Exactly. A problem easily remedied to have had the parade of real buses on an adjacent street just out of sight from the bank disaster, so the other bus drivers would let it in like it just got lost or something.
He was in on it. The sixth member who was instructed to leave a gap and to kill themself after they’re not needed anymore. Pure genius that joker fellow.
Despot, I'd like to personally thank you for informing me about the intricacies of what goes into a bank robbery. I've been planning one for a while, and your analysis allowed me to see a number of flaws that were still very much present in my plans, holes that I've since plugged to make it utterly waterproof. I'll be a rich man thanks to you!
@@cranberryrosebud well since he made this comment on google his account is now flagged and his IP is probably sent to the fbi by now. I hope hes not sitting in prison right now
This is a great example of a well-made sequence disguising a poor concept. The first time I watched it the only thing that really stood out was the idea that the robbers would be both happy to murder each other AND unaware that they're all equally expendable.
"Unaware that they're all equally expendable." This is the most important part. Because you can sum up the rest of the things with the fact that he is the Joker. He has connections with some of the most powerful people in Gotham to hire anyone he wants, he can hire crooked bus drivers or threaten them, he's smart and well versed enough to come up with precautions outside of the situation, he's a psycho, etc. And it just works because Joker is an established villain and everyone know he can and has done stuff like this many times. If it was a new villain who did this, it wouldn't make sense to many people. But it really makes no sense how trained criminals are so naive.
The last time you saw someone question the Joker, his head was blown off. And you think you're going to say no when he tells you to take out the alarm guy?
well the only guy who put two and two together was the one who got told by his target that he'd just done the same thing, and he put it together instantly. he probably went to great lengths to make sure none of the others found out before the job. The only real stretch was him being able to escape via schoolbus line, but it happens so quickly it's still possible, only really needs to get far enough in it before he gets to another vehicle. Obviously he isn't driving the bus all the way home. The bank scene is unrealistic but not as bad as people make it out. joker in this movie has an aura about him that brings things up to this level, which makes him as scary as he is. it also makes it satisfying when his plans are foiled by human goodness at the end.
@KarazolaX Even then, Joker could have had another guy in each bus holding the driver hostage. In my opinion getting the bag man to be positioned perfectly to be hit by the bus just by sidestepping was a lot less realistic than that.
@@Gloom_Shroom_Gaming Well, if it's a tightly executed plan, they could have part of the plan that puts them there, if it's gone off without a hitch. But it's not that small an area. And even if it somehow missed, Joker still has the drop on them and could just flatline them, he only has to get rid of one guy in the bank. In fact, the bus would probably be good enough of a distraction to afford him the opportunity to take them out by itself.
I mean aren't american buildings made up of paper and air? If that's the case with the bank aswell the bus probably won't be damaged much. Ofcourse with a massive IF.
Honestly, Joker coming up with a meticulous plan that goes completely sideways in every possible way and just calling it quits as he runs away cackling to himself feels more Joker-like. It’s tough to see him as an “agent of chaos” if all his plans are so meticulous and require perfect timing and precision on all counts, all leading up to this big philosophical trolley problem with boats
Yeah, part of the thing with the Joker is that he's more of a reckless thematic agent of chaos that succeeds purely through balls, luck, and assuming the worst of other people ending up being accurate. He has a much higher risk tolerance than any reasonable mastermind because he 100% believes a deeply cynical view of human nature and he doesn't account for self-preservation as part of a plan succeeding. Ofc a lot of it is also just suspension of disbelief from stuff being cool, but it'd be much less interesting thematically if the Joker's plans were actually safe and he wasnt always playing dice with his own life
Joker only said that to mess with Harvey, who believes plans and being good always work out, to point Dent at the Mob as patsies. Also, it would be ironic for Joker to use plans to create anarchy. Like a joke.
Which, Ledger's great performance as not Joker aside is why all the TDK and Nolan love in general baffle me. Don't get me wrong, Nolan's movie's are visually stunning and much better than average. I've yet to meet a truly clever one though. That said, despite everyone, myself included finding Begins average at best, until TDK when all of a sudden Begins was genius, it has aged the best of the three.
Very comprehensive list. One thing that always screamed out to me was how obviously the bus driver behind the bus when it drives OUT of the bank, would call the police and know the numberplate etc. We're supposed to believe a school bus driver will watch a bus drive out of a building, dust and debris falling off of it, and think nothing more about it? Sure Nolan, sure.
It is a movie, you absolute oaf. "Sure, Nolan, sure." lmao, what are you even doing? It isn't hard to switch out plates, and you don't even see what happens after. Also, did you question why a batman even exists? The entire notion is very implausible. We're supposed to believe a billionaire would become a highly trained ninja super hero? Sure Nolan, sure
School busses have big black numbers on them though. Also, the conceit of supers existing is supposed to be the major suspension of disbelief in this genre. If we pile on more suspension because non super elements are straining against what think should be reality (that this Gotham is just Chicago) then the movies foundation falls apart. Just because your movie has magic space wizards doesn't mean the plot has to be a mess.
How hard can it be to find a clueless, loyal, homicidal, weapons-proficient, schizophrenic safecracking wizard with zip line experience who won't keep an eye on the guy behind him?
The ferry subplot was even worse. They’re evacuating a bunch of prisoners and then a bunch of citizens for fear of the joker’s terroristic threats and they don’t find the many barrels of explosives in the ferries??? Really?
The reality bend thing felt real to the audience as they were watching him in IMAX in 2008 also hans Zimmer music was there, so people say that joker felt so much dangerous than other villains so that they thought he can manipulate reallity and he will come out of the screen 😂😂
"Has the appearance of being genius because it is intricate and complex" Is a great way to describe all the classic Nolan films. I still love a lot of them they are a lot of fun, but they're not smart like people think they are
I am a huge interstellar fan, but that Love = Daughter’s bedroom in blackhole was kinda stupid. However I have not and never will be taken out of the movie by that.
The bus alone is a huge problem: The bus driver has to back into the bank at high speed, despite there being no approach that isn't in a busy street, and he has to drive it backwards at a full 90 degrees to the angle of traffic. His preparing to do the above cannot cause cops or bystanders to get suspicious as they watch and ask, "What the hell is he doing?" The bus has to not be damaged in any critical or visually distinct way as it plunges through doors, wall and glass. It has to not be pinned by the debris, making it hard to leave. The tires cannot be damaged by all the glass. The bus must emerge without difficulty and slip into a gap in traffic without the buses behind it coming to a complete stop. The bus drivers behind it must keep the accelerator steady instead of braking as any responsible school bus driver should as an unplanned bus emerges from a building and slips in and instantly matches speed so that they can form an unbroken line of buses. The bus driver behind it must not get on the radio and call this in, reading off their position and the offending bus' number and license plate.
And don't forget that they first needed to procure the bus without raising suspicion, either by stealing it or repairing a wrecked one, adding even more points of failure to the whole operation.
19:04 - you forgot: "The school bus behind the getaway bus has a phone and calls the police, identifying the license plate of the bus he JUST saw drive out of the bank in front of him, covered in debris"
@@pyropulseIXXI ...Except that this would only make it impossible to track down the origin of the bus. The police would still have the license plates present on the bus at the time of the robbery, and any officer on patrol would be able to compare them with any passing bus.
If he drove out of bak and you also heard a bunch of gunshots? Yeah I'd probably call police, is that sort of thing a regular occurrence in USA for you not to pay attention to it?
It'll all boils down to "how come none of the drivers in the bus row seems to be surprised that one of them just came out of a frigging bank leaving a trail of debris behind it"? "Oh yeah, that's gotta be Joe, he's always crashing into government buildings, lol."
The easy answer is "the other school buses were also being driven by Joker's men." And then he either killed them too off-screen, or those are the ones who were actually loyal to him.
@@Galvatronover depends. hand to hand combats among avarge people tend to last for 1 and half of a minute then one of the guy is getting gassed out and beaten. If only one of the guy is trained it ends quickly. If both party is trained it could drag out forever before some of them is getting knocked out or tired
I don’t think Christopher Nolan’s bank heist was meant to show what a planning genius the joker is, but rather to illustrate how completely insane and chaotic he is through the visual storytelling of that actual clusterfuck of a bank heist.
Facts, these comments miss the point. The Joker said it himself, he’s a dog chasing a car. He only cares about one outcome - chaos. We’re not to supposed to over analyze the heist. It establishes how indifferent he is to outcomes, his boldness and his adaptability to changing circumstances.
One other major problem that is not mentioned: Joker's plan leaves a ton of evidence behind. There are bodies, masks, clothes, weapons, shells, blood, equipment, tread marks, etc. The scene isn't realistic at all: It's audacious, fun, and a great introduction to the "controlled anarchy" the Joker represents. But it's flawed in countless ways.
Bank heists are always reckless and dumb nowadays. Almost everyone will get caught if not on the scene then in the getaway that follows. The last bank heists that were successful were done before the 90's.
Thematically, the Joker prays on people's base instincts. From the thieves killing each other to collect their shares, to making two crooks kill each other in "tryouts", to making two boats full of people blow each other up before the other boat does, Joker believes that civilization is skin-deep and seeks to expose what he sees as a fallacy. The thieves themselves say during the heist that if anyone of their own dies, the rest collect his share. Joker probably relied on their greed and let them kill each other. However, professionals don't act that way. Pros operate with military precision. This requires trust. Edit: Corrected spelling on a particular word...
yeah exactly. I could honestly easily believe the joker is an extremely experienced criminal and has probably already done lesser jobs with these guys (tryouts) to prove to him that they are selfish enough to kill each other, and greedy and trusting enough based on prior jobs to not question the fact that the joker asks them to kill each other. Basically the only thing thats so dumb it could never work would be the school bus coming in at the exact time and driving it out at the exact right time while also never having anyone call the cops.
@@awoo21 I guess. BUt too manny events are timing critical to make this work. I would be ok if they would have inside guys inside banks. Normally huge heist are done that way.
The one that makes me scratch my head is that the bus drives out of the bank into a perfectly sized gap in a line of buses. How? We're all the buses working for joker? If so he'd have a lot more accomplices to kill
I know the money wasn't the point of the heist, but at that point he probably lost more money via bribes and hired henchmen payments than what he could get from the bank lol
@@itzwizory9556considering he burned who knows how many millions of dollars in a pyramid style burning. I doubt he did it for profit. It’s probably the chaos and the clout he received from the heist that motivated him.
@kirklanyoshinaga8953 he explicitly said in the movie that he didn't do it for the money, I was just saying that his personal savings must've looked like the combined amount of water on Tatooine after that since he didn't keep any of it.
There is timing into consideration, one when the bus smashed the wall to the time it went out. Joker's bus is obviously not in the bus convoy originally.
"The Joker's heist has the appearance of being genius because it is intricate and complex and has many twists and turns" Well isn't that just a great description of Nolan's filmography
I remember a quote something like, "A smart man appreciates complexity, a genius appreciates simplicity." Having a plan that would 100% work without fail would show much more intelligence in the planner than a one that needs a million moving pieces to work. It's why machines are quite often designed and redesigned over and over, the less moving parts the better, until they're stripped of every single piece needed. Nolan has a great way of creating the illusion of complexity in his films, and I really do enjoy them, but there are so many glaring issues when looking under the hood. Granted, I couldn't say if I would want this scene to be changed because I really do enjoy it still. I guess when I'm watching it I never take it as 100% serious in terms of these things actually happening, and the only part that truly feels realistic is the aesthetic.
Part of the Joker's character is that he is supernaturally lucky. Just like Batman can't be explained away with massive wealth, Joker can't be explained away with criminal skill.
You know, the bank heist in Heat is a good example of a heist that should be successful, but elements totally beyond your control just mess ya up sometimes.
