Leaning Into the Skid

I've rewatched the Harvey Dent transport chase scene from The Dark Knight a few times recently. (This version, mostly because it was the first I tried and it was good enough.)

It's a good sequence with the big truck with the spray-painted "S" turning "laughter" to "slaughter", the escalation of the Joker's weapons, the Bat-cycle (Bat-pod, whatever it's called). The Joker staggering out of the up-ended truck, spraying bullets to clear any obstacles between he and Batman. Gordon's big surprise moment at the tail-end, where it at least looks like for once, the Joker couldn't anticipate every move they made.

It still bugs me that Batman swerves around the Joker, though. I'm not saying he needed to run the Joker over, then do a tire burn on his face (although now I wish we'd gotten something like that in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.) I'm staunch in my desire to not see Batman killing people, though that's been a lost cause in pretty much all the movies save Schumacher's version (which have other issues for me.)

But there's a big gap between that and, I dunno, doing a controlled skid into the murder clown and busting his hip or something. The motorbike is clearly nimble; we see the front tire rotate 90 degrees so he can come flying out of that alley already aimed at the Joker's truck, plus the bit where the bike rolls up the wall and pirouettes. So I don't buy there's no way for him to just clip or bump the Joker.

It's not like Batman was showing much caution up to that point. He announced his presence during the chase by driving his Bat-tank right under the garbage truck and slamming its cab into the tunnel's ceiling. Considering how thoroughly the roof of the cab was pressed down, and how quickly it happened, I wouldn't bet on the driver surviving. And Batsy didn't show any hesitation to blow up those cars that were parked in his path. Sure hope nobody was taking a nap before driving home after a long shift bartending or sweeping streets!

(Also, why does he need to shoot the glass in the doors when he drives through that underground mall place? Can't his bike just bust through? Lower odds of hurting someone if he doesn't shoot anything.)

Heck, he was willing to flip the truck the Joker was driving. I don't know if any of the Joker's gang were still in the trailer, but if so, that was a rough ride for them. Kinda doubt the Joker encourages his guys to wear proper PPE. So why the hesitation when it comes down to mano-a-mano (or clowno-a-bikeo?) All I could figure was he thinks it's so important for Gordon to be the one who catches the Joker, that makes Dent's grandstand play a success, that he essentially throws the fight. It would fit into Batman's notion about possibly retiring because Dent can rally the entire city into a better era. Dent looks brave, Gordon looks awesome. Batman? That dude in the goofy costume who wiped out on his bike? Who needs him?

I guess it's a plan, and we all know how that version of Joker loves to mess with plans, so I guess it fits. But it feels weird to be talking myself into "Batman lost on purpose" as an explanation.