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[J2 Cool]

Batman Begins easily for me

The Dark Knight is good but Ledger put that movie on his back. take out his performance and you've got Dark Knight Rises Pt. 1. also Eckhart as Two Face was laughably awful. so much cringe and equal blame can be put on the writing and the performance itself.

Begins is also the only one to feel like a proper Batman movie

Also thought Eckhart's Two-Face was cringe. "you wouldn't DARE try to justify yourself if you one what I'd lost!". The boat scene/sonar eyes are terrible. Ones ridiculous, the other's an incoherently filmed action set-piece. To follow it with Eckhart's weak Two-Face turn... just too many things don't work for me after the Hospital scene.

Which is a shame considering where they brought the stakes to. Rachael's death was an epic peak, the Hospital felt relentless emotionally after that. And then the movie kind of lays an egg, with a couple redeemable moments. Like Heath is still very good post-Hospital and his last speech is solid, but the movie undoubtedly drops off. Otherwise TDK is a lot of fun, and obviously Ledger's Joker lifts the movie to another place.

BB on the other hand, has an amazing score. It plays like an opera the first 45-min. It tells the origin cleanly and swiftly, very stylish and emotional. Bruce is a good character in this. The long build to Batman is great, his rapport with Alfred is great, the atmosphere of the Narrows and some of the visuals are also great. It goes down a notch once he's Batman, but its still a fun world to be in. Scarecrow is still pretty good, Falcone is a fun first mission, batmobile chase is cool. And I really dig the ending sequence of Rha's Ah Ghul's deatn, Batman flying off, and that Joker card ending.

Definitely the more balanced of the two. I give it an edge over TDK just by a bit. Although Ledger's Joker is the best thing the series did.

 

[Brandon F]

Act 1 of Batman Begins > The Dark Knight

The rest of the film is worse.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Begins was mediocre af

 

[Nintendo's Witch]

Dark Knight is the best Super Hero movie of all times.

 

[Carl]

Begins, every day of the week

 

[PizzaFace]

Dark Knight.

Begins has a fantastic first half, but I find the second half to be pretty poor

 

[Gordon Shumway]

I don't want to act like a mod, MODS..but, where's the poll?

 

[JTripper]

Batman Begins has aged incredibly well. Recently rewatched it and its a really great origin story for this type of Batman. Dark Knight is still perfect though and I'd rewatch it any day over Begins just to see Ledger's performance again at the very least.

 

[isamu]

TDK and it's not close. Also the best superhero film full stop, transcended the genre to be discussed next to classic crime films.

Let's not get crazy here. I love TDK just as much as anybody, but none of Nolan's Batman films holds a candle to the Donner Superman movies(sans the 4th one of course).

 

[zsynqx]

The Dark Knight

 

[Loris146]

TDK.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

TDK and it's not even close.

 

[Bitanator]

Begins, TDK is not great with repeated viewings, and Rises falls completely apart after multiple viewings, I'd say Begins only gets better

 

[msdstc]

Tdk and it's not even a discussion.

 

[Ronin]

I rewatched Begins recently and it's still really awesome despite the last act being weaker. The final scene is amazing and still gets me hyped up.

I really loved The Dark Knight when I first saw it, but it really falls apart with multiple viewings.

 

[batbeg]

Batman Begins is still my preferred, and one of my favorite movies of all time. I love how the film has so much subtext around fear, right up to the point where the big subplot about a fear toxin being released that is literally all smoke with no fire.

 

[Number_6]

I agree with OP.

Both films are bloated and 'splainy. Nolan doesn't trust the audience to understand anything on their own. In BB it's fear fear fear fear and water main water main water main. In TDK he planned to get caught and white knight and agent of chaos and hero we deserve, can't break my one rule, etc. Seriously characters, shut the fuck up and just do your thing. Stop explaining the whole damn movie and let your actions speak. (Unless those actions contradict the words. Joker really doesn't have plans? Really?)

With that, I prefer BB, and agree that without Ledger's performance, TDK would have sunk. He's needed to carry that shit, because Bale sure doesn't.

And, as is tradition, I must ask, how did Batman save Rachel with the power of hugs? Body armor doesn't protect you from falling out of a damned penthouse suite. After they fell and miraculously survived, what happened? Did Joker and his goons just leave willingly? The movie cuts to the next day. It's ridiculous.

How were those prints on that bullet? Did it not have a casing? How did the cell phone SONAR see Joker's makeup? I don't think black makeup reflects sound waves differently from white. 1984-style invasion of privacy is okay, as long as you destroy it/threaten to resign over it to save face? Why not just 'not save' Joker already, like the last movie?

What's the deal with Gordon faking his death? I love Gary Oldman, I love his performance here. But there is no point in him faking his death. It was not necessary. He could have just been the van driver. He didn't need to be pretend-dead. Nothing is gained. If Joker knew he was alive, that whole plan/chase would not have been different. Oh, to protect his family's safety, okay. Was Gordon every directly threatened like the others who were assassinated? No. Was anybody's family threatened or harmed in addition to the actual targets? No.

I know why Gordon really played dead. So the audience could have a surprise 'fuck yeah/applause' moment. That's it. It's fucking shallow and cheap, but there it is.

I don't think a movie can really be 'deep' or 'smart' or 'thoughtful' with its story or its themes if it directly and repeatedly explains everything to its audience. I mean, the characters were a hair away from just looking into the camera and literally talking to us. What's the Joker's deal? Let Alfred/Gordon/Joker explain it. What's Harvey's deal? Let Harvey/Batman/Gordon explain it. Just bring everything to the surface (the opposite of deep). Ugh.

Seriously though, Ledger saved that movie.

 

[EGM1966]

The Dark Knight.

Begins is solid and nicely handles origin of Nolan's take on character but it's the weaker artistic work next to TDK and Nolan's direction is more assured in TDK and the performances better overall.

 

[RumbleHumble]

Begins. DK doesn't earn has too much bullshit in it (Two-Face, Rachel, Hong Kong)

 

[Anung]

Batman Begins. I like The Dark Knight less every time I see it.

Mask of the Phantasm is the best Batman movie.

 

[Galactic Barret]

Come on now. TDK's Joker killed a guy with a pencil before J. Wick was even a concept.

That alone puts it ahead in my book.