I must be the only one who prefers this to TDK

Christopher's 2005 reboot of the Batman franchise that tells the origins of how Bruce Wayne became Batman.
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dagn96 wrote:
bLaZe wrote:This was the first Nolan film I saw, and will always be my favorite. Although I agree, BB and TDK are two different movies. Both equally dark, both dealing with strong psychological morals, both have a gritty feel to them that I enjoyed more than Burton's version (which was cheesy, imho), but so different in terms of atmosphere and character development.

However, I'd like to see Arkham Asylum in the fashion of TDK's Gotham City. That would be a huge improvement over the disappointing depiction of Arkham in BB.
Yeah we need to explore Arkham Asylum more in Batman 3
I agree and back to the Narrows full of villans :)

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James wrote:at the end of the day i hope they have a non-linear structure to batman 3
i know TDK was pretty straightforward, but so is BB to an extent. As opposed to Memento and The Prestige (and perhaps Inception as well?), BB is a pretty linear film. There's the story of him becoming Batman (in prison, the league of shadows, return to Gotham, etc.), and then the backstory w/ his parents death (the well, the opera, the trial, etc.) which only takes up about maybe 15-20 minutes of the film. I was kinda hoping in TDK maybe have glimpese back into Bruce's past (not neccessarily a connecting storyline, just moments). I remember reading recently that Nolan wrote the Joker's backstory, so maybe it was suppose to be nonlinear? (all for the better that it wasn't)

As for Batman 3, it could be interesting for a nonlinear stort, but obviously it would have to serve the purpose of the story.

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yeh i just think it makes it more interesting and fascinating to watch and think about. Especially if they had a main antagonist such as Riddler, they may aswell make the movie a riddle.

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I think the reason I still like the Dark Knight more is that I feel like it was likely more of Nolan's ideas and his style. With Begins he and Goyer were constrained to a specific story. They had to tell the origin of Batman and had to keep it pretty close to the canon. With the Dark Knight we get to see where Nolan wanted the character to go.

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I am a huge fan of Nolan's Batverse, and i love both movies - each is awesome in its own way - but i feel that Batman Begins is mostly ignored by the general public, who often blab only about the greatness of The Dark Knight. What most of them dont understand - and we do - is that The Dark Knight is great, BECAUSE it had such an amazing movie as the foundation. Without Batman Begins, there would be no The Dark Knight. Simple as that. I strongly believe that Batman Begins is the greatest origin story of all time, and till The Dark Knight released, I was of the opinion that it was a strong contender for the greatest comicbook film of all time - better than the Spiderman, X Men or Iron Man movies. Thats how great I think Batman Begins is.

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I have to say, I prefer BB to TDK. I don't have any fundamental problems with TDK, it's just that there is this wonderful sense of discovery to Batman Begins, and fun, which is somewhat lacking in TDK. I think TDK gets away with it because it's the second film and as such is the darker middle act of the trilogy, but for its sense of wonder, witty humour and the wow factor from seeing the costume for the first time, the tumbler and for the music score from Zimmer and Howard, I just love it to bits, an honest to God great film.

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I just registered to reply solely to this thread.

For the past two years I've been arguing with everybody I know on this topic, and my passion for what I feel is as present as it has always been.

Batman Begins is by FAR superior to The Dark Knight, in every way possible. Here's why.

To start, Batman Begins wins wholeheartedly in the narrative department. Whereas The Dark Knight was full of cliche Hollywood scenes that I saw coming from a mile away, Batman Begins spun a much more complete story that had me connected at every turn. Almost every scene was perfect for me. The murder of Bruce's parents was gorgeous and heartbreaking. Bruce Wayne's journey into the mountains to find himself was inspiring. His dialogue with Raz during his training was brilliant. Bruce's trip back to Gotham and his search for vengeance was genius. The reveal that the real villain wasn't Scarecrow at all, that he was simply a pawn for the League of Shadows which connected all of Gotham City and Raz was nothing short of stunning. Add all of this together with Nolan's sharp eye for cinematography, and I swear it was love at first sight.

