Observations about "The Dark Knight" that I haven't heard people make already

[mmcirvin]

1. The mayor was played by Nestor Carbonell, who played Batmanuel on the live-action Tick. Granted that Batmanuel was an inferior version of Die Fledermaus, there's still something slightly cool about this.

2. As others have observed, the movie wrestles with, and in the end is at least consistent with, the proposition that Batman is actually a socially destructive force in Gotham City. Bruce Wayne even has his dark night of the soul in which he starts to think it's the case. Supposing we assume that, who is the crucial villain of the piece? Alfred the butler, the former forest badass of Burma who insists to Bruce Wayne that a lawless and costumed hard man is still necessary. Alfred has a lot to lose if Batman ever gets unmasked—as stated, he'd probably end up in jail along with Bruce. His pep talk is probably as much to protect his own hide as anything else. Future movies might do well to run with Alfred-as-dark-puppetmaster, though I suppose it would be pretty surprising if they took it much further.