DARK KNIGHT BREAKDOWN: Hidden Secret in Joker's Face | The Deep Dive

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The Dark Knight is considered the best Batman film, and one of the best superhero films of all time. Christopher Nolan's direction, Heath Ledger's performance, and the deeper themes of what it means to be a white knight vs a dark knight have been explored endlessly by film lovers and comic nerds. But what secrets still remain hidden in the film? Erik Voss revisits Nolan's The Dark Knight for what is, to date, the longest and most in-depth analysis of Erik's career. Here... we... GO!

Welcome to The Deep Dive, a new channel in the New Rockstars Digital Network. Hosted by Erik Voss, The Deep Dive is the destination for more pointed media investigations. From full seasons of Marvel streaming shows to cult classic films, Erik will dig to the roots of the hidden agendas beneath every title.

00:00 - Intro
02:00 - Joker's Bank Heist
11:00 - A Story About Gotham City
15:32 - Joker Offers To Kill The Batman
20:47 - Batman in Hong Kong
22:55 - Wanna Know How I Got These Scars?
26:50 - Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn
29:40 - Joker Funeral Attack
32:37 - Joker Truck Chase
36:15 - Batman Joker Interrogation
40:33 - Two Face Analysis
50:16 - Two Ferries Social Experiment
54:00 - Dark Knight Ending Explained

VIDEO CREDITS:

Written and Produced by Erik Voss
Lead Editor: Devin Cleary
Edited by Devin Cleary
Assistant Edited by Tanner DiGirolamo and Alex Biandis
Executive Producer: Erik Voss

[glenntravis]

Agreed, Ledger’s acting in the interrogation scene was phenomenal. I love the part when he tells Batman….. “Don’t talk like one of them, you’re not”

[supersaiyanbino]

The "when the chips are down...these civilized people will eat each other" line really hit home when we were in lockdown and look at how we acted over toilet paper and sanitizer... Look at how some of us acted when we saw someone around us without a mask on....That's what made this Joker so special... He was telling us a story about ourselves...and he was right...

[MelissaMayhem]

My two favorite Joker moments have to be "I'm not crazy. I'm not." and when he's hanging out of the cop car window just relishing in all the chaos he's brought to Gotham

Stellar breakdown. I recently rewatched the trilogy so I'm taking a stroll down memory lane with all these great breakdown vids.

[TheNewRevolution]

No matter how many superhero movies I watch, I always come back to this movie. It's not only the greatest superhero movie ever made, it's one of the greatest movies ever made. I find myself comparing all other action movies to it. I don't know if the superhero genre will ever produce another movie as good as this one. I'm looking forward to the day when I can introduce this film to my kids. I know they will love it as much as I do.

[Obi-ThreeKenobi]

Fun fact: When Heath grabbed Maggie's face, that wasn't scripted, so her initial reaction was genuine surprise. But since she's better than people give her credit for, she knew to roll with it and help give us an amazing scene.

[SlumberingChaos]

The film is a masterpiece and I would argue that Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker is one of the greatest acting performances ever put on film.

[DrEcho]

One thing I realized only kinda recently is that both M. and J. Gyllenhaal were cast opposite Heath Ledger in memorable films and both had charged and intense scenes with the late actor and reflected fondly on working alongside him during his posthumous recognitions for TDK. It's always something that will connect the siblings on not just a professional level but on a deeply transcendent one too.

[Raixor]

22:22 *The "Please Stand Up" line originally references a classic gameshow called "To Tell the Truth".(2016–22, 2000–02 & 969–78)*
23:34 *When the crooked cop gives Judge Surillo the envelope, he tells her to "..open it. It'll tell you where you're 'headed'.". Then, the note says "UP". Then, BOOM.*

[badmuthadude]

15 years and my love for this movie is strong as ever. Every time I watch it, it's like the first time. Ledger was brilliant. One of my favourite non-Joker moments was how Bruce calmly dispatched the henchman in the Penthouse and disassembled his weapon. Badass moment.

[PillowEgg]

That detail at 46:19 was something I missed. The way that the Joker moved around the set, as he talked to both sides of Harvey Dent, appealing to both his halves is BRILLIANT. It's like one talking to the angel and devil on each shoulder and the Joker is able to convince both sides. I also like the orientation of the camera going clockwise and counter clockwise to represent something like a pendant going back and forth in the Racheal and Joker scene. The framing of the character on the right side and on the left is also a great touch. Amazing breakdown, and I've watched a lot of breakdowns on this film. The Dark Knight is such a huge influencial film that the Joker scene was used in my film class text books as the cover, Movies and Meaning an Intorduction to Film fifth edition.

[Michael.RedKnight]

The phrase “it's always darkest before the dawn” was first used by English theologian Thomas Fuller in 1650 in his work “A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine and the Confines Thereof”.

