Nolan Fans

Pretty much everyone I know thinks it's the better effort but to me, I think Batman Begins is the better of the two. The only three things that I feel are better in the sequel are the improvements on the filming and editing of the action sequences, the score and the villain (Joker over Ras al Ghul, but I loved Liam Neeson's take on him).

The reasons why I think it's the better of the two, basically to me it has better pacing than the first, it focused much more on Batman's journey and felt like Batman's film rather than the sequel which was pretty much tied between Joker, Harvey Dent and Batman.

I loved his use of the "Narrows" and was dissapointed that it was included in the sequel. Biggest of all for me, Gotham City felt like something different, much more atmospheric while The Dark Knight just felt like Chicago.

To me, despite it featuring (mostly) the same characters, The Dark Knight feels like a different and standalone movie. I guess this is what Nolan intended though, and I love that movie for different reasons. That to me is why he's such a great director.

It will sound weird, but despite the fact that TDK is the sequel of Batman Begins, I don't think that the two movies can be compared. Both films have better parts than the other. For exaple, as you said, Batman Begins concentrates more on Bruce Wayne, and that's very good. But The Dark Knight created a legendary supervillain. Gotham City is more atmospheric in BB, but The Dark Knight has beautiful - more beautiful scenes and camerawork than Begins. I can't really choose between the two movie, because in my opinion they can't be compared.

DHOPW42 wrote:It will sound weird, but despite the fact that TDK is the sequel of Batman Begins, I don't think that the two movies can be compared. Both films have better parts than the other. For exaple, as you said, Batman Begins concentrates more on Bruce Wayne, and that's very good. But The Dark Knight created a legendary supervillain. Gotham City is more atmospheric in BB, but The Dark Knight has beautiful - more beautiful scenes and camerawork than Begins. I can't really choose between the two movie, because in my opinion they can't be compared.

That's true, they're both seperate entities and both awesome in their own way but for some reason I prefer Batman Begins. However, the themes of Batman Begins continue into it's sequel which gives it some continuity.

I actually prefer Batman Begins over TDK. I think that TDK's story pacing and plot setups were a little bit difficult to follow than Batman Begins. I have a feeling that TDK leaves its viewers if you are not the attentive sort. That said, both films are still good and TDK from the scope is a much harder challenge to tackle.

Both films are very good. One of my favorite things about TDK compared to BB is the open space of Gotham, BB feels too closed in...almost claustophobic.

TDK being shot in Chicago was a great decision on Nolan's part.

chee wrote:Both films are very good. One of my favorite things about TDK compared to BB is the open space of Gotham, BB feels too closed in...almost claustophobic.

Yeah, TDK was way more wider than BB.

niniendowarrior wrote:I actually prefer Batman Begins over TDK. I think that TDK's story pacing and plot setups were a little bit difficult to follow than Batman Begins. I have a feeling that TDK leaves its viewers if you are not the attentive sort. That said, both films are still good and TDK from the scope is a much harder challenge to tackle.

I agree. TDK was harder to understand than BB. But that's one of the reasons I liked TDK.

chee wrote:Both films are very good. One of my favorite things about TDK compared to BB is the open space of Gotham, BB feels too closed in...almost claustophobic.

And that is exactly what I liked of Gotham. In The Dark Knight, Gotham City didn't gave me the right feeling that I had before. The city is alright in Batman Begins, but Nolan's city can't top Tim Burton's version of the city.
I loved the fact that it was never sunny in Tim Burton's version.

The stories of Nolan are way better, but Tim Burton made the best Batman atmosphere.

Erik wrote:

chee wrote:Both films are very good. One of my favorite things about TDK compared to BB is the open space of Gotham, BB feels too closed in...almost claustophobic.

And that is exactly what I liked of Gotham. In The Dark Knight, Gotham City didn't gave me the right feeling that I had before. The city is alright in Batman Begins, but Nolan's city can't top Tim Burton's version of the city.
I loved the fact that it was never sunny in Tim Burton's version.

The stories of Nolan are way better, but Tim Burton made the best Batman atmosphere.

Burton's atmosphere does not fit Batman though. As a filmmaker, he always tries to paint everything in his pseudo german expressionism veneer. I don't think Batman translates well to that style. Batman's roots are noir and Nolan captures that to a T.

dagn96 wrote:

niniendowarrior wrote:I actually prefer Batman Begins over TDK. I think that TDK's story pacing and plot setups were a little bit difficult to follow than Batman Begins. I have a feeling that TDK leaves its viewers if you are not the attentive sort. That said, both films are still good and TDK from the scope is a much harder challenge to tackle.

I agree. TDK was harder to understand than BB. But that's one of the reasons I liked TDK.

I think if there are things that are "hidden" and bring a new level of understanding on second viewing is special. Nolan has pulled that off with other films of his. But, what I didn't like about TDK was that the mere progression of the plot was at times pretty difficult to follow like Batman listening over city-wide telephone calls and hears the Joker says "You'll find Harvey Dent on this address." You miss that particularly line then you don't know why they are able to barge into the apartment and find the dead cops. Another is the bullet ballistics and finger print analysis... and I could go on with the quick plot setups that are hard to catch.

Nolan is good at setting things up and explaining motivations at the same time leave a lot more hidden content on second and third viewings. You see that with many of his movies, which makes it slightly disappointing for me that TDK was so fast when dealing with one thing and then moving on to the next thing.

Slight blemishes of an otherwise good movie. Batman Begins, in my opinion, had no such problems and like other Nolan flicks, you gain a little extra on second and succeeding viewings.

Just my two cents.

filmfanatic wrote:

Erik wrote:

chee wrote:Both films are very good. One of my favorite things about TDK compared to BB is the open space of Gotham, BB feels too closed in...almost claustophobic.

And that is exactly what I liked of Gotham. In The Dark Knight, Gotham City didn't gave me the right feeling that I had before. The city is alright in Batman Begins, but Nolan's city can't top Tim Burton's version of the city.
I loved the fact that it was never sunny in Tim Burton's version.

The stories of Nolan are way better, but Tim Burton made the best Batman atmosphere.

Burton's atmosphere does not fit Batman though. As a filmmaker, he always tries to paint everything in his pseudo german expressionism veneer. I don't think Batman translates well to that style. Batman's roots are noir and Nolan captures that to a T.

What I hate about Burton is that he is solely style over substance. He creates films that are dark for the sake of them being dark; it's ridiculous.