At the end of the film, an even larger example is set in motion when two ferries are used to transport people out of Gotham to avoid a threat from the Joker. Turns out, though, that both ferries are wired to blow up, and this time, the Joker puts the power of life or death into the hands of the people whose lives are on the line. Each ferry is given a detonator. On one ferry, the average people of Gotham are crammed together. On the other one, hundreds of prisoners are being evacuated as a group. They’re told that at midnight, the Joker will blow up both of the ferries unless one of them is willing to destroy the other. Whoever uses their detonator will be spared. And again, Nolan confounds expectations with the way he lets things unfold. One detail in particular really took me aback. On the prison barge, Tiny Lister shows up playing one of the prisoners. Now, you know Tiny Lister whether you realize it or not. He was the President of Earth in Luc Besson’s FIFTH ELEMENT. You may have seen him in FRIDAY. He’s pretty hard to forget, a towering broad-shouldered black guy with one eye permanently crossed and a menacing glower permanently etched on his face.
When he steps forward and demands the detonator, I did exactly what Nolan wanted me to do: I judged Lister on his appearance. I looked at him, and I knew full well what he was going to do with the detonator. Nolan really milks the suspense, too, as Lister talks about the difference between someone strong enough to make the awful moral choice and someone who is too weak to do it. He takes the responsibility and the detonator out of the hands of the warden...
... and then throws the detonator out the window and returns to his friends so they can pray.
It’s not a moment I would have ever expected to see in a summer blockbuster, but more than that, it’s a moment that made me realize that no matter how enlightened I like to think I am, I harbor prejudices like anyone else. I leapt to a conclusion I had no business making, and the reversal made me feel terribly guilty. In fact, the following night, I ran into Lister at the HELLBOY II premiere, and I told him about my reaction to the sequence. He was so moved that he ended up taking my phone, putting his number into it, and telling me to call him sometime so we could talk more. He didn’t know I was a reporter or a writer... he was just responding to my reaction, moved by the fact that his brief appearance had such a distinct impact on me.