The Dark Knight

Let me get this out of the way: The Dark Knight is a fantastic movie, and I strongly recommend that everyone go see it.

Now on to my complaints.

Part of what I loved about Batman Begins was the attempt by the Brothers Nolan to give realistic-sounding explanations for why Batman is the way he is, and how he came to possess the gadgets he possesses. He chose the bat image because it is meant to frighten and intimidate. The Batsuit is made up of individually functional parts. The chest was designed for military combat. His gauntlets are carryovers from his ninja training. The ears of his mask/helmet house a small communications transmitter and antennae. There was a practical purpose for everything. A large part of my hatred of the 90's Batman franchise (especially Schumacher's run) was directly related to the focus on bizarre production design elements that existed solely to be cool, and made no damn sense at all. Remember Batman & Robin, where Batman and Robin both shout "Batskates!" in unison, and ice-skates suddenly immerge from their boots? I wish I didn't.

The Dark Knight once again sticks pretty close to practicality, but I noticed elements of "cool" starting to work their way in. That Batcycle, for example. The Batcycle was friggin' awesome, but it was never explained. The cycle just ejects from the side of the busted Tumbler? When did that modification get installed? And if the Tumbler was so damaged that it could no longer drive, why did all of the machinery necessary to eject the Batcycle seem to work perfectly? The sonar phone was pretty far-fetched, but at least Morgan Freeman was given 4 seconds to explain it. The Batcycle just shows up and jumps headlong into an action sequence (and probably the best one this year).

It certainly works to the advantage of the film, but it starts to make me weary about the future endeavors of the franchise. How long until the Batcycle suddenly has an ejection seat that converts into a rocket pack? How long until his gaunlets shoot lasers? How long until.....until......batskates?