After many less than stellar attempts at making Batman movies, sans Tim Burton’s classics, it was high time for a good Batman movie. Thankfully, in 2005, came Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, delivering everything fans wanted from a Batman movie, and so much more. Luckily, Nolan didn’t stop there, as in 2008, the acclaimed director released The Dark Knight, improving on Batman Begins in ways audiences and fans never expected. Finally, in 2012 came The Dark Knight Rises, capping off the phenomenal trilogy in satisfying fashion. Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy is without a doubt one of the best trilogies of all time, for its engaging story, powerful and iconic performances, and being host to some truly amazing moments that are still talked about to this day. So with that in mind, here are some of the best moments in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy.
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8 Wall Street Robbery/Police Chase - The Dark Knight Rises
Warner Bros. Pictures
This moment is somewhat cheating as its technically two brilliant moments rolled into one. With the first demonstrating how cunning, dangerous, and powerful Bane is a villain, and the second sees Batman’s exciting return to stop Bane and his goons, only for him to then get chased by the police.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
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MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Filled with tension that’s amplified by the heart-pounding score from Hans Zimmer, the Wall Street robbery sees the first intimidating and explosive introduction to Tom Hardy’s Bane, as he attempts to steal money from a stock exchange, before Bane and his crew ride out on motorcycles with hostages on the fronts, so the police don’t shoot them. This leads to the second goosebump-filled moment, as the lights go out, and we see Batman zoom past on the iconic Bat-cycle, leading to one cop uttering “You’re in for a show tonight, son” which is definitely the best way to sum up this moment. Shockingly, the police don’t chase Bane and his goons, but instead, the police are gunning for Batman, which of course doesn’t go the way they intended.
7 Batman vs Bane - The Dark Knight Rises
Pitting the two against one another is already a recipe for success, but with its lack of music, intimidating monologue by Bane, and loud, powerful blows, the scene raises the tension and elevates this memorable moment. Bane proves that he is not to be messed with, as Batman uses all his tricks; his gadgets, fighting style, and the darkness. However, with Bane also being a League of Shadows assassin, Bane defeats Batman with incredible ease, making audiences believe he is simply unbeatable, and raising the stakes for the rest of the film. The scene ends in one of Batman’s most iconic comic book moments, with Bane breaking the Bat and defeating Gotham’s last hope.
6 The Climb - The Dark Knight Rises
Throughout the whole Dark Knight trilogy, few moments are as intense or inspiring as Bruce Wayne’s climb out of The Pit. Often referred to as “the worst Hell on Earth”, for one to escape this prison, they must first climb out of the hole, of which only two people have ever been able to climb out, including Bruce Wayne. After being brutally defeated by Bane, the masked villain imprisons Wayne in The Pit; the prison where Bane spent most of his childhood. This then forces Wayne to push his body to its limit and climb free of this hellish prison in order to save Gotham City. With many failed attempts, it seems Wayne will never escape, but after climbing up without the rope, Wayne finally escapes. While this moment serves as a poignant moment in Batman’s rise, the scene is only elevated by the inspiring and heart-pounding chants of the prisoners below, and Hans Zimmer’s phenomenal score.
5 Hospital Explosion - The Dark Knight
The hospital explosion in The Dark Knight is easily one of the biggest and most impressive explosions in movie history, with the explosion impressively being all practical and mostly exploding in one uninterrupted shot, as the Joker walks away from the hospital as it begins to explode. But after some sort of malfunction, the explosion stops, which leads to one of the many jaw-dropping performances from Heath Ledger, before we get to witness the huge explosion decimate the whole hospital. The moment serves as a satisfying and quite literally, explosive pay-off for the huge amount of tension that preceded it.
4 The Docks - Batman Begins
Warner Bros.
Serving as quite easily the best Batman-y moment in the trilogy, the dock scene in Batman Begins perfectly captures the essence of Batman and is a brilliant demonstration of Batman’s stealth-like ability to take out his foes with ease. Nolan proves that he is the perfect person to create this trilogy, and this is the scene that cements it. We sit with Falcone’s goons, as one-by-one, they get taken by the Batman from above, the darkness, and even as he’s standing right behind them; the goons grow increasingly anxious and fearful. Until the final moment that floods audiences’ bodies with goosebumps, when Batman finally states “I’m Batman”.
3 Armored Car Chase - The Dark Knight
The armored car chase featured in The Dark Knight simply delivers on everything fans love about the movie and the trilogy as a whole; real and jaw-dropping action set pieces, a flawless performance from Heath Ledger, and possibly the best Batman vehicle, the Bat-cycle. The scale of the action scene is simply inspired, delivering many huge explosions and of course, the impressive truck flip, which again, is all practical. Sporting no music, as audiences instead hear every engine rev, tire skid, explosion, gun shot, and grunt, results in an action scene packed full of tension and awe, making the scene feel more realistic. Nolan knows how to deliver exciting and tense action scenes, and the armored car chase is a perfect example of that.
2 The Heist - The Dark Knight
This opening scene to The Dark Knight is simply breathtaking. As a perfect introduction to Heath Ledger’s Joker, we witness his maniacal plan to rob a bank, by telling each member of the heist group to kill the other so that the Joker can take all the money for himself, proving his criminal intelligence and villainy. Once again, Nolan delivers an action scene with huge and impactful spectacle, with brilliant writing, performances and action.
1 Joker Interrogation - The Dark Knight
Warner Bros.
There isn’t much we need to say about this scene; it truly is a spectacle that will leave everyone’s jaws on the floor. Filled with tension, brilliant writing, and phenomenal performances, this scene is a joy to watch, and seeing Heath Ledger and Christian Bale impeccably bounce back and forth from each other is simply a delight. This scene is simply flawless and is The Dark Knight Trilogy at its best.
