The Dark Knight’s Joker Bank Robbery Harshly Criticized By Real-Life Bank Robber

The Dark Knight scene where Joker robs a bank gets criticized by a real-life bank robber. Heath Ledger’s Joker might be one of the best characters to appear in a live-action Batman adaptation, with the villain being the brightest spot of The Dark Knight, but even his scenes can receive some criticism. While The Dark Knight trilogy is great, the DC Universe’s attempt at a bank robbery with Ledger’s Joker does not look so good in the eyes of a real-life bank robber.

Insider brought in former bank robber Cain Vincent Dyer, who committed more than 100 bank robberies over almost two years before turning himself in, to analyze Joker’s bank robbery in The Dark Knight.

According to the specialist, the intricate safe that the Joker’s gang encounters already presents an issue, as Dyer says, “looks like no one could ever get in except for probably the US military.” Dyer also notes how the school bus that crashes into the bank has zero damage and more. That leads to the real-life bank robber’s scathing The Dark Knight review for its bank robbery sequence, saying, “Definitely a 1.” Check out the full quote below:

“This vault that looks like no one could ever get in except for probably the US military. We have to keep in mind that, this movie, everything about this movie is supposed to be over the top. Yes, they do have very intricate lock safes and things like that, timed lock safes, things that are really hard to get into. But a lot of time, during business hours, they will keep certain safes open just so the employees can have access.

I learned everything. So, at every bank I went into, I knew whether it was going to have a safe such as the one that’s in this scene or if it was going to be, say, regular open doors. And if it were like this, I would pass. Unless I found in one of their manuals or knew that they would keep this door open between certain times. Could I get into that? Back then, where things were more manual, oh, yeah. I mean, it would’ve taken a considerable amount of time to break into that. That’s not like a three or four-minute deal.

You wouldn’t have a weapon in there like that, unless you have a security guard that was armed. You gotta keep in mind, if you shoot that shotgun, and he hits that bank robbery suspect, those rounds are probably exiting the perpetrator and going straight into the bank customer or the bank employee.

That school bus doesn’t have any damage on it, and it just crashed through a cement and stone building. And, if you remember, it had to go up the steps, because when they robbed the building they went up the steps, and that — like, totally Hollywood, right? Definitely a 1 [rating out of 10].”

Why It Doesn’t Matter Joker’s Bank Robbery Isn’t Accurate

While Joker’s bank robbery in The Dark Knight might not be realistic, that does not make the movie’s opening sequence any less exciting. Even the real-life bank robber Dyer understands that the movie was not attempting to be accurate to what a bank robbery should look like, as the specialist started his review by saying, “We have to keep in mind that, this movie, everything about this movie is supposed to be over-the-top.”

The Dark Knight‘s bank robbery perfectly sets the stage for what audiences should expect from Ledger’s Joker, as the villain ends up as the only member of the crew that robbed the bank that was alive at the end of the heist, all part of the Joker’s plan. Joker’s brutality is established by the way he handles his crew at the end of the heist, as well as the villain putting a grenade in the mouth of a bank manager.

The ugly state of Gotham City is perfectly illustrated by the over-the-top sequence, with Joker’s crew members each betraying and killing the other, as well as the bank’s manager picking up a shotgun to fight the robbers. As Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy is often too realistic compared to the Batman comics, it was nice to see The Dark Knight‘s bank robbery be more over the top than it should have been in real life.