Furthermore, I felt the Gotham City in Batman Begins was far more involving than the "Chicago" in it's sequel. The Gotham in Batman Begins was fresh, unique, ALIVE. The Chicago in The Dark Knight was the same old city you see in every movie of it's kind. You may argue that it allowed for betters shots of Gotham, and it had a less claustrophobic feel than Batman Begins. In all honesty, I just call it lazy. To that extent, most of The Dark Knight was lazy in comparison to Batman Begins. TDK felt like Nolan just wanted to make a Hollywood Blockbuster, and all the love he put in the first one was sapped in the process. What am I talking about? Let's take the scene where the Joker has the two ferries and has rigged explosives on both. That scene served absolutely no purpose but to put DEVO from Friday (yes I said it), on a boat with the chance to be a hero. I almost had a heart attack at how cliche it was, but I ultimately digress. Whereas Batman Begins had one emotionally involving and brilliantly written scene one after another, the Dark Knight just filled up most of it's time slot with one cliche scene after another.

And to top it off, and this really gets to me, the Batman personae Nolan worked so brilliantly to craft in Batman Begins was DESTROYED right off the bat in The Dark Knight. At the end of BB I was cheering with applause at Bruce Wayne's transformation into Batman, because it felt sooo believable, and I couldn't wait for it to be explored in future sequels. What does Nolan do? He throws in the character of Harvey Dent and has us believe that Batman suddenly wants to quit and have someone else take up his mantle. WHAT!?? Are you kidding me!? Didn't Bruce Wayne realize at the end of Batman Begins as his mansion was burning down around him (I adore that scene by the way) that we fall to get back up?? And that's what he did right, and he succeeded over evil? And the final scene where he tells Gordon that he would never have to thank him? I LOVED that. Batman was finally BATMAN. But for some reason Nolan destroys all of that genius with the random notion that Batman doesn't want to be Batman anymore, that he wants somebody else to do his job. WHY?? So he can throw in a new character to convolute the plot and lead to a 2 1/2 hour movie bloated with pointless scenes and unfulfilled potential? I was horrified at the end of my first screening of TDK, and I still am to this day.

The list goes on. I hated Maggie Gyllenhaal's character in every way possible; Katie easily was more likable (although I agree she can't act, but neither can Maggie). The Rachel character in TDK was annoying and ultimately irrelevant, the Rachel character in BB was much more complex and showed Bruce that, "It's not who are we are on the inside, it's what we do that defines us." I LOVED that. When Rachel died in the TDK, I honestly was just rolling my eyes once again. Another cliche, more potential wasted. The villains, with exception to the Joker obviously, were miscast and predictable. The scenes with Gordon and Harvey arguing were laughable. The whole technology of "Sonar Vision", or whatever it was called, was just stupid in my opinion and only served to fill up holes in the plot. Batman's voice was far more annoying. The movie was far too long and many scenes should have been cut off - Batman's expedition to China to catch the "squealer" had no purpose. The ending was predictable and completely inferior to Batman Begin's ending in every way. And I absolutely hated Gordon's monologue at the very end; it was cheesy and only served to show that Nolan was too lazy to think of a better ending so he had to TELL us why Batman was forced to run. Why not let us think for ourselves?

So, to end this rant, in all honestly I love Nolan and Batman Begins still stands as my favorite superhero movie of all time. While the Dark Knight was a good movie on it's own terms, and Heather Ledger was AMAZING as the Joker, when compared to Batman Begins it just falls apart in every way. You may think I'm over-exaggerating, or that I'm just crazy. Oh well. Batman Begins > The Dark Knight - ANY DAY.

/rant

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The Dark Knight is one of my favorite films of all time, but I gotta say that watching Batman Begins was more enjoyable. It definitely had a lighter vibe to it compared to the chaos that was happening in TDK almost every act.

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The whole technology of "Sonar Vision", or whatever it was called, was just stupid in my opinion and only served to fill up holes in the plot.

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Eh hello you must of missed the Microwave Emitter in BB.

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And I absolutely hated Gordon's monologue at the very end; it was cheesy and only served to show that Nolan was too lazy to think of a better ending so he had to TELL us why Batman was forced to run. Why not let us think for ourselves?

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Gordon's monologue was amazing :shock:

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ad also, Bruce didn't "suddenly" wanted to quit being Batman, it was only after the dinner with Harvey Dent that Bruce saw Dent as his replacement

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