I just noticed something.. The last guy who argues with The Joker seems surprised to hear about the bus driver. Does that mean he never even knew about their getaway plan 🤔 Great Video by the way 👍🏼
I always assumed Joker told them the getaway plan was to use the car they came in. Considering how absurd the Joker’s plot armor is, he probably knew that that henchman specifically would be the one to figure it out
It would also explain why he asked the joker if he sas supposed to kill him when his gun was drawn, because maybe he didn't know the getaway plan and thought that the joker would know or that killing the joker would prevent the getaway from being ready
@@InvagPrune I think that line was just to make it clear to the viewer that the writers had thought about “aren’t these guys gonna figure out that they’re gonna get murdered?”
The more problematic thing for me is how the Joker gets anyone to work for him when it gets out that he always intended to kill all the people involved in his bank heist and then burns most of the money to boot.
@@pyropulseIXXI So? The point is, that once it got known, why would anyone else - especially greedy criminal types - take a chance on him not repeating it?
@@Scotty-P well they specifically state in the film that joker hires paranoid schizophrenics and the such. So mentally ill people who don't understand or care anyway...
@@overlean1 How are; or so many, "mentally ill" "paranoid schizophrenics" are answering job notices?! This guys in the first job didn't seem like so either.
@@Scotty-P Word gets around? It was a single bank heist, and he wasn't running a huge operation; it isn't hard to hire people when you have access to such 'funds,' and there is no pattern of him doing this before, so him hiring people shortly after wouldn't be an issue; people wouldn't even know Joker was behind this so soon And the Joker didn't burn money until the end, after the culmination of his plans, so how the f*ck would 'word getting around' be an issue for him? The movie ends soon after that
Not to mention that once word got out about how the bank robbery was pulled off and how multiple robbers were shot in the back, nobody would wanna align themselves with the Joker and he would never be able to hire any henchmen. Why would someone wanna work as a henchman for someone who has a history of killing off his accomplices just to get a little extra money? They could easily just work for the Mob or Cobblepot.
@@ashleybanks-wm4cgIf I was a random thug in Gotham I'd head for the Penguin and his Iceberg Lounge immediately. A really well organized crime syndicate that has used every legal loophole there is to become untouchable by law, and the leader is a smart man who also is relatively stable mentally.
Obviously the Joker just has a +300 Luck modifier. That or Gotham City residents are just so used to crime, they can witness a school bus drive out of a bank with debris falling off it and everything and think nothing of it. At least that may be the case in a comic book
Everybody's talking about the bus behind the Joker calling the cops. What about the entire building of people who just saw two clowns zip-line to the bank roof after drawing their attention by blowing out the window?
This video points out parts of the scene where witnesses would notice something wrong and call the police. The response I have for that is pointing out that this is in the middle of a work day of a hustling and bustling major city. I'll be the first one to admit that I could easily be too preoccupied in doing what I'm doing to notice anything wrong or even have the desire to call the police if I see something that isn't even involving me.
Holy crap, an idea just popped in my head; wouldn't it have been cool had all these henchmen in fact been depicted as previous criminal masterminds, each with great gifts, and he convinced them all to work together on a job that was really designed to eliminate them, not actually get the money. And they were each one at a time learning this when it's too late, and then the cruel irony be that he ends up actually getting the money too, through luck, and that's how it ends, him laughing at getting such a bonus.
That actually is such a stereotypical Joker moment. He didn't care about the money one bit but walks away with it just out of sheer dumb luck? I can hear Mark Hamill laughing up a storm now
@@kingsadvisor18 You're right, I guess it's an established part of his character to not really want the things he steals to have for himself as much as just take them away from people who want them. But this is a story angle (duping his accomplices in the act) that would have been cool if they thought of it, and it would have made sense that he would want to kill the small fish in the act of conspiring with him all in one big elaborate heist. He could have even mocked them just before killing them with criticisms like the ones here in this review, "you all are so stupid to fall for this" sort of thing.
This scene wasn't the only nonsense. 'The Dark Knight' is entertaining, but the Joker has so much Plot Power that he may as well be magic. A couple minute's thought about almost every major plan of his shows it is impossible to do without having read the script.
The helicopter scene was always something that bothered me. How the fuck did the joker know not only that the police would send a helicopter flying at a low enough height to set up a trap, but also where to set up said trap?
@@goukeban6197 Exactly! And speaking of 'knowing ahead of time' His Demolition of the Hospital is Head-Smashingly retarded. It can take up to MONTHS of highly-trained Engineers to set up a demolition job. Even if we say he doesn't care about 'being neat' (Which he certainly doesn't) it would still take weeks to place the charges well enough so that the building goes down, smoothly or not! And... wait a sec... where did he get the MONEY for all this Hardware? I thought he burned it all. :-/ HE may not care about money, but I can guarantee you his flunkies and the people he does business with certainly do. Lastly, for those random readers stumbling across this- 'The Dark Knight' is a very good movie. Excellent performances, great character work, production values are through the roof... The fact is, with a lesser film, these flaws would render it unwatchable, but Nolan is a master and the Good definitely outweighs the bad.
@@torikazuki8701 And that was right after pulling off an insane car chase, kidnapping two high-profile individuals AND breaking from the police station!
@@torikazuki8701For the last complaint he almost certainly took the other half of the thugs money. But there are other questions. How did he rig the boats and warehouses in such a short time? How did no one notice him smuggling explosives on board the boats? How did he play dead so effectively that no one questioned it? And so on and so forth.
@@fictiontheorizer4253 Spot On! But, like I said awhile ago, it is due to the excellent performances, high-quality production and Nolan's Masterful Direction that we *Buy* any of that nonsense. At least while watching it. ^_~
I mean yeah, he himself admitted that they're just really rough estimates and he's just saying what feels right. The chance of this heist being successful is 0% anyways, unless the bus he pulls in front of is also a hired conspirator.
I did enjoy the video however a few things that stuck out to me is that 1. It was unlikely most people in the bank would be carrying since it was a mob bank, which seems like everyone would be carrying then but for a bank trip it would be highly unlikely they would be carrying as it would be unnecessary as protection is implied as most of the clients themselves would be immune, especially in a day time business like this. 2. I does seem implied that each member of the crew was handpicked, after all it was how Joker could ensure they wouldn't have any problems wacking other members, so the zipline guy would've been handpicked, security systems etc. 3. Although all members of the crew would've been mob connected, it is clear later on that the Joker was banking on the fact that the mob was on the backfoot due to Batman, so the crew would have likely all been stick up crew members who were wanting to avoid Arkham and wanted out after one last big payday.
Excellent analysis but you forgot the first mistake that would’ve red flagged the operation from the start: the zip liners busting out a high story window and showering the sidewalk below with glass. This surely would’ve been noticed and alarmed people before the car even arrives.
Glass at that height is designed to break inward rather than outward, preventing more accidentsl deaths in the case of a disaster or accident. You're right the glass would alert people but theres a good chance the amount of glass falling would be minimal.
I think the bus could easily go through the entrance, it just couldn't do it without leaving the back so mangled that it can't blend into a line of other school buses any more. Note that it's not actually a wall that the bus is going through. It's a set of doors. There's probably less steel framing in that door than in the part of the bus that hits it. The rest of the materials in the door is wood and glass, which don't offer any real resistance once they've cracked. But that's also the problem. I don't think you could smash them up with a bus, no matter how overbuilt the bus is.
@@Pystro nah, walls aren't nearly that weak. You can't blow through walls with a vehicle. But even if you could, you'd need quite a bit of speed to blow through a wall. But iirc there's no room outside the building for him to gain speed towards the building.
@@skaruts I've seen reports of vehicles going through a store front from a parking space right in front of it; the good old "driver was in a forward gear instead of the reverse and also confused the gas and break pedal" story. Admittedly that was an all-glass obstacle, where the entrance of the mob bank was a mix of glass and wood and possibly some metal reinforcements against being crowbarred open. And the bank entrance has two layers of those doors. But those were cars, not school buses. A school bus would gain _speed_ at a slower rate than a car (due to it's mass), but due to its more powerful engine it should gain _energy and momentum_ faster than a car. (I've even heard reports of cars going through _brick_ walls, so that _is_ possible; but admittedly only when flying off the road in a fast curve.) You may be right about the lack of acceleration space. We see that the sidewalk on the bank side is about the length of the school bus; then there's 2 driving lanes and a normal width sidewalk on the opposite side. The whole length of the space is about 2 school buses, and since you have to fit the school bus into the space to line it up, your acceleration distance is only about 1 school bus length. I couldn't tell you if that's enough for the bus to make it though. Which is kind of already a big flaw. Either the joker did some preliminary test with a school bus against a similar door, or he did some _very_ impressive research and math, or he was again just lucky.
@@Pystrogood points, but keep in mind it was also going backwards. So against the flow of traffic from behind, which might fill what little space there is to accelerate as you stop the bus, put it in reverse and line it up... Plus limited visibility, making it more difficult for the driver to actually hit the doors, and not the wall next to them. Also, the doors need to be high enough for the bus to fit under, or else you do run into the problem of bus vs solid stone wall
To a small bit of my shame, I used to use and sell heroin and other narcotics about 10 years ago. I also was involved in some intense situations. Breaking and entering into certain places for instance. I have experienced what it feels like to be in these situations and let me tell you something about them: The amount of adrenaline that hits you is literally staggering. I mean it physically alters the way you move, the way you think, there is a marked difference in how you experience time, and much more. When it comes to situations like this, unless you and your entire team are absolutely hardened pros who have nothing to lose and don’t fear death/punishment, mistakes WILL be made. So, yes….Joker’s plan is a complete Hollywood farce (still entertaining) because even if he is a genius, his plan relies on unpredictable individuals who he has no clue on whether or not they will fulfill their responsibilities in the exact way he wants them to.
This is a really interesting comment. I think The Place Beyond the Pines depicts some of what you are describing (obviously I wouldn't know). Glad that you don't sell heroin anymore!
I love the way you describe the adrenaline bit. There’s an adrenaline rush, and then there’s fight or flight, and they’re objectively different experiences. I’ve been in some very intense situations where my freedom and life were threatened and when it’s crunch time, it’s like you’re in the most vivid goddamn dream you’ve ever had. There is no pain.
@@GarrettLoganGriffin Your response made me read my comment again and I realized that I should mention something else. I had a friend tell me that your body gets used to the adrenaline. He was stealing cars every day and running from the cops regularly….he told me that his body got used to the adrenaline. But he also was using meth so I’m not sure how accurate his facts are. I’m sure very experienced people can adapt to the adrenaline or they are used to it. I never got used to it….it always hit me like a freight train.
@@johnselden9257 Same. I’m sure just like any drug, your body can build a tolerance for it if it happens so regularly. But yeah, I guess I didn’t get into enough shit🤣 Aaaaaalways hit me like a ton of bricks, too, bro.
It’s the reliance on others that fascinates me. Obviously HE has a plan, that’s the whole point. But to trust those guys is another bridge to cross. Some of it, I could see, but the timing with them is hard to do, especially if he’s not directly on control. I think most of this plan could work (well, at least for a movie), but it’s the small timing with what they do that’s harder to be sure of
Plot twist: The Joker actually fully expected to get arrested but through sheer dumb luck, ended up pulling it off and the rest of the movie is a deviation from the original plan.
I was under the impression that Joker had told everyone in the team, to kill another one. " _If you do, you'll get a higher payout._ " kind of greed thing. Not just two, but everyone.
Perhaps the original plan was that the safe cracker kills the alarm guy, the bag man kills the safe cracker, the thug in the lobby kills the bag man, the bus man kills the thug in the lobby, and the joker kills the bus man.
