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I was on my way to work this morning when the damndest thing happened. The imagery of Bruce Wayne getting nuts with the Joker popped into my head and wouldn't be ignored. It dawned on me that I'd been a fool all these years. When Bruce was shot, what we were witnessing thereafter was his dying fantasy and the rest of the movie from then on out was one last bit of hallucination by the failing neurons of a mortally wounded man.
I know what you're thinking. He couldn't have died! There was a second Batman!
A pox on your second Batman. They made like 4 Highlander sequels when the first movie definitively ended the show. It was a cash grab that they made when they realized that killing Bruce Wayne was financial suicide. Let us move on.
THE WEAPON
The Smith & Wesson Model 1, Single Action. The very first gun made by this company, it was a seven shot, .22 caliber revolver. This was at point blank range and we can assume the Joker was using a strong, possibly illegal bullet. Here's an image of actual firearm testing done with roofing steel from a .22 bullet:
That's six layers needed to stop the bullet. You can see clearly that the first one is ripped right open. With that close of a shot, even with a weak bullet, Bruce would have taken it straight to the chest.
THE TRAY
Many such trays are made from stainless steel or aluminum to help keep them light; none are known for their protective prowess. Bulletproof vest plate made out of steel are specially forged and treated for exactly that purpose. We can safely assume that the tray was not one of them. You might even be tempted to say that it was a special Bat-tray that was designed to be shot. Unfortunately the scene took place in Vicki Vale's apartment and unless Bruce broke in specifically to replace her tray with an exact, bulletproof replica just in case the Joker visited, we have to say that it is an ordinary tray.
THE DREAM
In hindsight, many things that would happen later in the film make a lot of sense. With Bruce dying everything magically seems to go his way until the very end. The Joker knows that he shot Bruce's parents somehow. The guy that throws him into the stairs when he jumps off the last bell magically has the correct angle. Hell, the mooks at the top of the tower in general weren't even there at first. His magic, self tying grappling hook. The fact that Knox is alive when he should have breathed in enough gas to be killed, even after being hit by a car. The fact that despite spending insane amounts of money on a Bat themed attack plane, and having the Joker in his cross hairs quite literally, Bruce fails to hit him with enough depleted uranium bullets to stop a tank.
All of this, the last, brilliant spark of a dying man. In this fantasy, the work of a tortured soul beset his whole life by anger and grief, he finally gets the love that his parents were not alive to give him by an entire city and gets revenge on the man who did it all at once. Unfortunately, Bruce died in that apartment but he gave us a vision of something beautiful first.
I will never see that movie the same again.
Thoughts?
I know what you're thinking. He couldn't have died! There was a second Batman!
A pox on your second Batman. They made like 4 Highlander sequels when the first movie definitively ended the show. It was a cash grab that they made when they realized that killing Bruce Wayne was financial suicide. Let us move on.
THE WEAPON
The Smith & Wesson Model 1, Single Action. The very first gun made by this company, it was a seven shot, .22 caliber revolver. This was at point blank range and we can assume the Joker was using a strong, possibly illegal bullet. Here's an image of actual firearm testing done with roofing steel from a .22 bullet:
That's six layers needed to stop the bullet. You can see clearly that the first one is ripped right open. With that close of a shot, even with a weak bullet, Bruce would have taken it straight to the chest.
THE TRAY
Many such trays are made from stainless steel or aluminum to help keep them light; none are known for their protective prowess. Bulletproof vest plate made out of steel are specially forged and treated for exactly that purpose. We can safely assume that the tray was not one of them. You might even be tempted to say that it was a special Bat-tray that was designed to be shot. Unfortunately the scene took place in Vicki Vale's apartment and unless Bruce broke in specifically to replace her tray with an exact, bulletproof replica just in case the Joker visited, we have to say that it is an ordinary tray.
THE DREAM
In hindsight, many things that would happen later in the film make a lot of sense. With Bruce dying everything magically seems to go his way until the very end. The Joker knows that he shot Bruce's parents somehow. The guy that throws him into the stairs when he jumps off the last bell magically has the correct angle. Hell, the mooks at the top of the tower in general weren't even there at first. His magic, self tying grappling hook. The fact that Knox is alive when he should have breathed in enough gas to be killed, even after being hit by a car. The fact that despite spending insane amounts of money on a Bat themed attack plane, and having the Joker in his cross hairs quite literally, Bruce fails to hit him with enough depleted uranium bullets to stop a tank.
All of this, the last, brilliant spark of a dying man. In this fantasy, the work of a tortured soul beset his whole life by anger and grief, he finally gets the love that his parents were not alive to give him by an entire city and gets revenge on the man who did it all at once. Unfortunately, Bruce died in that apartment but he gave us a vision of something beautiful first.
I will never see that movie the same again.
Thoughts?
