Scene Review: The Dark Knight Final Scene
Here we have it, our new section to Life of Films, an area where we break down and review scenes from movies. These scenes can either be one of our all time favourites, generally iconic, or scenes that were just so bad we have no idea how they ever made the final cut.
To start off this new section to the site, I thought I would talk about my favourite scene of all time. This is the final scene in The Dark Knight where we see Batman talking to Commissioner Gordon on how they will go forward with saving Gotham.
The first thing that gets me so invested in this scene is Hans Zimmer's beautiful music score. The track played in the background is called ‘A Watchful Guardian’, which is exactly what Batman is. It really draws the emotion out of you as it slowly builds, then finally hitting it’s climax as we see appear on screen, in black and white, the title of the film ‘The Dark Knight’, which then closes the movie. This certainly leaving you with that WOW feeling.
What truly is the best part about this scene though is the sacrifice Batman makes to save Gotham. This is a real twist on what it means to be a superhero. As the Dark Knight says himself ‘I’m whatever Gotham needs me to be”, meaning that Batman was never created to swoop in at the last minute to save the damsel in distress, he was created to absorb the evil that lingers in Gotham, in whatever way it presents itself, so that people could have hope for a fear free life. The Joker (Heath Ledger), by corrupting Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), took away that hope Harvey was building. If the city found out Harvey turned, and died by his own hand, this would plunge Gotham into further turmoil, therefore Batman takes the blame for Harvey’s death. By him doing this it makes the city hate the Batman, but doesn’t take away that hope, and shows the people that there is still good in Gotham.
I also love the chemistry between Bale and Oldman within this scene. Gary Oldman, who plays Commissioner Gordon, is forced by Batman, played by Bale, to call in the cops on him, of which you can tell this is the last thing Gordon wants to do, as he is well aware of the incredible thing Batman has done, which was stop The Joker and Harvey, but Batman convinces Gordon it’s the right thing to do. This is where Bale’s incredible acting comes in, providing the Commissioner with a speech that is truly inspiring, and delivered perfectly by Christian. He has this great grit to his voice that he brought the Batman character, but with an out of breath tweak, as Batman is currently really injured.
In this one scene alone Christopher Nolan changed superhero films forever. He shown the world that there is more to being a superhero than just saving the day from a world ending apocalypse. It brought it down to a real human realisation, that sacrifice is all it takes to do good. Sacrificing something will do 10x more than a fist fight. It’s a truly an inspirational scene, and will always be close to me, not just from a superhero loving point of view, but in a way of living life. Maybe the world could do with a little sacrifice today, to make it a better place.
Let us know what you think of this scene in the comments section below...