Something that bugs me is the part later with Joker taunting the guy until he goes for him. People dealing with psychopaths are specifically trained and taught to ignore them. Like, the thing about psychopaths at the level where they need to be locked away is that they're extremely predictable, to the point where if you know how to handle them they're basically harmless. So, the police officer assigned to watch Joker would have been fully aware of everything he would say and prepared to ignore him. Like, someone would have said "Hey man, just si you know, he's a psychopath. He's definitely gonna bring up the dead cops to get to you. Are you prepared for that?" For reference, I knew a guy who was a security guard in a hospital who had to watch a psychopath. The guy killed his wife and baby, so his shift would be hours of the guy saying "I killed a baby? Do you want to hear me describe her death to you? PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!" He said that even just doing one shift made him pretty numb to the crap psychopaths say.
The Joker is not a traditional psychopath, he’s very clever and self aware of his actions and emotions. He’s more like an extremely depressed realist rather than mentally ill.
You highlighted something that has always bothered me with Nolan's films. Yes, they're slick, cool and entertaining, absolutely. However, they are not gritty, grounded or realistic in any way. They are pure fantasy. There's nothing wrong with fantasy, just don't try to convince me that your Super Soaker is a TEC-9.
As someone who used to work for UPS on an airstrip, I've handled big bags of money before. A bag of $100s about the size of your average full trash bag are, around, 42lbs. Just wanted to give some context on how heavy those duffel bags would be.
This is way the Dark Knight never clicked with me. It tries to look super realistic and down to earth, but the plot needs the Joker to basically be able to see the future. Something you wouldn't see in most far less "realistic" versions of the character. I like more stylied takes on Batman more for this reason. More room for suspension of disbelief. If you want see a movie that does a good job showing the pitfalls of trying to do the perfect crime? The Killing by Stanley Kubrick. It's one of the best written movies of all time.
This is why I like the Batman Arkham continuity, it is just the perfect blend of cartoonish and serious that works better for a character like Batman than a full on "realistic" take on its characters.
Nevermind that the bus rammed through a bank wall and yet shows no damage, not even scratches to the paint, and is able to blend in with busses that did not just ram through a bank wall.
In a different timeline the bus crushes like an accordion on the bank wall and all Joker could do is go "oh cock" while SWAT rapidly rushes in from the other entrance and fills him with bullets.
0:37 _"However... a thorough analysis of the Joker's plan, exposes it, as a disastrous thought-out mess...."_ All Christopher Nolan movies fall under that mantra, quite frankly.... The more you watch and think... the worse they get.
You know it’s ironic that Christopher Nolan states that the inspiration for the bank heists was from the several heists that occurred in the movie Heat (1995). Except for those who’ve actually seen Heat, you would know that the reason why that movie’s heists work is because there was way better planning, but still more casualties when things would backfire on McCauley and his crew.
The Heat crew were also extremely competent with the core members being loyal to each other and even they failed during the final heist because the last minute replacement driver was taken out by a lucky shot. One random setback can still lead to disaster and cascade to total failure.
This scene perfectly shows how the rule of cool is one of the most important elements in any story, as despite the fact it absolutely should not have worked nobody actually cares and calls it genius because it entertains us well.
I really don't like your way of calculating the odds of the bank robbery. First of all, these are unreliable estimates. Secondly, the occurrence of an error you described doesn't result automatically in a complete failure.
His initial estimate was 0.0441% chance of success. He said he rounded the number, which would be 0.04%... but lets round up to 0.05% so that it's closer to his theory. He then went on to say it's a 1 in 200 chance of the bank robbery succeeding... 0.5% is 1 in 200 0.05% is 1 in 2000 I wasn't fond of his math on any level.
Exactly. This very thought was blaring in my head when watching that very Joker bank heist. It wasn't an exhibition in criminal genius but a hailstorm in lucking out. And it's amazingly effective comparison between those two different heists. A moment of devil's advocacy, I think comic book movie villains fare better in film to keep the spirit of comicbook universe absurdity. Make things TOO realistic and it strangely is less entertaining, at least how I see it. I still think the idea that Joker wanted to not share the gains and not risk having any henchmen that can rat him out could have just simply happen in a simple way AFTER the job is done, not DURING it. A "post robbery shocker," blowing up the bus full of them celebrating afterwards, etc. It also would make Joker look smarter, look more appealing to future henchmen to work with him because nobody knows he killed any before. 4:04 "You can maximize your luck with preparation and experience." Well, more specifically, you can minimized your need for luck or susceptibility to bad luck with them.
Always entertaining Despot.. I think the biggest problem with the jokers plan is guaranteeing the bloke you are supposed to kill via bus through the wall is going to be stood exactly where he needs to be when it turns up. I can't get a bus when I stand at a stop! 🤣
Well i think the jokers plan was to actually kill him some other way but when he pulled a gun on him he knew bus would arrive near the guy, so if you look in the scene, joker starts moving which also makes the other guy move which puts him in the right place
This was a thorough analysis, and I'm glad you included the clip of the expert explaining what requirements are necessary for success. I have not seen this movie, but of course the robbery plan is completely and ridiculously over the top. The instant a new boss who has hired me for contract work tells me when the job is done, I should kill a particular colleague, whom I don't know yet, I would immediately assume that the boss has told somebody else to kill me. That's kind of a dealbreaker for me. Your points about installing the zip line, and then actually using the zip line, are well taken. How can the Joker be certain that his employees will be able to carry out the plan under pressure? It may sound doable, and the crew may be eager, but when in the real world, any number of variables can pop up. Expecting everybody to stay cool, calm and collected and to carry on executing the plan as previously discussed is taking a big chance. Ask anybody who has never acted before how they felt going up on stage in front of an audience and saying the lines just like in rehearsal. Ask a police recruit, who completed all mandatory training of the most dangerous situations in a training environment, how to confront the real thing on his first day on the job. In both cases, it can happen that the person is overwhelmed, feels the fight, flight or freeze response, and is unable to do what they did in training or rehearsal. Since the Joker doesn't know these people, how can he rely on them to carry out the plan? Just wondering: several times you mentioned one of the variables might be "an off-duty cop who wants to be a hero" or "a man who wants to assert his masculinity after decades of sitting at a desk job". It sounded like you were sneering at them but I may have misunderstood that. I would think anybody who is trying to intervene is voluntarily putting themselves in a life and death situation in order to stop a violent crime in progress, and the potential the same criminals have for further violence after they leave the bank. The other option would be for the would-be intervener to decide he'd rather not risk his life and hide behind furniture instead while calling 911. Which is probably also a valid choice. Thanks for the video!
I wasn't sneering at anyone, but I wouldn't encourage anyone to risk their life to save a bank's insurance company from a loss. If it was your house, the bank would happily wash the money stolen from it. Interesting comment about fight or flight, I was just thinking that the zipliners would take one look out that window, think 'Yea, fuck that.' and take off, end of heist.
@@DespotofAntrim no, you are quite right! Risking one’s life to help the bank not to lose money is not the best idea. Do you watch the channel “pitch meetings?” The screenwriter guy will say he wants a particular scene to unfold a certain way. The producer guy will say, but that’s extremely dangerous and there’s no way that could succeed. And screenwriter guy will say but it will look cool and exciting in the trailer so people will come and spend money to watch the movie. So producer guy will say great, let’s do it! This is probably a very accurate representation of what goes on in Hollywood. I always enjoy your videos very much. Thank you!
Id sneer 2. Why risk innocent life over insured and tainted money? By someobe escalating the situation. Just observe the situation until it's over and try and find the culprits later?
The thing that never made sense to me was simply that when the bus gets out of the bank and gets in line with the other busses, don't you think the bus behind the jokers bus would have radioed in saying "umbrella, this bus ahead of me just came crashing out of a bank and there's only 1 man in a mask inside. I think this may have been a robbery."
same logic as the video bus could not have a radio, bus could not have a working radio joker bolted at the first turn other crew members on bikes could have taken money joker used the time it took police to go from bus to bus to jump into a sewer and so on
A police helicopter would easily identify the bus that has debris on the roof. You would also expect a lot of mobsters in the vicinity of their bank . Places like cofee shops , money exchange , newspaper stands . All being armed , especially in Gotham . The criminals could have been recruited from outside of Gotham , maybe people who are inclined to kill , not really to rob (but they would be less experienced) . The theft plan may not have been disclosed until one hour before starting it (but it's harder to tell them who to kill) . Taking the money out of the safe was laughable , you need at least 3-4 guys . Btw I find the next movie even worse in terms of criminal motivation and planning . You can excuse this scene as it might have happened somewhat different (criminals being killed only after loading the cash etc).
Yes, Bane's plan can also go wrong in a million different areas and yet miraculously doesn't. And it's impossible for a Wall Street heist to work because electronic transactions cannot go through because the rich have installed failsafe to prevent that.
Just to play devils advocate. A popular theory was that Joker had a ex special forces background What if those guys weren’t criminals The score was Millions Maybe they had zip line and harness knowledge, they didn’t know the Mob or have affiliations, neither did they have to worry about one having pending charges. Because they’re all Mercenaries
People are mentioning how the bus driver behind Joker’s bus would notice, but with the kind of timing necessary, all buses in front of his would drive past a bus sticking out of a hole in the wall of a bank.
And the biggest problem with that plan isn't the chances of crashing your motorbike going up as the number of getaways increases. But the fact that the moment they exhaust all other leads the police will inevitably start to simply look into competent riders within the area.
@@rh_BOSS In general though, robberies are a game of statistics Every factor's odds of failing rapidly increase with more repititions Getting away more than twice is a marked miracle regardless of plan
Joker's bus maneuver to get it enter the bank in reverse would have made that he needed much more time and space to do so, but the column of other school buses could not have allowed this.
This is way too generous. In round numbers, there is a 0% chance of a school bus gaining sufficient momentum or achieving the angle displayed in the movie while driving backwards through the outer wall of a bank. This plan is as likely to succeed as your winning lottery ticket being struck by lightning (thrice) while you’re playing poker with Jesus during a snowstorm in hell on a Sunday in a leap year-while your twin stepsister is stuck in the dryer.
The entire point of this opening and his characters is that he causes chaos with people and revels in it. Yes he plans stuff but he loves to improvise when things go chaotic.
Also counting on the guy standing right where the bus will be with his back turned towards the entrance so he won't see it coming, meaning he must also have calculated the guy becoming aware and holding him at gunpoint at that exact moment.
I always thought this was a silly scene. Especially the bus seemlessly driving down the steps and blending into the other buses. What was the bus driver directly behind the Joker's bus thinking when they saw this?
You know, the point about vault having a second gate reminds me - in Payday 2, a game that has a lot to be desired in terms of... Everything (janky AI, glitches up it's bum, list goes on), one of the first heists you'd likely do in it is Harvest and Trustee branch. The heist can be done both in stealth and loud, depending on whether or not guards and civilians will be disposed of in quickly enough. Now, despite gang consisting of 20+ people, the jobs are handed and controlled by their mastermind, Bain, who never shows up his face (aside from one occassion, but getting to the context behind it would take too long, plus it's not really that relevant to the point), is hiding in a remote location, and uses bunch of IT wizardry to hide his traces, so realistically, he's the one that has the least risk involved, but like you said, it's not 0% (which does bite him in the ass eventually). The heist itself is carried out by a team of 4 (allowing for a 4 player co-op). Now, in game, nobody is going to snitch, but if you really want to add the odds, you can do so. Funnily enough, the odds of someone not being experienced at their task can be applied at the leisure. Equipment and skills might also vary, so we can add that (someone might not bring silenced weapon, or someone might not have faster lockpicking, etc). And once we're past the human element, we can move onto what really sets Payday apart - RNG. Each heist in the game has a set of variables that can play out during the heist - be it small things, like additional loot in deposit boxes, but it can be also major, like placement of key items, vault, or security room. On aforementioned Harvest and Trustee, security room can either be in a remote area that is easy to crack without someone noticing, or it can be in view of the civilians currently present in the bank. The bank manager might carry the keycard on him to allow for easier access to security room, or it might be in his office instead. The placement of cameras can be different, guards and civilians, etc. Some doors in the backdoor might be open because a bank employee went to take a smoke, or they might be closed and you'll need to use the lockpick. And then, when opening the vault door, the vault itself either will or will not have another gate that needs to be drilled, taking more time. And all that is just one of the more basic heists, yet there are variables in the way that make your job easier or harder. Then again... Games do allow for more versitility when it comes to something like that.
