Poll: Best Christopher Nolan Batman film.

[thejboy88]

Title says it all really. Which of the three recent Batman films, made by Christopher Nolan and Starring Christian Bale, do you hold as your personal favourite?

And I would appreciate if you were to give a reason as to why you've chosen the film you've chosen.

 

[Erttheking]

The Dark Knight, because of the Joker completely stealing the show.

 

[Dead Seerius]

I know it's not a very original reason, but The Dark Knight for Ledger's performance. I wouldn't usually base most of my praise of an entire movie on a single actor, but holy shit did Heath knock it out of the park.

That being said TDKR was incredible, and bar some of the plotholes, had a slightly more compelling narrative to me.

 

[Rawne1980]

I'm going to have to go with Batman Begins.

After the shite we had to endure before the reboot we had films like Batman and Robin representing ole Bats.

Batman Begins showed how it should have been done to start with. It gave us a glimmer of hope through grim times we'd suffered.

 

[madwarper]

I can't really say there was a "best" film of the series, because I was disappointed by them all. Though, the movie that disappointed me the least was Dark Knight Rises.

Bale made a serviceable Wayne, but a shit Batman. I know Conroy (the definitive Batman, imo) came up with using a different voice for Bruce and Batman, but Bale choosing to have his Batman voice gargling gravel makes it painful to listen to.

 

[repeating integers]

I'd say The Dark Knight Rises, because Heath Ledger's Joker was so completely brilliant.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

I'd say The Dark Knight Rises, because Heath Ledger's Joker was so completely brilliant.

Think you added in an extra word there...

Anyways, my favourite goes to The Dark Knight aswell. For me, I love Batman almost purely for the villains. Batman is awesome and is a complete badass but as I believe Yahtzee put it, "He's always the least interesting thing in anything he's in". I love Batman but the real interesting stuff happens when the villains come around and he has a large rogues gallery to pick from. In this film, The Joker was done a lot better than Ra's Al Ghul and Bane because of Nolan's "realistic" take on the mythos which meant Ra's couldn't be an immortal thanks to magic juice and Bane couldn't turn into a super-serum-hulk-monster. The Joker on the other hand is a normal, if insane, man so could be done well without having to apply any supernatural or science fiction stuff to it and Ledger nailed the role perfectly and thus stole the show completely from Batman.

 

[scorptatious]

As other people have stated: The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger did a fantastic Joker.

 

[Semudara]

Batman Begins was a really well-done origin story. Not only was it the first time we really saw Batman's origin story on film, it was a fresh and deep take on it that successfully recreated Batman in many people's eyes, and provided a damn good Batman movie in the process.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Batman Begins for me. It really felt like it was setting up the world of the new age Batman, and in that respect, it did a stellar job.

I also really felt like I was able to visualize Gotham in that movie. It had character to it, like it was alive. Dark Knight and Dark Knight Rises could have been set in any city and it would make no difference. It didn't feel like Gotham City, it felt like Pittsburgh or Chicago.

If only Begins hadn't given the camera to a man with Parkinson's and they didn't pronouns Ghul's name wrong.

 

[Woodsey]

If only they didn't pronouns Ghul's name wrong.

Ahem.

OT: Split between TDK and TDKR. Begins was good, but I felt like they hadn't quite fully committed to the realist interpretation they came to in TDK, and I preferred all of the character stuff and training scenes to him as Batman, in the latter half.

 

[bafrali]

The Dark Knight because it felt like a true Batman Film. Batman fights a memorable villain using his detective skills. What is not to like?

 

[Asuka Soryu]

First one. I love it more then the other two. Batman feels a lot better, more stealth like, the love interest didn't annoy me like she does in Dark Knight. The city of Gotham looked amazing and more stylised, rather then Dark Knight and Dark Knight Rises, where Gotham looks generic. Not to mention, I just like how Batman says: "I won't kill you. But, I don't have to save you", before grappling his way off, as Ra Al Ghuul meets his end.

I just loved watching Bruce make crappy excuses to Fox, as to why he needed these things. That and watching him mess around with the Batmobile, when he first tests it, then driving on roof tops was great.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Probably Dark Knight though none of them really felt very Batman to me. Yes, they all had the big Batman set pieces but they just didn't feel right to me. While Dark Knight was my favorite movie over all my favorite moment from the trilogy was in Begins when Batman is at the docks taking out Falcone's goons.


There we go: my favorite Batman moment from all three of Nolan's movies.

Ah screw it, I'm marking Begins in the poll.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm glad the OT asked "favorite movie", not "best movie". I liked The Dark Knight the best. Aside from obviously loving the Joker, I liked how the movie became as much a superhero movie as a "realistic" crime movie and the stakes kept pulling up in ways nobody saw coming. The Dark Knight Rises paled by comparison.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Batman Begins was by far the most dramatically solid. The first hour or so was actually really compelling. Some of the later action sequences were a little sketchy, but overall it was probably the best film with the fewest issues.

TDK had Ledger's show-stealing performance and some nice set pieces, but has a few pacing issues, some highly questionable makeup for Two-Face, and some really convoluted Joker plots that fall apart under any kind of scrutiny whatsoever.

TDKR had Hardy's menacing performance as Bane and some really nice "what happens when a super hero gets old" thematic beats, but also suffered from pacing issues and also suffered from confusing and overly elaborate/silly plot elements. Not to mention a bit of a soft-serve ending.

So...Batman Begins for me, but TDK will run away with the poll because of Ledger's Joker.

(looks at poll)

Yep.

 

[Blunderboy]

It would be Dark Knight Rises (if only for the erection joke) if it weren't for Bane's voice.
I'll admit that I got used to it, and a friend came up with a good theory for it, but it just made me laugh when I first heard it.

 

[Sutter Cane]

The first 2 films are very close when it comes to quality, but given that you could actually tell what the hell was going on in the action scenes in TDK, that one gets the edge.