“Chicago, which stood in for Gotham City, has never looked more forbidding or more glorious.” — Dana Stevens, Slate

I remembered why I love Batman movies tonight even though I have no special affection for comic book adaptations in general.  I found this great post, “The Dark Knight: Love Letter to the City:”

“While it’s easy to say Gotham City is an allegory for society as a whole, in The Dark Knight Nolan intentionally paints a unique urban environment. [...] There is something truly breathtaking about seeing Batman leap from the roof a building and spread his wing-like cape in IMAX, but what’s equally important is what’s below him: an endless grid of streets, buildings, and people.

“As much as Dawes, Batman, Commissioner Gordon, and Harvey Dent risk their lives to save one another, in the end they’re really laying it all on the line for Gotham City.  [...] Gotham City is the ultimate prize, it’s what every character fights for, either to save or to destroy. The survival of The City trumps even the battle between good and evil as the central conflict of the film.

“If Gotham has suburbs, Batman won’t acknowledge them. Bruce Wayne and his colleagues choose to stay and fight. What The Dark Knight shows is that while there are battles between good and evil all over the world, the ones we should care about most happen in our own city.”

Which, pretty much summarizes my philosophy.