As the loyal few of you who follow RetroBeliever are aware, there aren't many things I enjoy more than to wax nostalgic about some anachronistic 8-bit or 16-bit video game, lament about the lost simplicity of the past, or tie my somewhat antiquated interests to Christ. However, today's post is different because... well, it's about something currently popular: I'm talking about Batman, specifically the Dark Knight trilogy of films directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as the titular Dark Knight, aka Batman.
What am I writing about? Just to let you know, it's not a review of The Dark Knight Rises, which I happened to see on July 20th. Instead, I shall briefly compare the three movies as I have written my Retro-Comparos, in which I've compared video games. My comparisons between the three movies will be based on several categories I feel capture the various aspects of movies, such as acting, editing, story, special effects, music, and so on. So, here goes:
Acting:
It is difficult to differentiate between the three movies because there are the same actors playing the same roles, though I would contend that the acting in Batman Begins was a shade better because the actors were fresh in their roles, working to establish the characters as they might develop in future films. Some may argue that The Dark Knight was the most stellar when it came to acting, but I'd take Katie Holmes' youthful vibrance over Maggie Gyllenhaal's school-marm-like demeanor as Rachel Dawes; and, call it controversial and merely personal preference, but I take Liam Neeson's quiet menace as Ra's al-Ghul over Heath Ledger's just-too-psychotic Joker. That said, Aaron Eckhart's portrayal of Two-Face/Harvey Dent was emotionally affecting. It's really hard to choose... I'll give a shout out, though, to Tom Hardy for his portrayal as Bane; that was a tough role to play with a mask obscuring most of his face.
Verdict: BB (Batman Begins)
Characters:
Batman Begins has the advantage of being the origin story for Bruce Wayne and Batman, so there is much character development, as well as introductions of all the principal supporting characters. However, The Dark Knight does not have to spend time introducing characters except for Harvey Dent and The Joker, who is only developed as a diabolical foil for Batman and as an instigator. Despite this, The Dark Knight is important in leading Batman down the path that would lead to The Dark Knight Rises.
Development aside, The Dark Knight presented strong, clearly-defined characters that guided the story, and not the other way around. The most impressive thing is that the movie seems plot-driven on the surface: after all, The Dark Knight is really about how much Batman would bend his own moral laws in his pursuit of the Joker, who is actively pushing Batman's buttons. It's splitting hairs, but TDK prevails.
Verdict: TDK (The Dark Knight)
Direction, Action Sequences:
Many have lambasted Christopher Nolan's direction of the various fight scenes in Batman Begins, noting scattershot editing, too-closely-zoomed fist shots, and almost incomprehensible sequences. Nolan sharpened his direction for The Dark Knight, giving the viewer more time to observe fight scenes and action sequences develop. The Dark Knight Rises continued his superlative work.
Verdict: TDK
Direction, Dramatic Sequences:
Action and fighting aside, Nolan coaxed out many more moments of emotion in Batman Begins than any of the three: the sadness of young Bruce Wayne, the anger of post-teen Bruce, the focused intensity and sense of justice of Batman, and the sympathy of the various figures who served as fathers to Bruce all served to make Batman Begins an affecting movie. I must note The Dark Knight Rises, which pulls in some of the emotion from Batman Begins and ends with a heroic crescendo that is evocative in its own right, particularly the last five minutes which provides the greatest payoff of all the three films.
Verdict: BB
Editing:
As mentioned previously, the fight scenes in Batman Begins were the lone weak spot to the movie. The Dark Knight Rises didn't suffer from this weakness, but there were a few editing gaffes when it seemed like Nolan was forced to cut dramatic sequences for the sake of brevity; specifically, I refer to a romance between Bruce Wayne and one of the female characters because it seemed either inserted as a last-minute decision, disrupting the continuity of the return of Batman, or severely punctuated to cut down on what some felt was an overly long movie.
Of the three, The Dark Knight had the best balance of action and fight editing, as well as the appropriate length of set pieces and dramatic exchanges to establish and develop characters.