@@godfrey4461 OP's trying to say Payday 2's heists would be extremely difficult to pull off in real life. there's way too many luck factors, even in stealth
The bus would also be heavily deformed from ramming into concrete blocks and upon driving out would stick out like a sore thumb leading law enforcement right to the bus that looks like a crunched piece of metal on the street. And they have all the evidence they need to make an arrest, ballistics, the dead robbers and the thousands of cash in the back of the bus. The joker is screwed
All this is true but I think that's what makes the sequence cool. A highly convoluted and practically implausible heist plan that could easily go wrong is pretty on-brand for the Joker. Here in South Africa we have a saying " you watch too many movies" because it's common knowledge that this is the kind of ridiculous stuff that can only happen in movies
Also, think about the 2 scenes where both the hospital and the ferry were packed with explosives in an incredibly short amount of time. The hospital was completely destroyed. How did nobody see this when someone had to go in a place that is packed with people 24/7 like the hospital, AND NOBODY NOTICES!
Like everything, it's turned up to 11 because of movie logic, but sneaking into places where you're not supposed to be and doing things you're not supposed to do isn't that unrealistic if you wear a hazard vest and carry a ladder. If someone questions why you're drilling holes into the walls in the hospital's basement, it's because you're doing electrical work.
Finally someone says it. I was ok with huge suspension of disbelief for cinematic purposes in the joker scene but when each thug starts killing the next one I called BS on writing. Thankfully Heath Ledgers legendary performance in the remainder of the movie made me forget that nonsense.
It's ridiculous that this movie has a 'grounded, gritty and realistic take' reputation. I don't even think that's what Nolan was going for. He knows this stuff is comic book nonsense.
I think the unlikelihood of this op going right is what makes it perfect for the joker. He's not a thug he's a psycho. If the heist was simple the joker would have nothing to do with it.
I dig this. But part of me is thinking that Joker would have no interest in a bank heist that didn't have a 'punchline.' That is to say, he's not just going to do a run of the mill job... the more luck-necessary, the better. If it fails, big whoop. If it succeeds, he gets the massive pyschological payoff of threading the needle.
The Joker's bank heist has the exact same problem that Bane's escape has: It makes absolutely 0 sense and relies entirely on massive amounts of sheer dumb luck. The only (big) difference is: It makes (potentially, a little) sense for the Joker, a force of nature-villain to have a chaotic non-plan for a bank heist - it makes absolutely no sense for Bane (who is supposedly really smart and thought his escape through) to go for his escape plan.
Joker has the superpower of reading the script to be a sure the bus driver is going to run over the guy who suddenly decided he wanted to kill the Joker but not instantly, just after have a small talk with him.
Dont forget one of the biggest flaws, that will CERTAINLY ruin it is that hes relying on the actual bus drivers to not call in that they just saw a bus pull out of a bank right into their line of buses.
@@stouthelm6324Except Joker obviously told them a plan… he just lied. There’s literally a line at the start about Joker planning the job and taking a cut….
Another point of failure. In order to maximize success, this heist would have required rehearsals. So they would all have met. Or, who the hell would agree to that big a job knowing there will be others or who would agree to never having met until the actual op?
The whole movie is like this. Lots of luck and happenstance for anything to work. Last watch I was shaking my head, distracted by how dumb it was. I'm told it's a silly super hero movie so get over it, then I'm told it's gritty, dark and realistic. Pick a lane.
Like the direction of Zack Snyder, the direction of Chrishopher Nolan is the perfect embodiment of the principle of "style over substance". Their movies look gorgeous and have a great flow, but the cracks start to show the moment you start looking for plotholes.
Not to mention school bus drivers all have CB radios and would immediately start asking the other drivers in the line who is driving that one random bus covered in dust who just barged into the school convoy.
This reminds me another scene in The Dark Knight Rises where villans hijacked an aeroplane. It looks spectacular but when you think about it, is it even feasible? The same director so that is his style, I guess...
Here another thing that could gone wrong, What if the Bank manager who was armed connected all his shot to Joker and Bagman as well. There no way you can fully be sure you win the gunfight esp none of robber even knew he was there or armed.
Very well put togheter and entertaining video. I also thought the plan was implausible to say the least. A justification for this could be that Joker sees himself as an agent of chaos and anarchy with little or no concern for his personal safety. Many times in the movie he offers his life to his enemies just to make the point that "there is no point". That aspect of the character made me suspend my disbelief on such a wreckless plan.
Joker definitely was fking around and adding unneeded risk for the fun of it. He never had to be involved in the actual heist. If he wanted the crew to be silenced, he could have easily killed them after the job was done without the mid-heist betrayals. Which is kinda consistent with the rest of the movies I guess.
7:25 Counterpoint, the Joker is shown to be a master planner who always has backup plans for his backup plans. It's very likely the Joker planned this down to the last detail but also had some other thing in place we don't see in the event something went wrong.
@@DespotofAntrim Yes having the bus hit that crew member despite him turning on him shows he is in control of random variables, he's also pretty chaotic and not interested in self preservation, I was thinking he could have had one of the bank staff or customers as another crew member if anything went wrong but then that happened but he relied on the bus which is interesting, I think he is in control and chooses the elaborate plan for the theatrics, everything is sending messages, maybe that message spreads distrust among criminals that anyone on your crew could be him
Or the bus driver that gets cut off by a random bus pulling out of a bank could call the police. I always thought that was weird that he just follows in behind and doesn't stop or do anything a normal person would do.
It's important to remember that originally, *every* Batman villain was attempting rediculously silly crimes, which is why one guy in a silly outfit was able to stop them. It was comedy as much as action. That trait got baked into all the classic villains, which is why every adaptation that attempts to make them less hammy and rediculous fails. We know the Joker's schemes would never work IRL, but neither would a billionaire in spandex punching bad guys. You can't give one a pass without the other. If The Batman can exist, then so too can The Joker.
Here's the most important part. THE BUS DRIVER BEHIND THE JOKER'S BUS SHOULD HAVE SEEN A BUS DRIVE OUT OF THE WALL IN THE BANK.
Exactly. A problem easily remedied to have had the parade of real buses on an adjacent street just out of sight from the bank disaster, so the other bus drivers would let it in like it just got lost or something.
Man, they don’t pay bus drivers enough to not let a fellow bus driver in. Even if he is driving out of a hole in a bank!
He was in on it. The sixth member who was instructed to leave a gap and to kill themself after they’re not needed anymore. Pure genius that joker fellow.
@@samipersun9995 Who the fuck would accept a job where they kill themselves? Money wouldn’t matter at that point.
U forget it's Gotham, they see f up shit all the time, they aren't gonna wanna get involved lol
Despot, I'd like to personally thank you for informing me about the intricacies of what goes into a bank robbery. I've been planning one for a while, and your analysis allowed me to see a number of flaws that were still very much present in my plans, holes that I've since plugged to make it utterly waterproof. I'll be a rich man thanks to you!
there's something so funny about the combination of your comment and your username
This was perfect!
@@cranberryrosebud well since he made this comment on google his account is now flagged and his IP is probably sent to the fbi by now. I hope hes not sitting in prison right now
I hope it went well! Send me a buck or two.
can i join?
This is a great example of a well-made sequence disguising a poor concept. The first time I watched it the only thing that really stood out was the idea that the robbers would be both happy to murder each other AND unaware that they're all equally expendable.
"Unaware that they're all equally expendable."
This is the most important part. Because you can sum up the rest of the things with the fact that he is the Joker. He has connections with some of the most powerful people in Gotham to hire anyone he wants, he can hire crooked bus drivers or threaten them, he's smart and well versed enough to come up with precautions outside of the situation, he's a psycho, etc. And it just works because Joker is an established villain and everyone know he can and has done stuff like this many times. If it was a new villain who did this, it wouldn't make sense to many people.
But it really makes no sense how trained criminals are so naive.
The last time you saw someone question the Joker, his head was blown off. And you think you're going to say no when he tells you to take out the alarm guy?
well the only guy who put two and two together was the one who got told by his target that he'd just done the same thing, and he put it together instantly. he probably went to great lengths to make sure none of the others found out before the job. The only real stretch was him being able to escape via schoolbus line, but it happens so quickly it's still possible, only really needs to get far enough in it before he gets to another vehicle. Obviously he isn't driving the bus all the way home. The bank scene is unrealistic but not as bad as people make it out. joker in this movie has an aura about him that brings things up to this level, which makes him as scary as he is. it also makes it satisfying when his plans are foiled by human goodness at the end.
@KarazolaX Even then, Joker could have had another guy in each bus holding the driver hostage.
In my opinion getting the bag man to be positioned perfectly to be hit by the bus just by sidestepping was a lot less realistic than that.
@@Gloom_Shroom_Gaming Well, if it's a tightly executed plan, they could have part of the plan that puts them there, if it's gone off without a hitch. But it's not that small an area. And even if it somehow missed, Joker still has the drop on them and could just flatline them, he only has to get rid of one guy in the bank. In fact, the bus would probably be good enough of a distraction to afford him the opportunity to take them out by itself.
Guys. Forget all that.
The bus isnt damaged by going through a fucking wall?
He got 100% armor at Los Santos Customs
21:28
I mean aren't american buildings made up of paper and air? If that's the case with the bank aswell the bus probably won't be damaged much. Ofcourse with a massive IF.
And it didn't actually hit the bag man. And if it had, he wouldn't have died anyway.
@@anonymousperson6119 🤣
Honestly, Joker coming up with a meticulous plan that goes completely sideways in every possible way and just calling it quits as he runs away cackling to himself feels more Joker-like. It’s tough to see him as an “agent of chaos” if all his plans are so meticulous and require perfect timing and precision on all counts, all leading up to this big philosophical trolley problem with boats
Yeah, part of the thing with the Joker is that he's more of a reckless thematic agent of chaos that succeeds purely through balls, luck, and assuming the worst of other people ending up being accurate. He has a much higher risk tolerance than any reasonable mastermind because he 100% believes a deeply cynical view of human nature and he doesn't account for self-preservation as part of a plan succeeding. Ofc a lot of it is also just suspension of disbelief from stuff being cool, but it'd be much less interesting thematically if the Joker's plans were actually safe and he wasnt always playing dice with his own life
Joker only said that to mess with Harvey, who believes plans and being good always work out, to point Dent at the Mob as patsies. Also, it would be ironic for Joker to use plans to create anarchy.
Like a joke.
Which, Ledger's great performance as not Joker aside is why all the TDK and Nolan love in general baffle me.
Don't get me wrong, Nolan's movie's are visually stunning and much better than average. I've yet to meet a truly clever one though.
That said, despite everyone, myself included finding Begins average at best, until TDK when all of a sudden Begins was genius, it has aged the best of the three.
chaos is order. order is chaos. its subjective. some say the nazis were order. some say chaos
He should change his name to lucky man. Only his luck that carry him this far.
Very comprehensive list. One thing that always screamed out to me was how obviously the bus driver behind the bus when it drives OUT of the bank, would call the police and know the numberplate etc. We're supposed to believe a school bus driver will watch a bus drive out of a building, dust and debris falling off of it, and think nothing more about it? Sure Nolan, sure.
