Batman's 10 Best Movie Moments
3. Alfred Explains The Joker (The Dark Knight)
This scene demonstrates how much understanding Nolan and his team had for the character of The Joker. After Joker gate-crashes Bruce’s fundraiser for Harvey Dent and very nearly kills Rachel, Bruce and Alfred discuss the motivation behind Joker’s attacks.
What follows is a perfect summation of the character of The Joker by Alfred as Bruce claims that criminals are uncomplicated and that he just has to figure out what he wants.
Alfred responds with a story about a young thief in Burma who stole a load of precious jewels but, instead of selling them, he just starts throwing them away. Bruce is curious as to why he would do this and Alfred explains that this is why he does not fully understand The Joker with this beautifully written piece of dialogue:
“Some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just wanna watch the world burn.”
It immediately puts into context how dangerous an adversary The Joker will be and perfectly sums up his motivations, or lack thereof, as a villain.