Ordinary Day

Being a Chicagoan, I had an added perspective on the movie, because most outdoor Gotham shots were done near where I work. Anywhere else in the country, people are gripping the edges of their seats as the action flies by them; HERE, people are shouting out "Oh, look, the Chicago Board of Trade!" "Hey, that's City Hall!" "Wow, Wayne Penthouse is across the street from Marina Towers!" "BINNY'S LIQUORS!!!"

Most of us recognized the Gotham Bank as Chicago's Old Post Office, although Northern Trust Bank stood in for itself in one outdoor shot. The hospital that the Joker blew up was, in fact, the old Brach's candy factory, which had been slated for demolition. (BTW, there is a local joke during the hospital evac scene...most of the patients are in school buses, but one bus is a Chicago Transit Authority bus whose logo had been modified from "cta" to "gta".)

You got to see the Chicago River with a couple of its bridges during one outdoor panic scene in which traffic was at a standstill; the ferries, however, were not shot here. No one ferries across Lake Michigan, it's too wide.

Also: Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon....why so Sirius?