War Handwavium

This is the War Handwavium score for “The Dark Knight” movie.

Total score: 85 points

!!!!!SPOILERS!!!!!

All times are given in absolute time from the beginning of the movie as marked by the blue-ray disc.

+5 points, 2:45, Joker Henchman kills a Joker Henchmen. violent display of evil

+3 point, 3:15, Bank Manager kills Joker Henchman. black hat cardboard character killed.

+3 point, 3:50, Bank Manager kills Joker Henchman. black hat cardboard character killed.

-2 point, 3:54, Joker shoots and wounds Bank Manager, white hat cardboard character wounded

+5 points, 4:20, Joker Henchman kills a Joker Henchmen. violent display of evil

+5 points, 4:55, Joker Henchman kills a Joker Henchmen (with bus). violent display of evil

+5 points, 5:30, Bank Manager monologues about the “good ol days” when criminals believed in honor, respect. whitewashing.

-2 point, 6:05, Joker gasses Bank Manager, whitehat cardboard character

-2 point, 8:40, Copycat Batman attacked by dogs, cardboard character

-2 point, 8:43, Copycat Batman gassed by Scarecrow, cardboard character

-2 point 9:15, Batman slugs copycat Batman, cardboard character

+6 points, 9:20, Batman beats up 3 thugs, cardboard character

-2 points, 9:29, Copycat Batman attacked by dogs, cardboard character

+2 point, 9:35, Batman kills a dog, cardboard character (reduced points for animal)

-2 point, 9:40, Scarecrow hits Batman with a van and drives him into a wall

+3 point, 23:35, Joker kills mobster with a pencil through eye, cardboard character.

+3 point, 31:10, Joker kills another mobster, cardboard character.

+4 points, 36:02, Batman beats up 2 thugs, cardboard characters

+6 points, 36:30, Batman beats up 3 thugs.

-3 point, 41:50, Joker kills copycat Batman, cardboard character

-3 point, 43:35, Joker kills copycat Batman, cardboard character

-3 point, 48:45, Judge blown up by Joker’s men, secondary character

-3 point, 48:48, Commissioner of Police poisoned by Joker’s men, secondary character.

+2 points, 51:54, Rachael hits Joker,

+10 points, 52:01, Batman beats up 5 thugs, cardboard character.

-2 point, 52:15, Joker stabs Batman

+6 points, 52:23, Batman hits Joker and 2 thugs

-2 point, 52:35, Joker throws Rachael off building

+2 point, 53:00, Batman saves Rachael

+16 points, 1:04:10, Batman beats up 8 thugs

+10 points, 1:05:51, Batman throws mobster off fire escape to break his legs, torture.

+10 points, 1:06:36, Harvey Dent plays Russian Roulette with one of Joker’s thugs, torture.

-3 points, 1:14:47, Joker kills a cop

-6 points, 1:15:31, Joker rams 3 cop cars.

-2 point, 1:16:51, Joker RPG’s cop car

+2, 1:17:06, Batman rams Joker’s truck.

-9 point, 1:20:09, Joker’s men take down helicopter, killing all on board.

+2 point, 1:21:27, Batman uses a cable to flip Joker’s truck.

+5 points, 1:27:15, Joker is in prison, Batman tortures him for information

-10 points, 1:34:40, Cop tries to beat up Joker (torture), but Joker escapes. Except we’re distanced from seeing it, so half points.

-6 points, 1:34:40, One of Joker’s thugs has cellphone explosive planted in his abdomen, which blows up, killing a cop and 2 medics. cardboard characters, +1 black hat and -3 white hat

-5 points, 1:35:56, Rachael dies

-5 points, 1:35:56, Harvey’s face is burned off.

+3 point, 1:43:28, Joker burns his money with accountant on top of burning pile.

-3 point, 1:47:11, Joker kills cop at hospital

-5 point, 1:50:56, Two-Face flips coin to see if Joker lives, torture (but Two Face is black hat, so counting it as negative points)

+5 points, 1:52:41, Joker blows up hospital, pointless display of evil.

-3 point, 1:55:40, Two-Face kills dirty cop at bar (two face is black hat showing white hat has fallen, so negative point)

+10 points, 1:56:19, Lucious discover’s Batman’s super-surveillance device. It works in finding the Joker, and it isn’t abused or misused by any whitehats.

-5 points 1:59:18, Two-Face flips coin to let mobster live and to kill his chauffeur.

+3 points, 02:06:28, Batman trips 3 hostages, saves them from police sniper

+1 point, 02:06:47, Batman saves two hostages from possible police harm

+6 points, 02:06:54, Batman beats up 3 thugs

+10 points, 02:07:10, Batman beats up 3 cops to save 2 hostages (violence superior to social structures)

+2 points, 02:09:05, cops take down one of Joker’s thugs

+1 points, 02:09:21, Batman beats up a dog

+6 points, 02:09:31, Cops beat up 3 thugs

-10 points, Two-Face kidnaps Gordon’s wife adn two kids and threatens to execute them. (white hat character shown fallen from grace)

+5 points, Two-Face explains back-story that his family had been killed by dirty cops, that Harvey Dent had tried to warn the police that cops were dirty, and that the police didn’t listen, resulting in his family being murdered. Bureaucratic government shown to cause deaths of innocents.

-2 point, 02:19:09, Two-Face shoots Batman

+10 points, 02:22:15, Batman takes the blame for Two-Face’s murders. Lies better than truth. The world can’t handle the truth.

+10 points, entire movie, Batman operates above the law without due process, but never attacks an innocent person by mistake. Violence superior to social structures.

+10 points, entire movie, Joker racks up the “othering” score. He’s scarred, he’s insane, he’s got a maniacal laugh. Total evil overlord.

Summary:

“The Dark Knight” doesn’t have a lot of killing in it. Joker henchmen kill each other at the beginning, But mostly Batman beats up the bad guys without killing them, so fewer point for beating a cardboard character rather than killing one. One of the white hats, Rachael, is killed, but her role is that of a “woman in a refrigerator” which is nothing more than a relatively cheap way for the protagonist to have a reason for vengeance. Harvey Dent falls from grace and turns into Two-Face. His fall counts as negative points since every time he does a bad thing, it isn’t something the audience cheers for.

But the Dark Knight has a number of strong War Handwavium themes going through it. (1) Vigilantism works. Batman never uses force against an innocent person. (2) Torture works, Batman beats up Joker in custody to find out where Rachael and Harvey are. (3) super surveillance tools work. The cell-phone-radar gizmo gave Batman the location of the Joker. And he designed it to self destruct when the job was finished, rather than have it be abused or misused. And lastly, (4) civilians can’t handle the truth. Aparently, Gotham’s success in its war on crime must be bouyed in part by lying to the population about what Harvey Dent ended up doing as Two-Face. The civilians can’t handle that truth, so the powers that be must hide the truth from them. This is Dick Cheney’s wet dream.

My initial observations of the movie are here:
http://www.warhw.com/2008/07/22/the-dark-knight-movie-observations/

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