionately known as a \u2018White Knight\u2019. However, the arrival of the Joker risks Gotham\u2019s return to urban decay. This time, the law will not be enough to stop the evil invading the streets of Gotham. Batman, the \u2018Dark Knight\u2019 operating outside of the law, is the only one capable of stopping the Joker. Besides breaking an array of road rules and causing a lot of destruction, Batman frequently uses extra-legal violence to get information out of people, including the Joker. In a key sequence, Batman resorts to beating the Joker repeatedly, effectively torturing him to acquire information. The torture seems effective at first, as the Joker gives up the locations of two hostages quite easily. However, it is later revealed that the Joker\u2019s capture was part of his plan, and he escapes soon after. With this sequence, the film comments on the effectiveness of torture, questioning the morality of Batman\u2019s actions. As he is being assaulted, the Joker declares \u201cYou have nothing. Nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all your strength\u201d, pointing to the futility of Batman\u2019s torture.<\/p>\n

Batman\u2019s extensive power reaches its pinnacle when, near the end of the film, he tracks down the Joker using a sonar surveillance device which maps every area of the city, erasing any notion of privacy. When Batman shows his armourer Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) the device, Fox raises objections, saying it\u2019s \u201cunethical, dangerous\u201d and \u201cwrong\u201d, and too much power for one person. Batman is aware he is crossing a line, but in his opinion, exceptional times call for exceptional measures. As Christine Muller points out, Batman \u201ccommits to the principle that his actions must speak for themselves, and they must speak for a better alternative than the forces he is battling\u201d (Muller 58). To him, his moral code separates him from criminals, and it is through this rhetoric Bush and Cheney similarly justified their methods in their War on Terror.<\/p>\n

When copycat vigilantes get in trouble attempting to prevent a drug deal, they ask Batman \u201cWhat gives you the right? What\u2019s the difference between you and me?\u201d Though Batman\u2019s answer is comedic, the question is a serious one; what makes Batman the exception? If Batman\u2019s status above the law is an exceptional one, what makes it exceptional? Batman\u2019s position as extra-legal necessity is \u201ca totalitarian blemish\u201d which \u201crenders the democracy he defends impossible\u201d (Goodrum 231). Batman comes to realise he cannot inhabit this place above the law forever, and in the end of the film he is cast out by the people of Gotham, having taken the blame for Harvey\u2019s murders (see below). The Joker has been captured and the people are Gotham are safe again, and so Batman\u2019s services are no longer needed.<\/p>\n

The Joker\u2019s moral dilemma<\/strong> An enigmatic character, the Joker\u2019s personal history is shrouded in mystery, as he gives various differing accounts of the origins of his scars, making us question which one, if any, are even true. The Joker \u201crefuses to be forced into only one position through his creation of numerous origin stories\u201d (Goodrum 231). He does not want to be tied down to one version of himself, and instead constructs his own reality, defying any system of categorization. And herein lies his strength; unbound by laws and a moral code, the \u201cagent of chaos\u201d (as he refers to himself) enjoys a freedom that nobody else can enjoy. Throughout The Dark Knight<\/em>, he aims to expose the Hobbesian state of nature of humanity, demonstrating the inherent malice of the people of Gotham. He lays bare the fragility of the morals of the citizens of Gotham when exposed to a world without order. The Joker\u2019s \u201cactions are fiendishly designed to pose moral dilemmas for his enemies\u201d, and he continuously makes Batman question the integrity of his vigilantism (Ebert).<\/p>\n

The mystery surrounding the Joker is further perpetuated by his apparent lack of motive. The Joker never appears to have a clear reason for doing what he does, and that makes him a daunting opponent. He is not motivated by a desire for power or wealth, and his \u201cactions actually serve as their own motivation\u201d, making him unpredictable, but also impossible to defeat (McGowan). He is labelled a terrorist by characters within the film, yet his attacks do not seem to have any political purpose. Johan Nilsson notes that though \u201cthere is no true political agenda guiding his actions, there is indeed a moral one\u201d (Nilsson 173). If the Joker could be said to have a motive, it would be the laying bare of the true nature of people through chaos. The Joker says of Gotham\u2019s citizens that \u201ctheir morals, their code \u2013 it\u2019s a bad joke, dropped at the first sign of trouble. They\u2019re only as good as the world allows them to be.\u201d Thus, he aims to demonstrate that, outside the established order, the lack of morality of the citizens of Gotham becomes visible. By orchestrating various social experiments, he forces \u2018innocent\u2019 people into making impossible decisions, aiming to prove that \u201chuman morality and social stability are not absolute, but contingent on circumstance\u201d (Walters).<\/p>\n

