Dark Knight (2008 film) Extended Edition

The film begins with a narrator explaining the state of the Clone Wars instead of an opening crawl, like its predecessors. The Separatists control the majority of the hyperlanes, leaving Republic forces stranded in different parts of the Outer Rim. Jabba the Hutt's son Rotta is kidnapped as part of a plan to make the Hutts join the Separatists. Meanwhile, a fierce battle is taking place on the crystalline planet of Christophsis between the Republic's very limited clone army and the Retail Clan forces.

With the help of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, the clones steadily advance on the Separatists' forces, gaining the Republic an early victory. It doesn't last long, though, as the droid army soon returns. With no communications or the ability to fly in reinforcements, the fate of the few remaining clone soldiers are in the hands of Obi-Wan and Anakin. A shuttle arrives, but without the needed reinforcements—instead, it is a young Padawan named Ahsoka Tano, who insists that she has been sent by Master Yoda to serve under Anakin. The battle soon commences yet again, with the Separatist forces advancing behind an expanding shield that artillery can't penetrate. Anakin and Ahsoka succeed in penetrating the enemy lines while Obi-Wan stalls for time by holding a fake surrender negotiation with the droid army commander.

Soon after the final victory for the Republic on Christophsis, Yoda arrives and brings the Jedi up to date on the situation concerning Jabba's son. The Republic needs Jabba on their side to ensure unfettered travel through Jabba's trade routes. Anakin and Ahsoka are tasked with retrieving the child, while Obi-Wan flies to Tatooine to assure Jabba that Rotta will be retrieved.

On the planet Teth, Anakin, Ahsoka and their clones assault a monastery that sits atop a high stone pillar. They find Rotta, but discover that he is ill, requiring them to get him help immediately. But they have been caught in a trap by Count Dooku, who hopes to frame the Jedi for Rotta's disappearance (and possible death), thereby ending any chance of the Republic striking a deal with Jabba. He has sent his minion, Asajj Ventress, to secure fake evidence of the Jedi's supposed double dealing, then to recapture the young Hutt and return it to Jabba, putting the crime lord in the Separatists' debt.

Anakin and Ahsoka manage to escape the trap along with R2-D2 and hijack a derelict transport which they use to travel to Tatooine. Obi-Wan, alerted by Anakin, arrives just in time to relieve the clone forces and engages Ventress in a lightsaber duel where he manages to defeat her, though Ventress flees in the face of capture. On board the derelict ship, Ahsoka manages to cure Rotta by the use of medical supplies on board.

In the meantime, Senator Padmé Amidala learns of Anakin's mission and fears for his safety. She decides to contact Jabba's uncle, Ziro, who lives in a shady part of Coruscant. The Hutt refuses to cooperate, apparently believing that it is the Jedi who are responsible for the situation. Padmé, however, soon discovers that Ziro has actually conspired with Dooku to engineer the downfall of his nephew in order to seize power over the Hutt clans. Padmé is discovered and detained, but a chance call by C-3PO enables her to summon help, and Ziro is arrested.

Upon their arrival on Tatooine, Anakin and Ahsoka are attacked and shot down. Faced with a long trek across desert sands and relentless opponents, Anakin devises a ruse: he confronts Dooku while carrying a decoy Rotta, leaving Ahsoka and R2-D2 to take the real Rotta to Jabba's palace. While Anakin fights Dooku, Ahsoka is ambushed by three Magnaguards, whom she narrowly defeats. Anakin and Ahsoka enter the palace one after another and Rotta is returned to his father. Jabba, deceived by the lies of Count Dooku, orders for them to be executed. Just in time, Padmé calls and convinces Jabba of his uncle's duplicity. Jabba agrees to allow the Republic safe passage through the Outer Rim territories, but only if the Jedi promise to make Dooku pay for his crimes against the Hutts. With their mission accomplished, Anakin and Ahsoka are triumphantly retrieved by Obi-Wan and Yoda.

