Favorite Movies VOTING: Batman Begins vs. The Dark Knight Rises

@exile_616:

Let the games begin!

BB

@billy_batson: now's not the time for fear. That comes later.

@exile_616:

I'm on your schedule, captain.

BB

Honestly I place the two at the tier.

I’m actually in the very small minority that hates both. Hate may seem like a strange word, but it is unfortunately accurate. The reason I feel this way is because as I came to learn more of the character, I feel that these movies disregard every core aspect of the character, leaving only the less significant yet more apparent aspects such as the wealth and costume.

I don’t remember exactly when I started reading comics. I believe X-Men was the first movie that got me interested, got me reading Wikipedia synopsis of storylines and then comics. X-Men came out in 2000, and I think I read TDKR shortly after that, wanting to read a story where Batman fought Superman, knowing only these 2 characters from pop culture references at this stage.

As an introduction to the character, TDKT was not great, but it set a tone. It made me want to read more, starting with Frank Millers phenomenal Year One, and following with key story arcs from various titles.

The Batman Begins came out, and much like Terminator 3 I enjoyed it immensely and thought it was excellent. Then, much like Terminator 3, the more I thought about it just made me angry. On the surface, they got so very, very much right. The corruption of Gotham, a Batman where the Batman is the real character and Bruce Wayne the mask (that guy from Kill Bill was always wrong), his training abroad, Falcone, Alfred, the realistic take…so much! I even foolishly tried to defend the voice based on this other stuff!

And then, upon closer examination, it seems they got rid of everything that matters. Everything that makes Batman Batman, everything that distinguishes him from other heroes was gone. There was no trace of his intellect, no trace of his martial arts abilities, no trace of his detective skills and he had no issue with killing. He is unable to figure out how to save Gotham, and needs Luscious Fox to aid him at every stop. His costume allows no freedom for a martial artist, and he doesn’t need it with the Keyesi fighting method in use. There is no detective element at all, something often abandoned in film adaptions. And, he kills.

For some reason, there are people who don’t seem to understand that Batman killed Ra’s al Ghul. That’s right, straight up murder. Less obvious than snapping a neck, but the nerd outrage should be the same. See, Batman used something to sabotage the brake, making it impossible to stop. Knowing he had a way out with his cape. Think about that for a second. He sabotaged the brake lines, knowing he could escape. That whole not having to save him thing equates to murder, since he cut the brake lines. If I cut the brake lines while in the car with someone I don’t like knowing I have an eject seat, and they die. Well, that’s murder.

That aside, what distinguished this character? He has money, puts on a suit and fights crime. He has no distinguishing characteristics that I can see.

Batman Begins is however, enjoyable as a different take on Batman. If you don’t judge the film by the comic book character, it’s a solid film. The same can’t be said for TDKR, which is a travesty of a film. Not only does the plot make absolutely no sense – why would Talia go to so much trouble when she had multiple chances to detonate the bomb earlier? Why wouldn’t the league just get a nuke from somewhere, instead of converting something into a bomb equivalent to a nuke? The film made no effort to hide that NYC was Gotham, reduced Bane to a henchman and made him a tiny British man, introduced stupid plot devices like Catwoman’s erase all program, a side plot that went no where…oh, and had Batman kill again.

Not only all that, but this turns Bruce into a wimp. He quit being Batman because of the Dent act? Batman couldn’t quit being Batman. Whatever the Dent act accomplished, Gotham still had a very sizeable police force, with a need for detectives. Which means there were still cases. Batman is the type of person that focuses his pain into his work, not by becoming a hermit for 8 years.

Oh, and why was he a hermit? Because his fling died. Some might have a problem with the use of the word fling. Well, that’s what it was, a brief love affair. They knew each other as children, but can’t have been that close if he let her think he was dead all the time he was gone. It was a fling, plain and simple. A fling made movie Batman quit being Batman, as if that wasn’t enough on top of him losing his intellect and martial arts ability.

And what was with the ending? Batman could have sacrificed himself without the world thinking Bruce Wayne is dead. If Bruce Wayne is dead, why is he out in the open at a café? How long was Alfred waiting for him? Did Alfred just imagine that he saw him?

Batman Begins I enjoyed when I saw it, and only no longer stand it because I see it as too much of a departure from the comic book version. TDKR was just a bad movie through and through.