The Joker\u2019s final experiment and demonstration of the instability of the \u201cnormative social order\u201d occurs when he rigs two ferries with explosives, providing the passengers of each boat with the other boat\u2019s detonator (Manivannan 118). The passengers of the ferries \u2013 one filled with convicts, the other with civilians \u2013 must act before midnight, or else the Joker will blow both boats up. In the moment of crisis, the civilians cling on to their democratic beliefs and vote in favour of blowing up the other ferry. However, when it comes to actually detonating the bombs the civilians are \u201cfrozen by indecision, the lawabiding herd paralysed by ad hoc democratic indecision\u201d, while in the other ferry, one of the convicts defies the Joker\u2019s ultimatum by throwing the detonator overboard (Treat 107). Though the Joker\u2019s plans ultimately fail, he does succeed in proving how \u201cthe system is in perilous shape\u201d and that without rules to govern society\u2019s behaviour, people\u2019s true selves appear (Heldenfels 103). In a world without order, a criminal\u2019s morality is equal to a civilian\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The Joker\u2019s ultimate demonstration of humanity\u2019s true nature is the orchestration of Harvey Dent\u2019s deterioration from the White Knight of Gotham to the cynical and murderous Two-Face. Early on, Dent is presented as the \u201cfigure of pure good\u201d, and as the image of justice (McGowan). However, when his colleague and girlfriend Rachel (Maggie Gyllenhaal) dies and Dent\u2019s face becomes disfigured in one of the Joker\u2019s ploys, Dent falls from grace and goes on a murderous pursuit for revenge. Dent was Gotham\u2019s ideological representation of morality, but with his moral erosion, the Joker destroys the \u201cbelief invested in him and discredit[s] the system through which, and for which, that belief is solicited\u201d (Goodrum 233). Dent\u2019s traumatic experience shows him the world is an unfair place, as he tells Batman: \u201cYou thought we could be decent men in an indecent time. But you were wrong. The world is cruel\u201d.<\/em> The Joker\u2019s \u201csocial engineering of Harvey Dent\u2019s downfall\u201d is ultimately his greatest achievement, as he proves that even the most honest among us can be reduced to evil under the right circumstances (Manivannan 118)<\/p>\n

When Batman asks the Joker why he wants to kill him, the Joker bursts out in his typically maniacal laughter, answering \u201cI don\u2019t want to kill you\u2026 You complete me\u201d, pointing to the \u201cintricate symbiotic relationship\u201d between the two characters (Knight 14). Indeed, what arguably makes the Joker such a compelling villain is the antithetical position he embodies within society in relation to Batman. Thus, the Joker would not exist without Batman and vice versa. Without Batman, the Joker\u2019s actions would lose their meaning, as the Joker represents \u201ca particular kind of commentary on Batman\u201d (Nilsson 165). Batman and the Joker are both products of the society in which they live, but in opposing forms, and their relationship \u201crevolves around moral issues\u201d (Nilsson 172).<\/p>\n

While the Joker\u2019s actions are illegal, Batman\u2019s actions are extra-legal. Both the Joker and Batman \u201cshare a position that transcends the inadequate and calculated ethics authorised by the law itself\u201d, making their distinction precarious (McGowan). As the Joker escalates his assault on Gotham, so does Batman continue to transgress moral boundaries and \u201cincreasingly comes to resemble him, at least in terms of actions\u201d (Goodrum 231). The one thing that separates Batman from the Joker and thus positions Batman as the moral superhero and the Joker as the immoral villain within The Dark Knight <\/em>is Batman\u2019s one rule; not to kill. Ultimately, the Joker makes Batman to break that one rule as Batman is forced to kill Dent, consequently \u201cdistancing Batman from the moral code and stability that establishes his heroic credentials\u201d (Goodrum 236). In Dent\u2019s murder, the Joker succeeds in proving they are not so different from each other. As Batman disappears into the darkness, chased by the police like a criminal, the Joker enjoys his final victory against the Dark Knight.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bordwell, David. \u201cSuperheroes For Sale.\u201d David Bordwell<\/em>, 16 Aug 2008. Web. 7 Nov 2016.<\/p>\n

Drake, Phil. \u201cDistribution and Marketing in Contemporary Hollywood.\u201d The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry<\/em>, edited by Paul McDonald and Janet Wasko, 63-83. London: Blackwell, 2008. Print.<\/p>\n

Ebert, Roger. \u201cThe Dark Knight\u201d, Roger Ebert<\/em>, Jul 16, 2008. Web. 20 Nov 2016.<\/p>\n

Fussell, Sidney. \u201cHere Are the 29 Superhero Movies Coming Out in the Next 5 Years.\u201d Business Insider UK<\/em>, 15 Jan 2016. Web. 21 Dec 2016.<\/p>\n

Goodrum, Michael. \u201c\u201cYou Complete Me\u201d: The Joker as Symptom.\u201d The Joker: A Serious Study of the Clown Prince of Crime<\/em>, edited by Robert Moses Peaslee and Robert G. Weiner, 229-242.Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2015. Print.<\/p>\n

Gray II, Richard J. and Betty Kaklamanidou. The 21st Century Superhero: Essays on Gender, Genre and Globalization in Film<\/em>. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, 2011. Print.<\/p>\n