Also how did he get a school bus? They can't be that easy to steal...
It is a movie, you absolute oaf. "Sure, Nolan, sure." lmao, what are you even doing? It isn't hard to switch out plates, and you don't even see what happens after.
Also, did you question why a batman even exists? The entire notion is very implausible. We're supposed to believe a billionaire would become a highly trained ninja super hero? Sure Nolan, sure
School busses have big black numbers on them though. Also, the conceit of supers existing is supposed to be the major suspension of disbelief in this genre. If we pile on more suspension because non super elements are straining against what think should be reality (that this Gotham is just Chicago) then the movies foundation falls apart. Just because your movie has magic space wizards doesn't mean the plot has to be a mess.
All the school bus drivers are in on it too.
@@pyropulseIXXI 🤣 I guess you don't see the point of the video then.
How hard can it be to find a clueless, loyal, homicidal, weapons-proficient, schizophrenic safecracking wizard with zip line experience who won't keep an eye on the guy behind him?
with current world shenanigans happening right before our eyes?
very easy
hire some blackwater mercs or wagner group just to be sure
I know at least 3 guys like that, and can probably rustle up a 4th by talking to those 3 guys.
You got 0 replies because there are none that fit all your requirements
@@MidlifeCrisisJoe I'll be your 4th.
According to the film? Super easy, barely an inconvenience 😅
Joker had meter-thick plot armor. The laws of reality bent around him to make him more threatening.
The ferry subplot was even worse. They’re evacuating a bunch of prisoners and then a bunch of citizens for fear of the joker’s terroristic threats and they don’t find the many barrels of explosives in the ferries??? Really?
The reality bend thing felt real to the audience as they were watching him in IMAX in 2008 also hans Zimmer music was there, so people say that joker felt so much dangerous than other villains so that they thought he can manipulate reallity and he will come out of the screen 😂😂
weird it's like it's a superhero movie where the laws of reality are different than ours
@ there’s no common sense in a movie that was touted as being “gritty” and “grounded” and “realistic”? K bud
I guess thats why batman fell off his bike after the lorry sequence rather than jumping off and just tackling him down
"Has the appearance of being genius because it is intricate and complex" Is a great way to describe all the classic Nolan films. I still love a lot of them they are a lot of fun, but they're not smart like people think they are
Tenet
I'd argue that interstellar was smart.
It doesn't matter what is real, only what people perceive is real.
I am a huge interstellar fan, but that Love = Daughter’s bedroom in blackhole was kinda stupid. However I have not and never will be taken out of the movie by that.
@@jayBBvid95 Interstellar is a good watch, 8/10.
It has some of the problems OP described, though. Not the perfect sci-fi film by far.
The bus alone is a huge problem:
The bus driver has to back into the bank at high speed, despite there being no approach that isn't in a busy street, and he has to drive it backwards at a full 90 degrees to the angle of traffic.
His preparing to do the above cannot cause cops or bystanders to get suspicious as they watch and ask, "What the hell is he doing?"
The bus has to not be damaged in any critical or visually distinct way as it plunges through doors, wall and glass.
It has to not be pinned by the debris, making it hard to leave.
The tires cannot be damaged by all the glass.
The bus must emerge without difficulty and slip into a gap in traffic without the buses behind it coming to a complete stop.
The bus drivers behind it must keep the accelerator steady instead of braking as any responsible school bus driver should as an unplanned bus emerges from a building and slips in and instantly matches speed so that they can form an unbroken line of buses.
The bus driver behind it must not get on the radio and call this in, reading off their position and the offending bus' number and license plate.
And don't forget that they first needed to procure the bus without raising suspicion, either by stealing it or repairing a wrecked one, adding even more points of failure to the whole operation.
And nobody can notice the empty school bus covered in debris and smashed windows betwixt two pristine, full busses
19:04 - you forgot: "The school bus behind the getaway bus has a phone and calls the police, identifying the license plate of the bus he JUST saw drive out of the bank in front of him, covered in debris"
He easily could've switched plates
@@pyropulseIXXI ...Except that this would only make it impossible to track down the origin of the bus. The police would still have the license plates present on the bus at the time of the robbery, and any officer on patrol would be able to compare them with any passing bus.
Also every bus I was ever in had a radio so ya don't even need the phone factor
Why would they bother calling the police though? How many crashes have you driven past and just decided "I'm calling the police".
If he drove out of bak and you also heard a bunch of gunshots? Yeah I'd probably call police, is that sort of thing a regular occurrence in USA for you not to pay attention to it?
It'll all boils down to "how come none of the drivers in the bus row seems to be surprised that one of them just came out of a frigging bank leaving a trail of debris behind it"? "Oh yeah, that's gotta be Joe, he's always crashing into government buildings, lol."
It is Joe. Joe Kerr to be specific. 😉
Maybe they’re also criminals? 🤷♀️ who cares?
90% of weirdos are going along with useless nonsense that guarantees virginity 100% of the time @@gregorymoore2877
The easy answer is "the other school buses were also being driven by Joker's men." And then he either killed them too off-screen, or those are the ones who were actually loyal to him.
The busses are very important in that movie twice The joker drives away with a bus
I view that heist as a choreographed fight in a martial arts movie: It looks impressive as hell but it doesn't look like a real fight would.
That because real fights end quickly
@@Galvatronover exactly.
@@bkatbamnastill entertaining though.
No doubt.@@prometheus9732
@@Galvatronover depends. hand to hand combats among avarge people tend to last for 1 and half of a minute then one of the guy is getting gassed out and beaten. If only one of the guy is trained it ends quickly. If both party is trained it could drag out forever before some of them is getting knocked out or tired
I don’t think Christopher Nolan’s bank heist was meant to show what a planning genius the joker is, but rather to illustrate how completely insane and chaotic he is through the visual storytelling of that actual clusterfuck of a bank heist.
Facts, these comments miss the point. The Joker said it himself, he’s a dog chasing a car. He only cares about one outcome - chaos. We’re not to supposed to over analyze the heist. It establishes how indifferent he is to outcomes, his boldness and his adaptability to changing circumstances.
One other major problem that is not mentioned: Joker's plan leaves a ton of evidence behind. There are bodies, masks, clothes, weapons, shells, blood, equipment, tread marks, etc.
The scene isn't realistic at all: It's audacious, fun, and a great introduction to the "controlled anarchy" the Joker represents. But it's flawed in countless ways.
Like all Nolan films
Bank heists are always reckless and dumb nowadays.
Almost everyone will get caught if not on the scene then in the getaway that follows.
The last bank heists that were successful were done before the 90's.
Brah it’s not America it’s Gotham city 🤣🤣🤣
Thematically, the Joker prays on people's base instincts. From the thieves killing each other to collect their shares, to making two crooks kill each other in "tryouts", to making two boats full of people blow each other up before the other boat does, Joker believes that civilization is skin-deep and seeks to expose what he sees as a fallacy.
The thieves themselves say during the heist that if anyone of their own dies, the rest collect his share. Joker probably relied on their greed and let them kill each other. However, professionals don't act that way. Pros operate with military precision. This requires trust.
Edit: Corrected spelling on a particular word...
And PRO circles you can trust only yourself.
Fallacy, phallacy means benis
yeah exactly. I could honestly easily believe the joker is an extremely experienced criminal and has probably already done lesser jobs with these guys (tryouts) to prove to him that they are selfish enough to kill each other, and greedy and trusting enough based on prior jobs to not question the fact that the joker asks them to kill each other.
Basically the only thing thats so dumb it could never work would be the school bus coming in at the exact time and driving it out at the exact right time while also never having anyone call the cops.
@@awoo21 I guess. BUt too manny events are timing critical to make this work. I would be ok if they would have inside guys inside banks. Normally huge heist are done that way.
That misspelling of fallacy REALLY changes the meaning of the word
The one that makes me scratch my head is that the bus drives out of the bank into a perfectly sized gap in a line of buses. How? We're all the buses working for joker? If so he'd have a lot more accomplices to kill
I know the money wasn't the point of the heist, but at that point he probably lost more money via bribes and hired henchmen payments than what he could get from the bank lol
Well that explains the motive; he needed to rob the bank to recoup the cost of robbing the bank
@@itzwizory9556considering he burned who knows how many millions of dollars in a pyramid style burning. I doubt he did it for profit. It’s probably the chaos and the clout he received from the heist that motivated him.
@kirklanyoshinaga8953 he explicitly said in the movie that he didn't do it for the money, I was just saying that his personal savings must've looked like the combined amount of water on Tatooine after that since he didn't keep any of it.
There is timing into consideration, one when the bus smashed the wall to the time it went out. Joker's bus is obviously not in the bus convoy originally.
"The Joker's heist has the appearance of being genius because it is intricate and complex and has many twists and turns" Well isn't that just a great description of Nolan's filmography
Tenet
@@almalone3282 🤮🤮🤮
I remember a quote something like, "A smart man appreciates complexity, a genius appreciates simplicity."
Having a plan that would 100% work without fail would show much more intelligence in the planner than a one that needs a million moving pieces to work. It's why machines are quite often designed and redesigned over and over, the less moving parts the better, until they're stripped of every single piece needed. Nolan has a great way of creating the illusion of complexity in his films, and I really do enjoy them, but there are so many glaring issues when looking under the hood.
Granted, I couldn't say if I would want this scene to be changed because I really do enjoy it still. I guess when I'm watching it I never take it as 100% serious in terms of these things actually happening, and the only part that truly feels realistic is the aesthetic.
Interstellar is the best example. None of the actions of none of the characters make any sense whatsoever. But it's complex, so it has to be genius!
I have percentages on my side that can win any argument %%%%%% %%%%%% @@le_fancy_squid
Part of the Joker's character is that he is supernaturally lucky.
Just like Batman can't be explained away with massive wealth, Joker can't be explained away with criminal skill.
You know, the bank heist in Heat is a good example of a heist that should be successful, but elements totally beyond your control just mess ya up sometimes.
I just noticed something..
The last guy who argues with The Joker seems surprised to hear about the bus driver.
Does that mean he never even knew about their getaway plan 🤔
Great Video by the way 👍🏼
I always assumed Joker told them the getaway plan was to use the car they came in. Considering how absurd the Joker’s plot armor is, he probably knew that that henchman specifically would be the one to figure it out
It would also explain why he asked the joker if he sas supposed to kill him when his gun was drawn, because maybe he didn't know the getaway plan and thought that the joker would know or that killing the joker would prevent the getaway from being ready
@@InvagPrune I think that line was just to make it clear to the viewer that the writers had thought about “aren’t these guys gonna figure out that they’re gonna get murdered?”
The more problematic thing for me is how the Joker gets anyone to work for him when it gets out that he always intended to kill all the people involved in his bank heist and then burns most of the money to boot.
It isn't like he is making a pattern of doing this; he did both of those things one time
@@pyropulseIXXI So? The point is, that once it got known, why would anyone else - especially greedy criminal types - take a chance on him not repeating it?
@@Scotty-P well they specifically state in the film that joker hires paranoid schizophrenics and the such. So mentally ill people who don't understand or care anyway...
@@overlean1 How are; or so many, "mentally ill" "paranoid schizophrenics" are answering job notices?! This guys in the first job didn't seem like so either.
@@Scotty-P Word gets around? It was a single bank heist, and he wasn't running a huge operation; it isn't hard to hire people when you have access to such 'funds,' and there is no pattern of him doing this before, so him hiring people shortly after wouldn't be an issue; people wouldn't even know Joker was behind this so soon
And the Joker didn't burn money until the end, after the culmination of his plans, so how the f*ck would 'word getting around' be an issue for him?
