13 Things You Learn Rewatching The Dark Knight
11. The Hong Kong Subplot Is Shameless Filler
Look, the part of the movie where Batman (Christian Bale) heads to Hong Kong to retrieve mob accountant Lau (Ng Chin Han) is good fun and all, but it's also clearly the most blatantly superfluous major sequence in the entire movie.
Plot-wise Lau fleeing to Hong Kong and being brought back to the U.S. by the Caped Crusader doesn't really add much at all to the film, and this whole subplot could easily be cut without affecting the overall product too much.
It's a ravishing action scene with some terrific visuals and entertaining use of some imaginative technology, but in a 152-minute movie that's already struggling to cram the Harvey Dent downfall into its third act, this probably could've been lost.
When revisiting the movie, it's by far the most perfunctory and workmanlike sequence: an entertaining yet arbitrary set-piece.