Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy is considered one of the best Batman movie series of all time. In the second movie of this trilogy, The Dark Knight, part of the scenes were shot in Central, Hong Kong.
As shown in the above photos, Batman went up to the top of Two IFC, one of the most iconic skyscrapers in Hong Kong and the tallest building, and jumped off, then spinning and flying above Central for a while before breaking into the windows of an office in Two IFC.In the movie, Lau, a Chinese businessman in Gotham City, was being suspected of doing business with the mob. However, he fled to Hong Kong before Gotham Police Force arrested him. As mentioned in the movie, the Chinese government would not extradite one of their own and Gotham Police Force had to ask Batman for help. Fox, CEO of Wayne Enterprise, scheduled a meeting with Lau in Hong Kong so as to scan the interior of Lau’s office using sonar. With the information provided by Fox, Batman infiltrated Lau’s office in IFC and captured Lau. With a CIA tool called sky hook, Batman and Lau managed to ‘hooked’ on a plane and left Hong Kong.
During the scene which Batman jumped off Two IFC, the night view of Hong Kong Island was shown to the audience when Batman was flying above Central, the city’s central business district. When Batman ‘hooked’ on the plane and left Hong Kong, Victoria Habour, a natural harbour between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula, was shown to the audience. Hong Kong was portrayed as a modern city with beautiful skyscrapers, and these scenes were filmed on the streets and buildings of Hong Kong, so the way it was visually portrayed in the movie was pretty much the same as the reality. However, Hong Kong was portrayed as a city for Gotham fugitives to flee from American jurisdiction, it was also mentioned that ‘The Chinese would not extradite one of their own’, and this was different from Hong Kong’s reality back in 2008 when the movie was produced.
This 2008 blockbuster movie shows the audience that Hong Kong is a beautiful modern city with lots of skyscrapers. Most of the scenes in Hong Kong were shot in Central, which is the city’s central business district and one of her most crowded areas. I think it was filmed in Central instead of streets of Mongkok and villages of New Territories because the director would like to emphasise Hong Kong’s image as an international financial centre and a modern city. Therefore, the local characteristics of Hong Kong was not reflected in the movie.
Ying Chin Yeung Anthony (3035779600)
This reads mainly as a description of your chosen scene from the Dark Knight with occasional insertions of comparison. The assignment requires actual fieldwork to be conducted in order to make first-hand analytical observations and documentation. From the photos you have added, there seem to be no indication or visual proof of your field work which could have helped you to compare the spaces in greater detail, such as the interior of the lobby, rather than the conclusive-sounding of “the way it was visually portrayed in the movie was pretty much the same as reality.” To what extent it was the same and it was not? Why do you think the Nolan picked Hong Kong but not a city in China such as Beijing or Shanghai which are equality “modern and cosmopolitan”?
On a side note, Batman flew from IFC two to IFC one (the shorter building) to capture the Chinese businessman.