The movie ends soon after that
Not to mention that once word got out about how the bank robbery was pulled off and how multiple robbers were shot in the back, nobody would wanna align themselves with the Joker and he would never be able to hire any henchmen. Why would someone wanna work as a henchman for someone who has a history of killing off his accomplices just to get a little extra money? They could easily just work for the Mob or Cobblepot.
Cobb!
@@ashleybanks-wm4cgIf I was a random thug in Gotham I'd head for the Penguin and his Iceberg Lounge immediately. A really well organized crime syndicate that has used every legal loophole there is to become untouchable by law, and the leader is a smart man who also is relatively stable mentally.
In the movie, he doesn’t use too many henchman. Gotham’s a big place too. I could believe it, I think
Shocker! His goons are crazy, not as crazy as him but crazy, so live or die it doesn't really matter
@@IShowJit this was my whole logic of this seems pretty simple conclusion to me lol
Obviously the Joker just has a +300 Luck modifier. That or Gotham City residents are just so used to crime, they can witness a school bus drive out of a bank with debris falling off it and everything and think nothing of it. At least that may be the case in a comic book
"I don't get paid enough to snitch"
Everybody's talking about the bus behind the Joker calling the cops.
What about the entire building of people who just saw two clowns zip-line to the bank roof after drawing their attention by blowing out the window?
This video points out parts of the scene where witnesses would notice something wrong and call the police. The response I have for that is pointing out that this is in the middle of a work day of a hustling and bustling major city. I'll be the first one to admit that I could easily be too preoccupied in doing what I'm doing to notice anything wrong or even have the desire to call the police if I see something that isn't even involving me.
Holy crap, an idea just popped in my head; wouldn't it have been cool had all these henchmen in fact been depicted as previous criminal masterminds, each with great gifts, and he convinced them all to work together on a job that was really designed to eliminate them, not actually get the money. And they were each one at a time learning this when it's too late, and then the cruel irony be that he ends up actually getting the money too, through luck, and that's how it ends, him laughing at getting such a bonus.
That actually is such a stereotypical Joker moment. He didn't care about the money one bit but walks away with it just out of sheer dumb luck? I can hear Mark Hamill laughing up a storm now
@@kingsadvisor18 You're right, I guess it's an established part of his character to not really want the things he steals to have for himself as much as just take them away from people who want them.
But this is a story angle (duping his accomplices in the act) that would have been cool if they thought of it, and it would have made sense that he would want to kill the small fish in the act of conspiring with him all in one big elaborate heist. He could have even mocked them just before killing them with criticisms like the ones here in this review, "you all are so stupid to fall for this" sort of thing.
@@kingsadvisor18 the joker is like an ork. his sheer insanity bends reality
@@TheWizardGamezthe Ork Who Laughs
This would have been awesome.
This scene wasn't the only nonsense. 'The Dark Knight' is entertaining, but the Joker has so much Plot Power that he may as well be magic. A couple minute's thought about almost every major plan of his shows it is impossible to do without having read the script.
The helicopter scene was always something that bothered me. How the fuck did the joker know not only that the police would send a helicopter flying at a low enough height to set up a trap, but also where to set up said trap?
@@goukeban6197 Exactly! And speaking of 'knowing ahead of time' His Demolition of the Hospital is Head-Smashingly retarded. It can take up to MONTHS of highly-trained Engineers to set up a demolition job.
Even if we say he doesn't care about 'being neat' (Which he certainly doesn't) it would still take weeks to place the charges well enough so that the building goes down, smoothly or not!
And... wait a sec... where did he get the MONEY for all this Hardware? I thought he burned it all. :-/ HE may not care about money, but I can guarantee you his flunkies and the people he does business with certainly do.
Lastly, for those random readers stumbling across this- 'The Dark Knight' is a very good movie. Excellent performances, great character work, production values are through the roof... The fact is, with a lesser film, these flaws would render it unwatchable, but Nolan is a master and the Good definitely outweighs the bad.
@@torikazuki8701 And that was right after pulling off an insane car chase, kidnapping two high-profile individuals AND breaking from the police station!
@@torikazuki8701For the last complaint he almost certainly took the other half of the thugs money.
But there are other questions.
How did he rig the boats and warehouses in such a short time?
How did no one notice him smuggling explosives on board the boats?
How did he play dead so effectively that no one questioned it?
And so on and so forth.
@@fictiontheorizer4253 Spot On! But, like I said awhile ago, it is due to the excellent performances, high-quality production and Nolan's Masterful Direction that we *Buy* any of that nonsense.
At least while watching it. ^_~
I mean the Joker did say, "Do I look like the kind of guy with plan?" So I guess he wasn't lying.
Well he has a plan, even here
@@Jonathan-A.C.He has the ability to adjust to other's plan and do things to reach a goal. Not necessarily plans, but contingencies and methods
@@Youngbane1457
That’s also true
He had concepts of a plan
Joker needed to have God-level clairvoyance in order for his plans and timing to perfectly work without fail.
Another thing that’s around 0.0441% is that these numbers aren’t pulled straight out of thin air. Those are some prime Trust-me-bro-statistics
It’s probably not too far off given how ridiculous jokers plan was
I mean yeah, he himself admitted that they're just really rough estimates and he's just saying what feels right. The chance of this heist being successful is 0% anyways, unless the bus he pulls in front of is also a hired conspirator.
I did enjoy the video however a few things that stuck out to me is that
1. It was unlikely most people in the bank would be carrying since it was a mob bank, which seems like everyone would be carrying then but for a bank trip it would be highly unlikely they would be carrying as it would be unnecessary as protection is implied as most of the clients themselves would be immune, especially in a day time business like this.
2. I does seem implied that each member of the crew was handpicked, after all it was how Joker could ensure they wouldn't have any problems wacking other members, so the zipline guy would've been handpicked, security systems etc.
3. Although all members of the crew would've been mob connected, it is clear later on that the Joker was banking on the fact that the mob was on the backfoot due to Batman, so the crew would have likely all been stick up crew members who were wanting to avoid Arkham and wanted out after one last big payday.
Excellent analysis but you forgot the first mistake that would’ve red flagged the operation from the start: the zip liners busting out a high story window and showering the sidewalk below with glass. This surely would’ve been noticed and alarmed people before the car even arrives.
Should have used a glass cutter, if you ask me.
It's just for cinematic effect
@@Sleepylevi Irrelevant
Glass at that height is designed to break inward rather than outward, preventing more accidentsl deaths in the case of a disaster or accident. You're right the glass would alert people but theres a good chance the amount of glass falling would be minimal.
@@nickmf22 I don't think that applies when the force breaking the window is going outward.
The chances of a bus actually managing to go through a wall like that are also next to none.
I think the bus could easily go through the entrance, it just couldn't do it without leaving the back so mangled that it can't blend into a line of other school buses any more.
Note that it's not actually a wall that the bus is going through. It's a set of doors. There's probably less steel framing in that door than in the part of the bus that hits it. The rest of the materials in the door is wood and glass, which don't offer any real resistance once they've cracked. But that's also the problem. I don't think you could smash them up with a bus, no matter how overbuilt the bus is.
@@Pystro nah, walls aren't nearly that weak. You can't blow through walls with a vehicle. But even if you could, you'd need quite a bit of speed to blow through a wall. But iirc there's no room outside the building for him to gain speed towards the building.
@@skaruts I've seen reports of vehicles going through a store front from a parking space right in front of it; the good old "driver was in a forward gear instead of the reverse and also confused the gas and break pedal" story. Admittedly that was an all-glass obstacle, where the entrance of the mob bank was a mix of glass and wood and possibly some metal reinforcements against being crowbarred open. And the bank entrance has two layers of those doors.
But those were cars, not school buses. A school bus would gain _speed_ at a slower rate than a car (due to it's mass), but due to its more powerful engine it should gain _energy and momentum_ faster than a car.
(I've even heard reports of cars going through _brick_ walls, so that _is_ possible; but admittedly only when flying off the road in a fast curve.)
You may be right about the lack of acceleration space. We see that the sidewalk on the bank side is about the length of the school bus; then there's 2 driving lanes and a normal width sidewalk on the opposite side. The whole length of the space is about 2 school buses, and since you have to fit the school bus into the space to line it up, your acceleration distance is only about 1 school bus length.
I couldn't tell you if that's enough for the bus to make it though. Which is kind of already a big flaw. Either the joker did some preliminary test with a school bus against a similar door, or he did some _very_ impressive research and math, or he was again just lucky.
Yesss this always bothered me about the heist, and it's definitely something I was expecting to be mentioned in the video!
@@Pystrogood points, but keep in mind it was also going backwards. So against the flow of traffic from behind, which might fill what little space there is to accelerate as you stop the bus, put it in reverse and line it up... Plus limited visibility, making it more difficult for the driver to actually hit the doors, and not the wall next to them. Also, the doors need to be high enough for the bus to fit under, or else you do run into the problem of bus vs solid stone wall
To a small bit of my shame, I used to use and sell heroin and other narcotics about 10 years ago. I also was involved in some intense situations. Breaking and entering into certain places for instance. I have experienced what it feels like to be in these situations and let me tell you something about them: The amount of adrenaline that hits you is literally staggering. I mean it physically alters the way you move, the way you think, there is a marked difference in how you experience time, and much more.
When it comes to situations like this, unless you and your entire team are absolutely hardened pros who have nothing to lose and don’t fear death/punishment, mistakes WILL be made. So, yes….Joker’s plan is a complete Hollywood farce (still entertaining) because even if he is a genius, his plan relies on unpredictable individuals who he has no clue on whether or not they will fulfill their responsibilities in the exact way he wants them to.
This is a really interesting comment. I think The Place Beyond the Pines depicts some of what you are describing (obviously I wouldn't know). Glad that you don't sell heroin anymore!
I love the way you describe the adrenaline bit. There’s an adrenaline rush, and then there’s fight or flight, and they’re objectively different experiences. I’ve been in some very intense situations where my freedom and life were threatened and when it’s crunch time, it’s like you’re in the most vivid goddamn dream you’ve ever had. There is no pain.
@@GarrettLoganGriffin Your response made me read my comment again and I realized that I should mention something else. I had a friend tell me that your body gets used to the adrenaline. He was stealing cars every day and running from the cops regularly….he told me that his body got used to the adrenaline. But he also was using meth so I’m not sure how accurate his facts are. I’m sure very experienced people can adapt to the adrenaline or they are used to it. I never got used to it….it always hit me like a freight train.
@@johnselden9257 Same. I’m sure just like any drug, your body can build a tolerance for it if it happens so regularly. But yeah, I guess I didn’t get into enough shit🤣 Aaaaaalways hit me like a ton of bricks, too, bro.
It’s the reliance on others that fascinates me. Obviously HE has a plan, that’s the whole point. But to trust those guys is another bridge to cross. Some of it, I could see, but the timing with them is hard to do, especially if he’s not directly on control. I think most of this plan could work (well, at least for a movie), but it’s the small timing with what they do that’s harder to be sure of
Plot twist: The Joker actually fully expected to get arrested but through sheer dumb luck, ended up pulling it off and the rest of the movie is a deviation from the original plan.
It’s almost like the bank heist symbolizes the Joker’s chaotic influence and nature he has on people….
I was under the impression that Joker had told everyone in the team, to kill another one.
" _If you do, you'll get a higher payout._ " kind of greed thing. Not just two, but everyone.
Perhaps the original plan was that the safe cracker kills the alarm guy, the bag man kills the safe cracker, the thug in the lobby kills the bag man, the bus man kills the thug in the lobby, and the joker kills the bus man.
Something that bugs me is the part later with Joker taunting the guy until he goes for him.
People dealing with psychopaths are specifically trained and taught to ignore them. Like, the thing about psychopaths at the level where they need to be locked away is that they're extremely predictable, to the point where if you know how to handle them they're basically harmless.