The phrase “Will the real <name> please stand up” originated from a game show called "To Tell The Truth" that debuted in 1956, hosted by Bud Collyer, and ran until 1978.

[mihaitha]

There is also an interesting parallel between the Joker's face reveal at the beginning of the movie, and Gordon's reveal when he arrests him: both characters don't say a word during those scenes as long as their faces are covered, communicating with other characters only by nods and hand gestures.

[that.canadian.vaper.guyTCVG]

This was my papas favorite movie. I was adopted by my grandparents, so my grandpa was basically my dad, and he *loved* this film, in turn it became my favorite film.

We went to see this when it released and watched it once a week when it came out on blu-ray, it was our thing lol.

But Heath Ledger was my favorite actor before this, so as a kid, i was actually extremely hyped that Heath was Joker. And I was absolutely mesmerized by his performance. He just felt unhinged, chaotic and crazy, yet every single thing he did was calculated and he didn't waste a single movement. This was *not Batman's film, * this was the Joker's film, and it did not disappoint.

[erickeller]

I always loved the champagne detail. They both don't want the alcohol to muddle any of their senses. Opposite sides of the same coin that Dent flips between.

[DigitalGamerPixel]

One thing that always bugged me about the sequel, is that Harvey died at the end of the Dark Knight.
I feel that they built up enough to where he survived the fall, but was just knocked unconscious. Maroni remarks earlier "From this height the fall wouldn't kill me." Batman even falls from the same height and is fine.
How I feel it should have played out, Harvey himself was declared dead and Two-Face is instead taken and basically buried in Arkham in a cell so they can enforce the Dent Act. Because if they let a living Harvey Dent tell his story, everything would be undone. So they faked his death.
It would have hit so much more if we got a scene where Bane releases criminals from both Blackgate and Arkham, instead of HIM reading Gordons speech, it's Harvey reading it. Because honestly, it's just the populace taking a terrorists word that it was a speech that Gordon wrote, but seeing that Harvey was alive would have broken their faith in the system even more.

[MrCorner]

Great deep dive...just found this channel and will definitely stay tuned. One theme you touched on was the reference to dogs as relates to the Joker's cynicism, the perception of him as a dog "chasing cars", and maybe another reference or two. There is the scene where Batman is attacked by Rottweilers, who were owned by the drug dealer that Joker later fed to his own dogs. Towards the end of the movie, you can hear dogs being let loose in pursuit of Batman as he returns to being public enemy #1. My interpretation is that dogs, contrary to what you highlighted about the Joker, are creatures which are seemingly of order but chaotic underneath. They listen to us, we trust them around our families, and they make us feel safer in most instances. Yet under the right circumstances (all they need is a push), dogs are vicious, unpredictable, and prone to revert back to animalistic survival instincts. Maybe this is meant to parallel humanity, as we cling to a semblance of order which masks our natural tendencies. Just like canines, the two parties in the ferryboat experiment ultimately chose not to divert from the pack when all was on the line. Probably a stretch, but dogs in movies always make me think of Anubis, who had the body of a man and the head of a jackal (joker) or dog. Anubis and Joker both ushered souls into the underworld and ruled over darkness.

[houstonwilson]

This is a really minor thing, but I LOVE hearing you give shout-outs and credit to other channels like Film Theory and Corridor Crew! The one thing I think the analysis side of YouTube has been missing is the community and connection that so many other YouTube sub-communities have

[denniswhaley]

The reason the opening scene was in the daytime was the Joker knew Batman patrolled at night and there'd be less chance of them running into each other yet. Joker already studied Batman closer than anyone at this point

[constitution_]

I have and believe I Always will, that Heath Ledgers role as the Joker was not only the Best Performance in Movie History, but NOBODY will Ever be able to even come close to even Any consideration of anything or anybody whatever the role or actor. For me, it was the Greatest Performance in All Motion Picture History and I am still So bereaved that he is Gone and Most infuriated that he couldn't even be there for the movie release and know and enjoy even just a few months of the Supernatural-like obsession the World had for him and his rendition of the "Joker." And the same is felt over Joaquin Phoenix's "Joker" which are two different roles though Phoenix got to enjoy his Fame and deservedly so.

[SonnyK]

I always took the dogs chasing cars metaphor for The Joker as him being an absurdly intelligent psychopath who has a goal and goes after it 100% like an unstoppable machine and as soon as he misses his target immediately has another one in his eyeline and has another plan to make that happen and over and over again. He is chaos. He doesn't necessarily have a plan B but snaps right into it as soon as plan A is off the board. He's always running and causing chaos and he's so smart his off the cuff stuff looks like a genius well planned masterpiece.