Verdict: TDK
Music:
Each of the three movies have very similar musical themes, but with flourishes that distinguish them. Batman Begins is a bit more upbeat, particularly in the final third of the movie. The Dark Knight has themes that are darker, featuring more low strings. The Dark Knight Rises features more drum beats, which mimics the chanting in the movie. It's all good.
Verdict: Push
Special Effects:
This one is especially subjective, though I must admit that The Narrows in Batman Begins LOOKS like a miniature set. As technology advanced, Nolan and his crew were able to synthesize more convincing special effects. The Dark Knight Rises attests to this, as the bridges exploding and the stadium field imploding were two of the best effects sequences in the entire series (both of these are viewable in the trailers, so I'm not spoiling anything).
Verdict: TDKR
The Batsuit:
I am partial to Batman's Nomex Survival Suit-derived armor and stiff cowl in Batman Begins over the much more modular design of the suits in the subsequent movies, mostly because of the relatively simplicity and story-appropriate clunkiness of the first suit. I just think the armor got weirder and weirder with each passing movie.
Verdict: BB
Props:
I find it odd that Batman relied on his trademark utility belt in Batman Begins much more than in the next two movies; the grappling gun, Bat-grenades, Bat-throwing stars, and some nifty hallucinogenic gas capsules all make appearances, while we only see a lame gun-barrel-bending/van-door-cutting hand tool (and the grappling gun) in The Dark Knight. Sure, there was that sonar-based internal mapping technology that proved so pivotal in the finale, but that just wasn't as nifty as anything that can come off Batman's utility belt.
Oh, and as I recall, there were NO Bat weapons in The Dark Knight Rises, but we get Bane's medieval gas mask and Catwoman's eye disguise/visor.
Verdict: Tie, BB and TDKR
Vehicles:
Batman Begins was about the Tumbler, The Dark Knight was about the Batpod, and The Dark Knight Rises was about both AND the "Bat," which is simply an inverted helicopter with missiles and a dual cockpit.
Verdict: TDKR
Sets:
With each successive movie, the sets became more elaborate, though I enjoyed the eldritch trappings of Wayne Manor over the rebuilt one in The Dark Knight Rises. Also, we can rule out The Dark Knight because Bruce Wayne's penthouse in The Dark Knight is sterile and dull, and, inexplicably, there is NO Wayne Tower; instead, we have the monolithic Wayne Building, which appears again in The Dark Knight Rises. However, I won't rule out The Dark Knight Rises because that Indian prison is grimly exotic and the Batcave returns with a revamped raising platform.
Verdict: TDKR
Final Verdict: Batman Begins
Though The Dark Knight Rises had the most toys, most complicated and visually-appealing special effects, and most jarring sets, Batman Begins edges it with acting, origin story, a more simplistic Batsuit, and more utility belt gadgets. Sure, it's highly subjective and many people will attempt to discredit me in my preference of Batman Begins over The Dark Knight, but the most outstanding issue I have had with The Dark Knight is that it is a movie largely detached from any positive emotion; for most of the film, we observe the moral challenges Batman/Bruce Wayne has to face and how the Joker prevails on many fronts, even though he is captured. Some may point at this as the benchmark of an exceptional superhero movie, but I watch superheroes to see them overcome great odds to win the day. I suppose, in that sense, that The Dark Knight is an appropriate middle movie, just as The Empire Strikes Back was an appropriate middle movie of the original Star Wars Trilogy. As Harvey Dent says in The Dark Knight, "The night is darkest before the dawn," right?
Anyway, Batman Begins runs the full gamut of emotion, but emerges with a optimism and a sense of hope that always compels me to watch it again. Bruce Wayne truly comes full circle as a character vis-a-vis his father and the memories he has of him: from love to guilt to rage, and then to a deeper admiration for his father. As for The Dark Knight Rises, the movie is mostly dark and grim, but there is triumph, in a manner of speaking. I'll just say that the emotional payoff is huge in The Dark Knight Rises.