So, the police officer assigned to watch Joker would have been fully aware of everything he would say and prepared to ignore him. Like, someone would have said "Hey man, just si you know, he's a psychopath. He's definitely gonna bring up the dead cops to get to you. Are you prepared for that?"
For reference, I knew a guy who was a security guard in a hospital who had to watch a psychopath. The guy killed his wife and baby, so his shift would be hours of the guy saying "I killed a baby? Do you want to hear me describe her death to you? PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!" He said that even just doing one shift made him pretty numb to the crap psychopaths say.
How does this ridiculous comment have 48 likes lol? Bro just spouting made up nonsense.
"Psychopaths are actually really predictable" ok buddy
The Joker is not a traditional psychopath, he’s very clever and self aware of his actions and emotions.
He’s more like an extremely depressed realist rather than mentally ill.
You highlighted something that has always bothered me with Nolan's films. Yes, they're slick, cool and entertaining, absolutely. However, they are not gritty, grounded or realistic in any way. They are pure fantasy. There's nothing wrong with fantasy, just don't try to convince me that your Super Soaker is a TEC-9.
No the Batman films are not fantasy
@@Galvatronover I'm not talking about genre.
@@Galvatronover science fiction at best kid. Cope.
Agreed.
LMAO that last line was gold
Oh boy
The Despot is about to grill some sacred cows with this one
Forbidden fruit is sweet.
@@DespotofAntrim Mmmmm I can taste the suffering 😋
This heist wouldve ended like in Heat
You forgot a major point. The Joker doesn't care if he fails or not
As someone who used to work for UPS on an airstrip, I've handled big bags of money before. A bag of $100s about the size of your average full trash bag are, around, 42lbs. Just wanted to give some context on how heavy those duffel bags would be.
This is way the Dark Knight never clicked with me. It tries to look super realistic and down to earth, but the plot needs the Joker to basically be able to see the future. Something you wouldn't see in most far less "realistic" versions of the character. I like more stylied takes on Batman more for this reason. More room for suspension of disbelief.
If you want see a movie that does a good job showing the pitfalls of trying to do the perfect crime? The Killing by Stanley Kubrick. It's one of the best written movies of all time.
I've never seen the Killing. I will definitely watch it. Thanks for the suggestion!
@jasonvoorhees5640 Say what you want to say, bRuH.
@jasonvoorhees5640 I meant what I said, KiD.
@jasonvoorhees5640 Sounds like projection to me. 😂😂😂😂
This is why I like the Batman Arkham continuity, it is just the perfect blend of cartoonish and serious that works better for a character like Batman than a full on "realistic" take on its characters.
Nevermind that the bus rammed through a bank wall and yet shows no damage, not even scratches to the paint, and is able to blend in with busses that did not just ram through a bank wall.
Never mind that. What if the bus didn’t crash through the wall properly or the guy simply dodged it? Would he have shot Joker then?
In a different timeline the bus crushes like an accordion on the bank wall and all Joker could do is go "oh cock" while SWAT rapidly rushes in from the other entrance and fills him with bullets.
The last Skit was hillarious!!😂😂😂
LOL! Yes!😂😂
Frick that, don't be such a frigging scaredy-cat.
Missed one issue with the Zipline.
What if someone notices the explosion of the window of the building?
0:37 _"However... a thorough analysis of the Joker's plan, exposes it, as a disastrous thought-out mess...."_
All Christopher Nolan movies fall under that mantra, quite frankly....
The more you watch and think... the worse they get.
You know it’s ironic that Christopher Nolan states that the inspiration for the bank heists was from the several heists that occurred in the movie Heat (1995). Except for those who’ve actually seen Heat, you would know that the reason why that movie’s heists work is because there was way better planning, but still more casualties when things would backfire on McCauley and his crew.
The Heat crew were also extremely competent with the core members being loyal to each other and even they failed during the final heist because the last minute replacement driver was taken out by a lucky shot. One random setback can still lead to disaster and cascade to total failure.
Sighhhhhh🤦♂️the movie's title references the amount of attention from the police that led to their downfall @@mandalorian_guy
This scene perfectly shows how the rule of cool is one of the most important elements in any story, as despite the fact it absolutely should not have worked nobody actually cares and calls it genius because it entertains us well.
"Do I really look like a guy with a plan?"
More than half the Country voted for a joker with ten years of shitty experience and a "concept of a plan"
@@seewhativescene Are you people bots or shills who have to make *everything* about Trump? Or are you just that insufferable?
Almost like he was a liar.
I really don't like your way of calculating the odds of the bank robbery.
First of all, these are unreliable estimates.
Secondly, the occurrence of an error you described doesn't result automatically in a complete failure.
His initial estimate was 0.0441% chance of success. He said he rounded the number, which would be 0.04%... but lets round up to 0.05% so that it's closer to his theory. He then went on to say it's a 1 in 200 chance of the bank robbery succeeding...
0.5% is 1 in 200
0.05% is 1 in 2000
I wasn't fond of his math on any level.
20:38 yes it a very cooulgh scene
Exactly. This very thought was blaring in my head when watching that very Joker bank heist. It wasn't an exhibition in criminal genius but a hailstorm in lucking out. And it's amazingly effective comparison between those two different heists. A moment of devil's advocacy, I think comic book movie villains fare better in film to keep the spirit of comicbook universe absurdity. Make things TOO realistic and it strangely is less entertaining, at least how I see it.
I still think the idea that Joker wanted to not share the gains and not risk having any henchmen that can rat him out could have just simply happen in a simple way AFTER the job is done, not DURING it. A "post robbery shocker," blowing up the bus full of them celebrating afterwards, etc. It also would make Joker look smarter, look more appealing to future henchmen to work with him because nobody knows he killed any before.
4:04 "You can maximize your luck with preparation and experience."
Well, more specifically, you can minimized your need for luck or susceptibility to bad luck with them.
Always entertaining Despot.. I think the biggest problem with the jokers plan is guaranteeing the bloke you are supposed to kill via bus through the wall is going to be stood exactly where he needs to be when it turns up. I can't get a bus when I stand at a stop! 🤣
Well i think the jokers plan was to actually kill him some other way but when he pulled a gun on him he knew bus would arrive near the guy, so if you look in the scene, joker starts moving which also makes the other guy move which puts him in the right place
This was a thorough analysis, and I'm glad you included the clip of the expert explaining what requirements are necessary for success. I have not seen this movie, but of course the robbery plan is completely and ridiculously over the top.
The instant a new boss who has hired me for contract work tells me when the job is done, I should kill a particular colleague, whom I don't know yet, I would immediately assume that the boss has told somebody else to kill me. That's kind of a dealbreaker for me.
Your points about installing the zip line, and then actually using the zip line, are well taken.
How can the Joker be certain that his employees will be able to carry out the plan under pressure? It may sound doable, and the crew may be eager, but when in the real world, any number of variables can pop up. Expecting everybody to stay cool, calm and collected and to carry on executing the plan as previously discussed is taking a big chance.
Ask anybody who has never acted before how they felt going up on stage in front of an audience and saying the lines just like in rehearsal.
Ask a police recruit, who completed all mandatory training of the most dangerous situations in a training environment, how to confront the real thing on his first day on the job.
In both cases, it can happen that the person is overwhelmed, feels the fight, flight or freeze response, and is unable to do what they did in training or rehearsal. Since the Joker doesn't know these people, how can he rely on them to carry out the plan?
Just wondering: several times you mentioned one of the variables might be "an off-duty cop who wants to be a hero" or "a man who wants to assert his masculinity after decades of sitting at a desk job". It sounded like you were sneering at them but I may have misunderstood that.
I would think anybody who is trying to intervene is voluntarily putting themselves in a life and death situation in order to stop a violent crime in progress, and the potential the same criminals have for further violence after they leave the bank. The other option would be for the would-be intervener to decide he'd rather not risk his life and hide behind furniture instead while calling 911. Which is probably also a valid choice.
Thanks for the video!
I wasn't sneering at anyone, but I wouldn't encourage anyone to risk their life to save a bank's insurance company from a loss. If it was your house, the bank would happily wash the money stolen from it. Interesting comment about fight or flight, I was just thinking that the zipliners would take one look out that window, think 'Yea, fuck that.' and take off, end of heist.
@@DespotofAntrim no, you are quite right! Risking one’s life to help the bank not to lose money is not the best idea.
Do you watch the channel “pitch meetings?” The screenwriter guy will say he wants a particular scene to unfold a certain way. The producer guy will say, but that’s extremely dangerous and there’s no way that could succeed. And screenwriter guy will say but it will look cool and exciting in the trailer so people will come and spend money to watch the movie. So producer guy will say great, let’s do it!
This is probably a very accurate representation of what goes on in Hollywood.
I always enjoy your videos very much. Thank you!
Id sneer 2. Why risk innocent life over insured and tainted money? By someobe escalating the situation. Just observe the situation until it's over and try and find the culprits later?
So, seemingly nobody has mentioned one of the most crucial parts the heist: how the crew somehow AVOIDED ALL THE MARKED RADIOISOTOPIC BAT-MONEY?!!
The worst part is no other bus driver or bystander seeing the bus come out the freaking bank
The thing that never made sense to me was simply that when the bus gets out of the bank and gets in line with the other busses, don't you think the bus behind the jokers bus would have radioed in saying "umbrella, this bus ahead of me just came crashing out of a bank and there's only 1 man in a mask inside. I think this may have been a robbery."
same logic as the video
bus could not have a radio, bus could not have a working radio
joker bolted at the first turn
other crew members on bikes could have taken money
joker used the time it took police to go from bus to bus to jump into a sewer
and so on
@@ryszakowy
Bus driver thinks to radio in, then thinks "that armed man in that bus in front of me also has a radio. Maybe I shouldn't risk my life."
critical success point #7: dont decaptitate yourself driving a dirtbike into the back of a box truck
check
To be fair, that might fall under "expertise with a dirt bike".
@@LloydTheZephyrian just jokin around. scary though though xD
A police helicopter would easily identify the bus that has debris on the roof.
You would also expect a lot of mobsters in the vicinity of their bank . Places like cofee shops , money exchange , newspaper stands . All being armed , especially in Gotham .
The criminals could have been recruited from outside of Gotham , maybe people who are inclined to kill , not really to rob (but they would be less experienced) . The theft plan may not have been disclosed until one hour before starting it (but it's harder to tell them who to kill) .
Taking the money out of the safe was laughable , you need at least 3-4 guys .
Btw I find the next movie even worse in terms of criminal motivation and planning . You can excuse this scene as it might have happened somewhat different (criminals being killed only after loading the cash etc).
Yes, Bane's plan can also go wrong in a million different areas and yet miraculously doesn't.
And it's impossible for a Wall Street heist to work because electronic transactions cannot go through because the rich have installed failsafe to prevent that.
Right. And how fast do you think they can scramble a chopper?
Just to play devils advocate.
A popular theory was that Joker had a ex special forces background
What if those guys weren’t criminals
The score was Millions
Maybe they had zip line and harness knowledge, they didn’t know the Mob or have affiliations, neither did they have to worry about one having pending charges.
Because they’re all Mercenaries
Another popular theory is that this is a movie based off a comic book character with plot armor
People are mentioning how the bus driver behind Joker’s bus would notice, but with the kind of timing necessary, all buses in front of his would drive past a bus sticking out of a hole in the wall of a bank.
12:09 I know I'm an overzealous accountant...but I'm not currently in a midlife crisis.
What movie is that?
@@shugobhastudios My own life. =D
There's an old saying: three may keep a secret if two of them are dead.
Something people who believe in a JFK conspiracy never bother to think about.
@@robertromero8692 TRUTH!
18 critical witnesses of the JFK assassination all ended up dead within a few years and only two of them were natural deaths.