In Gotham City, the Joker robs a mob-owned bank with his accomplices, whom he tricks into killing each other. That night, a trio of Batman impersonators interrupts a meeting between mobsters and the Scarecrow. The real Batman appears and apprehends all of the criminals and impostors, but suffers injuries from dog bites, leading him to re-design his batsuit. Batman and Lieutenant James Gordon contemplate including new district attorney Harvey Dent in their plan to eradicate the mob, as he could be the public hero Batman cannot be. Bruce Wayne runs in to Rachel Dawes and Dent, who are dating, and after talking to Dent he decides to host a fundraiser for him.

When mob bosses meet to discuss Batman, Gordon, and Dent, a Chinese mafia accountant, Lau, informs the gang leaders that he has hidden their money to pre-empt a plan Gordon has hatched to seize the mobsters' funds, and fled to Hong Kong to escape Dent's jurisdiction. He also informs them that one of their deposits, worth $68 million, was stolen by the Joker. The Joker arrives unexpectedly, offering to kill Batman in return for half of the mob's money, but the offer is refused. After Batman abducts Lau in Hong Kong and delivers him to the Gotham City police, the mobsters agree to hire the Joker. The Joker tells Gotham that if Batman does not turn himself in to the police and publicly reveal his identity, people will die each day. When Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb and the judge presiding over the mob trials are murdered, Wayne decides to reveal his identity. Before he can, Dent announces that he himself is Batman and is arrested as part of a plan to draw the Joker out of hiding. The Joker attempts to ambush the police convoy carrying Dent, but Batman and Gordon intervene and arrest him; in recognition of his actions, Gordon is appointed police commissioner.

Later that night, when Dent and Rachel disappear, Batman interrogates the Joker at the police station, who reveals that they have been captured by corrupt police and placed in warehouses rigged with explosives on opposite sides of the city; they are far enough apart that Batman cannot save them both. Batman leaves to save Rachel, while Gordon and the police head after Dent. With the help of a bomb planted at the police station, the Joker escapes with Lau. Having been deceived by the Joker, who gave him reversed addresses, Batman arrives at Dent's location in time to save him, but the left side of Dent's face is burned in the resulting explosion. Gordon does not arrive in time to save Rachel and she dies. In the hospital, Dent is driven to madness over the loss of Rachel. After burning Lau atop a pile of the mob's money, the Joker goes to the hospital and convinces Dent to exact revenge on the corrupt cops and mobsters responsible for Rachel's death, as well as Batman and Gordon.

Dent goes on a personal vendetta confronting the cops and mobsters one by one, deciding their fates with the flip of a coin. The Joker announces to the public that anyone left in Gotham at nightfall will be subject to his rule. With the bridges and tunnels out of the city closed due to a bomb threat by the Joker, authorities begin evacuating people by ferry. The Joker places explosives on two of the ferries—one ferry with convicts, the other with civilians—telling the passengers the only way to save themselves is to trigger the explosives on the other ferry; otherwise, he will destroy both at midnight.

Batman locates the Joker, and subdues him but refuses to kill him. Meanwhile, the Joker's plan to destroy the ferries fails after the passengers on both decide not to destroy each other. The Joker acknowledges that Batman is truly incorruptible, but that Dent was not, and his madness has been unleashed upon the city. Leaving the Joker for the SWAT team, Batman leaves in search of Dent. At the remains of the building where Rachel died, Batman finds Dent holding Gordon and his family at gunpoint. Dent judges the innocence of Batman, himself, and Gordon's son through three coin tosses. As a result of the first two flips, he shoots Batman in the abdomen and spares himself. Before Dent can determine the boy's fate, Batman, who was wearing body armor, tackles him, and they both fall over the side of the building — Dent appears dead. Batman and Gordon realize that the morale of the city would suffer if Dent's murders would become known. Batman persuades Gordon to preserve Dent's image by holding Batman himself responsible for the murders. Gordon destroys the Bat-Signal, and a manhunt for Batman ensues.