The Dark Knight

A lot of people consider Nolan’s dialogue as weak and too on the nose, but I could not disagree more, and this movie is a good example as to why. Generally speaking, great dialogue: moves the plot forward, reflects a characters personality, and engages the audience. On paper without any context the dialogue in this film is “on the nose”, but when you consider the films world and characters, it becomes poetic. The “you wanna know how I got these scars?” monologue is all on the nose, but as the Joker says it he is holding a knife to a man’s mouth. The purpose of this monologue is to build and hold tension, establish Joker’s backstory, and to threaten the man. The simplicity of the monologue allows us to “turn our brain off” and focus on the tension rather than some in-depth metaphor. The monologue itself explains that the Joker’s scars come from his dad cutting a smile on his face. How the Joker got the scars is the actual threat to the man. Since he’s holding a blade to the man’s mouth, it is VISUALLY implied that the Joker will give him the same scars without actually saying it. The “on the nose” dialogue in this case is used as a tool to establish some of the Joker’s backstory while simultaneously building and holding the tension throughout the scene.  Oh and if you’re wondering what makes it poetic, the monologue connects the saying “Why so serious?” to cutting a smile on the man’s face. This becomes extra disturbing when he ends the monologue by asking the man, “Why so serious?” Anyway, sorry for talking your ear off, I’ll make my next review more chill :) #onthenose #notonthenose #longreview #lukeshutthefuckup #sorry #notsorry #analyticalreview #goodmovie #lukediamondreview