@@robertromero8692 or like any conspiracy theory pretty much
The place Beyond the pines is actually the same exact plan the most successful bank robber ever used. Except he did it alone.
And the biggest problem with that plan isn't the chances of crashing your motorbike going up as the number of getaways increases. But the fact that the moment they exhaust all other leads the police will inevitably start to simply look into competent riders within the area.
@@rh_BOSS In general though, robberies are a game of statistics
Every factor's odds of failing rapidly increase with more repititions
Getting away more than twice is a marked miracle regardless of plan
Joker's bus maneuver to get it enter the bank in reverse would have made that he needed much more time and space to do so, but the column of other school buses could not have allowed this.
The part that gets me is that the bus sustains no damage while ramming into the bank lobby.
This is way too generous. In round numbers, there is a 0% chance of a school bus gaining sufficient momentum or achieving the angle displayed in the movie while driving backwards through the outer wall of a bank. This plan is as likely to succeed as your winning lottery ticket being struck by lightning (thrice) while you’re playing poker with Jesus during a snowstorm in hell on a Sunday in a leap year-while your twin stepsister is stuck in the dryer.
The entire point of this opening and his characters is that he causes chaos with people and revels in it. Yes he plans stuff but he loves to improvise when things go chaotic.
Also counting on the guy standing right where the bus will be with his back turned towards the entrance so he won't see it coming, meaning he must also have calculated the guy becoming aware and holding him at gunpoint at that exact moment.
Never once have I seen the phrase "twin stepsister" in a sentence before. Good job.
I always thought this was a silly scene. Especially the bus seemlessly driving down the steps and blending into the other buses. What was the bus driver directly behind the Joker's bus thinking when they saw this?
Particularly when you consider the wreck the back of that bus would be. And he had a radio.
You know, the point about vault having a second gate reminds me - in Payday 2, a game that has a lot to be desired in terms of... Everything (janky AI, glitches up it's bum, list goes on), one of the first heists you'd likely do in it is Harvest and Trustee branch. The heist can be done both in stealth and loud, depending on whether or not guards and civilians will be disposed of in quickly enough. Now, despite gang consisting of 20+ people, the jobs are handed and controlled by their mastermind, Bain, who never shows up his face (aside from one occassion, but getting to the context behind it would take too long, plus it's not really that relevant to the point), is hiding in a remote location, and uses bunch of IT wizardry to hide his traces, so realistically, he's the one that has the least risk involved, but like you said, it's not 0% (which does bite him in the ass eventually). The heist itself is carried out by a team of 4 (allowing for a 4 player co-op). Now, in game, nobody is going to snitch, but if you really want to add the odds, you can do so. Funnily enough, the odds of someone not being experienced at their task can be applied at the leisure. Equipment and skills might also vary, so we can add that (someone might not bring silenced weapon, or someone might not have faster lockpicking, etc). And once we're past the human element, we can move onto what really sets Payday apart - RNG. Each heist in the game has a set of variables that can play out during the heist - be it small things, like additional loot in deposit boxes, but it can be also major, like placement of key items, vault, or security room. On aforementioned Harvest and Trustee, security room can either be in a remote area that is easy to crack without someone noticing, or it can be in view of the civilians currently present in the bank. The bank manager might carry the keycard on him to allow for easier access to security room, or it might be in his office instead. The placement of cameras can be different, guards and civilians, etc. Some doors in the backdoor might be open because a bank employee went to take a smoke, or they might be closed and you'll need to use the lockpick. And then, when opening the vault door, the vault itself either will or will not have another gate that needs to be drilled, taking more time.
And all that is just one of the more basic heists, yet there are variables in the way that make your job easier or harder. Then again... Games do allow for more versitility when it comes to something like that.
nice wall of text...
Wall of text with little substance. Also Payday 2 goes hard. No clue what you're on.
what the tism
@@godfrey4461 OP's trying to say Payday 2's heists would be extremely difficult to pull off in real life. there's way too many luck factors, even in stealth
The bus would also be heavily deformed from ramming into concrete blocks and upon driving out would stick out like a sore thumb leading law enforcement right to the bus that looks like a crunched piece of metal on the street. And they have all the evidence they need to make an arrest, ballistics, the dead robbers and the thousands of cash in the back of the bus. The joker is screwed
All this is true but I think that's what makes the sequence cool. A highly convoluted and practically implausible heist plan that could easily go wrong is pretty on-brand for the Joker. Here in South Africa we have a saying " you watch too many movies" because it's common knowledge that this is the kind of ridiculous stuff that can only happen in movies
Not to be an ass, but that phrase is used almost worldwide.
Nolan's movies aren't actually realistic, they're fantastical but with realistic styling.
Yeah like how Bane can punch with the force of a car
@@Collofkidseditz Bane gets his super-strength from the Venom steroid. That's why he's always wearing that respirator.
@@A10_Warthog Not in Nolans movies, the Respirator just feeds him pain reducing gas
@@Collofkidseditzthey should've just said he was om steroids to help his body.
Also, think about the 2 scenes where both the hospital and the ferry were packed with explosives in an incredibly short amount of time. The hospital was completely destroyed. How did nobody see this when someone had to go in a place that is packed with people 24/7 like the hospital, AND NOBODY NOTICES!
Like everything, it's turned up to 11 because of movie logic, but sneaking into places where you're not supposed to be and doing things you're not supposed to do isn't that unrealistic if you wear a hazard vest and carry a ladder. If someone questions why you're drilling holes into the walls in the hospital's basement, it's because you're doing electrical work.
Finally someone says it. I was ok with huge suspension of disbelief for cinematic purposes in the joker scene but when each thug starts killing the next one I called BS on writing. Thankfully Heath Ledgers legendary performance in the remainder of the movie made me forget that nonsense.
It's ridiculous that this movie has a 'grounded, gritty and realistic take' reputation. I don't even think that's what Nolan was going for. He knows this stuff is comic book nonsense.
I think the unlikelihood of this op going right is what makes it perfect for the joker. He's not a thug he's a psycho. If the heist was simple the joker would have nothing to do with it.
I dig this. But part of me is thinking that Joker would have no interest in a bank heist that didn't have a 'punchline.' That is to say, he's not just going to do a run of the mill job... the more luck-necessary, the better. If it fails, big whoop. If it succeeds, he gets the massive pyschological payoff of threading the needle.
They say the Joker has no super powers, clearly he has the best HR department in all of fiction.
That still isnt a power. He does have a pwer tho. Super human sense of timing.
The Joker's bank heist has the exact same problem that Bane's escape has: It makes absolutely 0 sense and relies entirely on massive amounts of sheer dumb luck. The only (big) difference is: It makes (potentially, a little) sense for the Joker, a force of nature-villain to have a chaotic non-plan for a bank heist - it makes absolutely no sense for Bane (who is supposedly really smart and thought his escape through) to go for his escape plan.
7:35 "So you're telling me there's a chance?"
My math was actually wrong on the fraction, it's roughly a 1 in 2000 chance.
@DespotofAntrim
"So you're telling me there's a chance!"
Wow!
Im more in awe with Joker than ever!
Just think of the odds he beat with this heist, just incredible!
@@DespotofAntrimwas about to correct you ob that one
my mother was a school bus driver having a random bus in your convoy would be a red flag and it would have been brought up in the radio
To quote A Practical Guide to Evil:
"Any plan with more than four steps is not a plan, it is wishful thinking."
Joker has the superpower of reading the script to be a sure the bus driver is going to run over the guy who suddenly decided he wanted to kill the Joker but not instantly, just after have a small talk with him.
Dont forget one of the biggest flaws, that will CERTAINLY ruin it is that hes relying on the actual bus drivers to not call in that they just saw a bus pull out of a bank right into their line of buses.
Conspiracy integrity would very high because nearly none of them have a clue about the whole plan before they do it.
Nobody, especially if they’re experienced, would do a bank heist without knowing the whole plan
@@stouthelm6324Except Joker obviously told them a plan… he just lied. There’s literally a line at the start about Joker planning the job and taking a cut….
Another point of failure. In order to maximize success, this heist would have required rehearsals. So they would all have met. Or, who the hell would agree to that big a job knowing there will be others or who would agree to never having met until the actual op?
The whole movie is like this. Lots of luck and happenstance for anything to work.
Last watch I was shaking my head, distracted by how dumb it was. I'm told it's a silly super hero movie so get over it, then I'm told it's gritty, dark and realistic. Pick a lane.
Like the direction of Zack Snyder, the direction of Chrishopher Nolan is the perfect embodiment of the principle of "style over substance". Their movies look gorgeous and have a great flow, but the cracks start to show the moment you start looking for plotholes.
style IS substance
@@iamthetable5450not really
Not to mention school bus drivers all have CB radios and would immediately start asking the other drivers in the line who is driving that one random bus covered in dust who just barged into the school convoy.
This reminds me another scene in The Dark Knight Rises where villans hijacked an aeroplane. It looks spectacular but when you think about it, is it even feasible?
The same director so that is his style, I guess...
Also how did the CIA pilot not notice the giant cargo plane flying right above them and make any evasive manuvers.
@@almalone3282 lmao there's so much wrong with this scene that it made its own meme format
Here another thing that could gone wrong, What if the Bank manager who was armed connected all his shot to Joker and Bagman as well.
There no way you can fully be sure you win the gunfight esp none of robber even knew he was there or armed.
Honestly if i was a bus driver and saw someone drive out of a bank i wouldnt say shit cause i mind my own damn buisness
Very well put togheter and entertaining video. I also thought the plan was implausible to say the least.
A justification for this could be that Joker sees himself as an agent of chaos and anarchy with little or no concern for his personal safety.
Many times in the movie he offers his life to his enemies just to make the point that "there is no point".
That aspect of the character made me suspend my disbelief on such a wreckless plan.
Joker definitely was fking around and adding unneeded risk for the fun of it. He never had to be involved in the actual heist. If he wanted the crew to be silenced, he could have easily killed them after the job was done without the mid-heist betrayals. Which is kinda consistent with the rest of the movies I guess.
Exactly.
Agreed. The jokers plan still beats Oceans Eleven.
Turn to channel 88.
You guys don’t understand, he’s an agent of chaos. The joker wants it to go wrong, it’s more fun. :)
The more moving parts, the harder a plan has to happen. Keep it simple, keep it stupid.
It's not about the plan...it's about sending...
a bus
7:25 Counterpoint, the Joker is shown to be a master planner who always has backup plans for his backup plans. It's very likely the Joker planned this down to the last detail but also had some other thing in place we don't see in the event something went wrong.
Good point, you could have back ups for some of this but most of it has to come off right first time.
@@DespotofAntrim Yes having the bus hit that crew member despite him turning on him shows he is in control of random variables, he's also pretty chaotic and not interested in self preservation, I was thinking he could have had one of the bank staff or customers as another crew member if anything went wrong but then that happened but he relied on the bus which is interesting, I think he is in control and chooses the elaborate plan for the theatrics, everything is sending messages, maybe that message spreads distrust among criminals that anyone on your crew could be him
Or the bus driver that gets cut off by a random bus pulling out of a bank could call the police. I always thought that was weird that he just follows in behind and doesn't stop or do anything a normal person would do.
7:39
1 in 200 would be 0.5% so actually it would be an even crazier 1 in 2000 💀
Oh thank you I thought I would have to be that guy and I hate being that um actually guy because I can’t do it without sounding like a jerk. 🫡
It's important to remember that originally, *every* Batman villain was attempting rediculously silly crimes, which is why one guy in a silly outfit was able to stop them. It was comedy as much as action. That trait got baked into all the classic villains, which is why every adaptation that attempts to make them less hammy and rediculous fails.
We know the Joker's schemes would never work IRL, but neither would a billionaire in spandex punching bad guys. You can't give one a pass without the other. If The Batman can exist, then so too can The Joker.