Re: 1/6 Hot Toys - TDKR - Batman Spotlight w/ Robin and Gordon (Various Sets)
Doesn't matter if Batman quit or not. They know he's a white male with brown eyes that's 6'2", 210 pounds etc.
Yeah, that
really narrows it down, doesn't it?
Like I said before, that's ALL they know about Batman on that sheet. They literally have not. one. more. iota. of information about him (or else it would also be on that sheet since they want to catch him so bad).
Everyone knows that he's a masked vigilante that lives in Gotham.
Do they? No, they know he fights (or causes--depending on your opinion) crime in Gotham. They know every time he has been chased by the GCPD (in BB and the end of TDK) he somehow lost them in or around (on his way out of?) Gotham. They don't know he lives in Gotham at all. They know he has a car and/or bike. Do all of the drivers in Pittsburgh or Manhattan live in those cities?
They even have Coleman Reese who just claimed to have known the identity of Batman, you know, the same guy everyone saw on TV and wanted to kill? A man hunt should have taken place. Remember that "massive task" force that Loeb unleashed on Batman in Begins when all he did was capture Falcone back when they didn't even know Batman's physical traits? Well now they have all that AND he's a cop and DA killer and they do nothing.
Surely an investigation would take place,
not just, "whelp, he's not around. Let's go home"? Something like this,
With unnerving tension for Gordon who would be rag dolled between his friend Batman and a city that was looking for blood. I mean, c'mon. Gordon is a newly christened Commissioner for the city, whom everyone KNEW had a special connection to Batman before he "killed Dent" and "kidnapped his family" and
we never get to see this dilemma play out? That would have been true drama, not "is da mega ton bomb gonna explode".
I see, you’re mad that you didn’t get to
see, in explicit detail, exactly what the GCPD did to try to apprehend Batman in that eight-year gap. So, because you didn’t see it happen, you assume they did nothing. Hey, that's always what I assume happened when years go by in movies and TV shows too. Characters freeze in place. Besides getting a little older, NO ONE does ANYTHING because I didn't see it, no matter what clues they give us to get an idea of what the time gap was like.
It's also amusing how cops and the Mayor just wrote BatMAN off as "a murderous thug". No, he's clearly a guy that put on a cape and cowl, how about looking into it a bit. There would have been pressure on the Mayor to catch and bring justice to the guy who killed Dent too. After 8 years with no results, Gordon should have been fired and the Mayor no longer in office. Instead they're champions in "peace time" who get to retire.
Also, I wouldn’t quite call it “no results” after eight years. For one thing, the very fact that Batman hasn’t been seen can be spun by the Mayor and politicians to show that the pressure to find him is making him sweat so much that he’s staying in hiding. As long as the GCPD stays vigilant, in those eight years Gothamites have not had to worry about the Batman running amok on their streets. For a city trying to rid itself of Batman, eight years without him daring to show up is a win, even if he's not quite behind bars...yet.
Even Joel Schumacher went out of his way to tie up the
loose end of the one guy that knew Batman's identity and could therefore be a potential whistle blower in future films.
Nolan would have been "eh, lets just pretend that Nygma didn't learn his identity and carry on from there."
Ah, but Reese’s entire arc was tied up within the story of TDK. He’s not a “loose end” that may or may not reveal Batman’s identity at any moment in a future film. By the end of his arc, he won’t reveal it. Period. I think some of you missed the entire point of the Reese character. He showed how Batman’s influence can sometimes make even the most greedy, self-serving Gotham citizen want to do the right thing. First he was motivated by greed to blackmail Fox and Wayne/Batman to keeping the secret. Then Fox intimidated/not-so-subtly threated him into keeping his mouth shut. Then he was motivated by wanting to “do the right thing” to end the Joker killings (he believed Joker’s word from earlier that he would keep killing until Batman is unmasked). Finally, when the man he knows is Batman saves him, he recognizes the importance of keeping the secret. Joker is not going to stop if you give into his demands, he’s just going to come up with more games. Batman, despite you (Reese) threatening to expose his secret, risks his life to save yours. He is the one who can stop Joker. At this point, Reese is not going to reveal the secret for anything. He is not after money, and he’s already been intimidated/threatened. He just wants to do what he believes is the right thing. He knows from
first-hand experience that Batman is a good guy – despite whatever
second-hand reports of him being a “murderer” come in later. "If Batman really wanted to kill anyone, he would’ve definitely killed me…yet, he saved me." What can the cops possibly pressure him with to make him talk? Nothing. Reese’s and Bruce’s subtle eye contact acknowledgement was plenty to show that the secret was safe now. It’s pretty clear. What kind of spoon-feeding did some of you guys want? A post credits scene with Reese at Wayne Manor: “Thanks for saving my life despite me threatening to ruin yours by revealing your identity as Batman, Mr. Wayne. I promise to never, ever, EVER tell anyone who you are. Pinky swear!”
Yup!
Then Rameriez. Dent didn't even kill her, "live to fight another day officer". There's so many loose ends. Reese,
SWAT team that overheard Gordon's conversation with Dent during the hostage crisis (remember, they all thought DENT was in that building). So many loose ends. Batman was RIGHT there saving the clown hostages and apprehending the Joker with numerous eye witnesses, yet somehow the cover up works. TDKR just passes over investigations and suspicions, i.e. the dramatic, thriller aspects that COULD have been mind blowing. Instead we get the 8 years bologna which is pretty much a "don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain" cop out to distract the viewers from questioning what happened in the last picture. I can see Joker, but not those other key players. When exactly did Batman find the time to kill Maroni and his driver? Who exactly are 5 people dead, two of them cops?
Bottom line, they wrote themselves into a corner and weren't smart or creative enough to come up with something for the sequel. What they came up with instead (Dent Acts, Dent Day, Blackgate that holds male and female prisoners, "peace time" and LoS 2.0) is just stupid. TDKR isn't as tight and well written as people think. There are better CBM that are much tighter.
That’s assuming those SWAT guys have some super-hearing. The SWAT guys only heard one side of the conversation. All they heard was what Gordon said after he picked up the phone: “Barbara, calm down.” And then in the calmest voice ever: “Harvey, where’s my family?” In fact, Gordon said it so low and calm that they probably didn’t hear that part. But let’s assume they did hear him--As far as they know at this point, Harvey Dent is innocent and the Joker has taken a bunch of hostages from the hospitals (where Harvey Dent recently was). It’s perfectly reasonable to guess that if Gordon’s wife is freaking out on the phone to him (hence “Barbara, calm down”) and the very next person he speaks to in a calm voice is Harvey (the brave, injured D.A., and a very likely hospital hostage) that the SWAT guys would assume that Barbara and Harvey are
both being held hostage somewhere. SWAT guys didn’t hear Gordon say “Harvey, where are
you keeping my family hostage?”. Nolan even makes it explicitly clear later that all the cops know is that “there is a situation, they don’t know who or what”.
I think if Nolan had addressed every little loose end after the events of TDK, Rises would have clocked about five hours and i'm sure that wasn't his intent. I also think he gives us the viewers enough credit to fill in the blanks ourselves so he wouldn't have to waste unnecessary time on these little tidbits for Rises.
That's another problem with films and viewers now days. People need their hands held through everything and if something isn't shown then its a plothole. Realistically a lot of filmmakers try and give the audience the benefit of the doubt and assume they're smart enough or imaginative enough to piece together what happened. The Internet has made little things that don't mean much in the scheme of things into huge things and nitpicky stuff gets all blown out of proportion as to how big of a hole something in a film is.
Exactly. Then we would have complaints that Nolan spoon-fed too much to the audience.