THE DARK KNIGHT [2008]

Welcome To A World Without Rules

I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stranger.

~Joker

Alfred: Whenever you stitch yourself up, you do make a bloody mess.

Bruce: Yeah, it makes me learn from my mistakes.

Alfred: You ought to be pretty knowledgeable by now, then.

Bruce: There were more copycats last night, Alfred, with guns.

Alfred: Why not hire them, take the weekend off?

Alfred, see so many scars on Wayne's back: Know your limits, Master Wayne.

Bruce: Batman has no limits.

Harvey: When their enemies were at the gates, 

the Romans would suspend democracy and appoint one man to protect the city.

It wasn't considered an honor, it was a public service.

Rachel: Harvey, the last man that they appointed to protect the republic was named Caesar and he never gave up his power.

Harvey: Okay, fine.

You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

Chechen: What do you propose?

Joker: It's simple. We, uh, kill the Batman.

[the rest gentlemen laugh]

Maroni: If it's so simple, why haven't you done it already?

Joker: If you're good at something, never do it for free.

You wanna know how I got this scars?

My father was... a drinker... and a fiend.

And one night, he goes off crazier than usual.

Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself.

He doesn't like that... not one bit.

So, me watching, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it.

He turns to me and he says, "Why so serious?"

He comes at me with the knife.

"Why so serious?"

He sticks the blade in my mouth.

"Let's put a smile on that face"

And... why so serious?

~Joker, kill Gambol

You see, this is how crazy Batman's made Gotham.

You want order in Gotham, Batman must take off his mask and turn himself in.

Oh, and everyday he doesn't, people will die.

Starting tonight.

I'm a man of my word.

~Joker

[grab Rachel with a knife pointed to her mouth]

You wanna know how I got them?

So I had a wife.

She was beautiful like you, 

who tells me I worry too much, who tells me I ought to smile more...

who gambles and gets in deep with the sharks.

One day they carve her face.

And we have no money for surgeries.

She can't take it.

I just wanna see her smile again, hm?

I just want her to know that I don't care about the scars.

So... I stick a razor in my mouth and do this... to myself.

And you know what?

She can't stand the sight of me.

She leaves...

Now I see the funny side.

Now I'm always smiling.

~Joker

Alfred: A long time ago, I was in Burma...

and my friends and I were working for the local government.

They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones.

But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit.

So we went looking for the stones.

But in 6 months, we never met anyone who traded with him.

One day, I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine.

The bandit had been throwing them away.

Bruce: So why steal them?

Alfred: Because he thought it was good sport.

Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money.

They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with.

Some men just wanna watch the world burn.

Mr. Reese: I went to the archives and I started pulling some old files.

Don't tell me you didn't recognized your baby [open up the batmobile sketch]

pancaking cop cars on the evening news.

Now you got the entire R&D Department burning through cash

claiming it's related to cell phones for the army?

What are you building for him now, a rocket ship?

I want... $10 million a year for the rest of my life.

Lucius: Let me get this straight.

You think that your client, one of the wealthiest, most powerful man in the world

is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp 

with his bare hands...

and your plan is to blackmail this person?

[smirking] Good luck.

Batman: Where is he?

Maroni: I don't know where he is. He found us.

Batman: He must have friends.

Maroni: Friends... Have you met this guy?

Batman: Someone knoes where he is.

Maroni: Nobody's gonna tell you nothing.

They're wise to your act.

You got rules.

The Joker, he's got no rules.

Nobody's gonna cross him for you.

If you want this guy, you got one way.

But you already know what that is.

Just take off that mask, let him come find you.

Or you can let a couple more people get killed while you make up your mind.

Batman: You're the symbol of hope I could never be.

Your stand against organized crime is the first legitimate ray of light in Gotham in decades.

If anyone saw this, everything would be undone.

The criminals you arrested would be released and Jim Gordon will have died for nothing.

You're gonna hold a press conference tomorrow morning.

Harvey: Why?