Heldenfels, Richard D. \u201cMore Than the Hood Was Red: The Joker as Marxist.\u201d The Joker: A Serious Study of the Clown Prince of Crime<\/em>, edited by Robert Moses Peaslee and Robert G. Weiner, 94-106. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2015. Print.<\/p>\n

Klavan, Andrew. \u201cWhat Bush and Batman Have in Common.\u201d Wall Street Journal<\/em>, 25 Jul 2008. Web. 17 Aug 2017.<\/p>\n

Knight, Zelda G.\u00a0“Monsters and Monstrous Acts: Exploring the Shadow Archetype in Batman: The Dark Knight.”\u00a0InterDisciplinary.net<\/em>, 2009. Web. 20 Dec 2016<\/p>\n

Manivannan, Vyshali. \u201cNever Give \u2019Em What They Expect: The Joker Ethos as the Zeitgeist of Contemporary Digital Subcultural Transgression.\u201d The Joker: A Serious Study of the Clown Prince of Crime<\/em>, edited by Robert Moses Peaslee and Robert G. Weiner, 109-128. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2015. Print.<\/p>\n

McGowan, Todd. \u201cThe exceptional darkness of The Dark Knight.\u201d Jump Cut<\/em> 51 (2009). Web. 5 Nov 2016.<\/p>\n

McSweeney, Terence. The ‘War on Terror’ and American Film: 9\/11 Frames Per Second<\/em>. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014. Print.<\/p>\n

Mead, Bill. \u201c3D in 2013: Exhibitors project on the future of stereoscopic cinema.\u201d Film Journal International<\/em>, 16 Aug 2013. Web. 21 Dec 2016.<\/p>\n

Muller, Christine. \u201cPower, Choice, and September 11 in The Dark Knight<\/em>.\u201d The 21st Century Superhero: Essays on Gender, Genre and Globalization in Film<\/em>, edited by Richard J. Gray II and Betty Kaklamanidou, 46-59. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011. Print.<\/p>\n

Newman, Kim. \u201cReview: The Dark Knight<\/em>\u201d. Sight and Sound <\/em>18:7 (2008), 59\u201360. Print.<\/p>\n

Nilsson, Johan. \u201cRictus Grins and Glasgow Smiles.\u201d The Joker: A Serious Study of the Clown Prince of Crime<\/em>, edited by Robert Moses Peaslee and Robert G. Weiner, 165-178. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2015. Print.<\/p>\n

Pearson, Roberta, William Uricchio and Will Brooker. Many More Lives of the Batman<\/em>. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Print.<\/p>\n

Peaslee, Robert Moses and Robert G Weiner. The Joker: A Serious Study of the Clown Prince of Crime<\/em>. Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2015. Print.<\/p>\n

Sakoui, Anousha. \u201cChina Could Beat Hollywood by 2017.\u201d Bloomberg<\/em>, 25 Feb 2016. Web. 15 Dec 2016.<\/p>\n

Snow, Shane. \u201cThe Sequel Paradox, in 11 Charts.\u201d Contently<\/em>, 18 Apr 2016. Web. 10 Dec 2016.<\/p>\n

Treat, Shaun. \u201cHow America Learned to Stop Worrying and Cynically ENJOY! The Post-9\/11 Superhero Zeitgeist.\u201d Communication and Critical\/Cultural Studies<\/em> 6:1 (2009), 103-109. Print.<\/p>\n

Walters, Todd. \u201cThe Dark Knight.\u201d Philosophy Now<\/em> 73 (2009). Web. 21 Dec 2016.<\/p>\n

Written by Nuri Moseinco (2017); edited by Nick Jones (2017), Queen Mary, University of London <\/strong><\/p>\n

This article may be used free of charge. Please obtain permission before redistributing. Selling without prior written consent is prohibited. In all cases this notice must remain intact.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2017 Nuri Moseinco\/Mapping Contemporary Cinema<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Production Companies: Legendary Pictures, Syncopy, DC Comics
\nDistribution: Warner Bros. Pictures
\nExecutive Producers: Kevin De La Noy, Benjamin Melniker, Thomas Tull, Michael E. Uslan
\nProducers: Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Charles Roven
\nScreenplay: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan
\nDirector: Christopher Nolan
\nCinematography: Wally Pfister
\nEditor: Lee Smith
\nMusic: James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer
\nRunning Time: 152 mins.
\nClassification: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and some menace
\nBox-office Gross: domestic $534.9m\/worldwide $1.005bn
\nTagline: Welcome to a world without rules.
\nCast: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne\/Batman), Heath Ledger (Joker), Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent), Michael Caine (Alfred), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Rachel Dawes), Gary Oldman (Gordon), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox) Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[20,131,105,113,179],"class_list":["post-1907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film-note","tag-20","tag-comic-book","tag-superhero-film","tag-terrorism","tag-war-on-terror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1907"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1909,"href":"https:\/\/mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907\/revisions\/1909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcc.sllf.qmul.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}