13 Things You Learn Rewatching The Dark Knight

9. The Love Triangle Subplot Totally Wastes Maggie Gyllenhaal

Maggie Gyllenhaal gets a lot of disingenuous and mean-spirited hate for her role as Rachel Dawes in this movie, for though she might not be as conventionally beautiful as Katie Holmes, she sure as hell is a better actress.

All of this ignores the fact, however, that Nolan generally does a terrible job writing good roles for women, and as great as The Dark Knight is, the central love triangle between Rachel, Bruce and Harvey is easily the worst part of the entire film.

Despite being the assistant D.A., Rachel has little agency of her own beyond being the "prize" for Bruce and Harvey to squabble over. She considers marrying Harvey, but kisses Bruce, then eventually rejects Bruce and decides to marry Harvey, but dies anyway.

It's an incredibly uninteresting way to drive a wedge between the two men, especially as an actress of Gyllenhaal's calibre deserved much better material.