1) Batman Begins
A great origin story, with believable characters and a strong point-of-view centered on Bruce Waye/Batman. It gets you inside his head and why and how he operates the way he does. Has a great pace that builds to a frantic third act. Great use of flashbacks and non-linear storytelling. A great cast, many of whom would feature in the films to come. Liam Nesson is so badass. A great, emotional score with James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer. A great ending that might have been only been good had TDK never been made.
2) The Dark Knight
A strong crime thriller that is like a rollercoaster ride. Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, and Aaron Eckhart are given a lot of material to perform and do so admirably. However Christian Bale didn't look his best or perform his best here nor was the material as strongly centered on his character as it was in Batman Begins. Maggie Gyllenhaal's Rachel made a better lawyer than Katie Holmes but the material made for a terrible romantic interest for Bruce Wayne. An excellent ending. Music is ok but not much I wanted to hear outside of the movie.
3) The Dark Knight Rises
Batman retires, unretires and first shows up at like 45 minutes in, then can't do anything as he's a prisoner for the middle of the film, then he's Batman again and retires again. The good news is Bale looks better here than in TDK and he comes across as more into his performance. Even the way the TDK batsuit is lit and filmed is better than in TDK. I love JGL but his character gets way too much to do in this movie. Tom Hardy was impressive as Bane. I liked the musical score more than TDK's. The script doesn't do a great job of juggling all the characters and so the Miranda relationship suffers while the audience is just waiting around for Selina and Bruce to bone already. The last act is pretty good (minus Blake's interruptions) with the Bane fight, Talia looking scary, and the convoy chase until what comes after the bomb blast. Lots of structural problems with the script but I'll shut it now.
A great origin story, with believable characters and a strong point-of-view centered on Bruce Waye/Batman. It gets you inside his head and why and how he operates the way he does. Has a great pace that builds to a frantic third act. Great use of flashbacks and non-linear storytelling. A great cast, many of whom would feature in the films to come. Liam Nesson is so badass. A great, emotional score with James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer. A great ending that might have been only been good had TDK never been made.
2) The Dark Knight
A strong crime thriller that is like a rollercoaster ride. Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, and Aaron Eckhart are given a lot of material to perform and do so admirably. However Christian Bale didn't look his best or perform his best here nor was the material as strongly centered on his character as it was in Batman Begins. Maggie Gyllenhaal's Rachel made a better lawyer than Katie Holmes but the material made for a terrible romantic interest for Bruce Wayne. An excellent ending. Music is ok but not much I wanted to hear outside of the movie.
3) The Dark Knight Rises
Batman retires, unretires and first shows up at like 45 minutes in, then can't do anything as he's a prisoner for the middle of the film, then he's Batman again and retires again. The good news is Bale looks better here than in TDK and he comes across as more into his performance. Even the way the TDK batsuit is lit and filmed is better than in TDK. I love JGL but his character gets way too much to do in this movie. Tom Hardy was impressive as Bane. I liked the musical score more than TDK's. The script doesn't do a great job of juggling all the characters and so the Miranda relationship suffers while the audience is just waiting around for Selina and Bruce to bone already. The last act is pretty good (minus Blake's interruptions) with the Bane fight, Talia looking scary, and the convoy chase until what comes after the bomb blast. Lots of structural problems with the script but I'll shut it now.