Batman: No one else will die because of me.

Bruce: You once told me that if the day came when I was finished, that we'd be together.

Rachel: Bruce, don't make me your one hope for a normal life.

Bruce: Did you mean it?

Rachel: Yes...

[Bruce starts kissing her and then walk away]

Rachel: Bruce, if you turn yourself in, they're not gonna let us be together.

The night is darkest just before the dawn.

And I promise you, the dawn is coming.

One day the Batman will have to answer for the laws he's broken.

But to us... not to this madman.

~Harvey Dent

Rachel: Alfred, why is he letting Harvey do this?

Alfred: He went down to the press conference.

Rachel: I know. And he just stood by.

Alfred: Perhaps both Bruce and Mr. Dent believe that Batman stands for something more important than the whims of a terrorist, Miss Dawes,

even if everyone hates him for it.

That's the sacrifice he's making.

He's not being a hero.

He's being something more.

Batman: Why do you wanna kill me?

Joker, laughing: I don't wanna kill you.

What would I do without you?

Go back to ripping off mob dealers?

No, no, no, no... You... you complete me.

Batman, throw Joker to the wall: WHERE ARE THEY?

Joker: Killing is making a choice.

Batman, hit Joker: WHERE ARE THEY?

Joker, giggle: Choose between one life to the other.

Your friend the district attorney or his blushing bride-to-be.

[Batman hits him again]

You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with.

Nothing to do with all your strength.

Don't worry, I'm gonna tell you where they are, both of them.

And that's the point, you'll have to choose.

He's at 25052nd street and she's on Avenue X at Cicero.

Do you wanna know why I use a knife?

Guns are too quick.

You can't savor all the little emotions.

You see, in their last moments, people show you who they really are.

So in a way, I knew your friends better than you ever did.

~Joker

Dear Bruce,

I need to be honest and clear.

I'm going to marry Harvey Dent.

I love him and I wanna spend the rest of my life with him.

When I told you that if Gotham no longer needed Batman we could be together,

I meant it.

But now I'm sure the day won't come when you no longer need Batman.

I hope it does.

And if it does, I will be there, but as your friend.

I'm sorry to let you down.

If you lose your faith in me, please keep your faith in people.

Love now and always,

Rachel.

Bruce: I was meant to inspire good. 

Not madness, not death.

Alfred: You have inspired good.

But you spat in the faces of Gotham's criminals.

Didn't you think there might be casualties?

Things always get worse before they get better.

Bruce: But Rachel, Alfred...

Alfred: Rachel believed in what you stood for... what we stand for.

Gotham needs you.

Bruce: No, Gotham needs its true hero and I let that murdering psychopath blow him half to hell.

Alfred: Which is why, for now... they're gonna have to make do with you.

It's not about what I want, it's about what's fair!

You thought we could be decent men in an indecent time.

But you were wrong.

The world is cruel.

And the only morality in a cruel world is chance [hold his lucky coin].

Unbiased.

Unprejudiced.

Fair.

~Two Faces

Batman: What happened to Rachel wasn't chance.

We decided to act. We three.

Two Faces: Then why was it me who was the only one who lost everything?

Batman: It wasn't.

Two Faces: THE JOKER CHOSE ME!

Batman: Because you were the best of us!

He wanted to prove that even someone as good as you could fall.

Two Faces: He was right.

You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

I can do those things, because I'm not a hero, not like Dent.

~Batman

A hero...

Not the hero we deserved, bu the hero we needed.

Nothing less than a knight... shining.

~Jim Gordon

Jim: They'll hunt you.

Batman: You'll hunt me, you'll condemn me, set the dogs on me.

Because that's what needs to happen.

Because sometimes the truth isn't good enough.

Sometimes people deserves more.

Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.

James, see Batman runs: Why is he running, Dad?

Jim: Because we have to chase him.

James: He didn't do anything wrong.

Jim: Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.

So we'll hunt him, because he can take it.

Because he's not our hero.

He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector, a dark knight.

*****