Which Nolan Batman film is better of the two?

[Cap'n Cook]

TDK gets my vote too, but is INCREDIBLY close.

 

[villainsfan42]

dark knight, ONLY because of heath joker and eckhart two face.

begins was a better plot line.

 

[Voorhees27]

Wow this poll is not even close, didn't think it would be that big of a gap. I chose BB because i'm a sucker for a movie about a man who is down on life and fights to climb out of his rut to become something great.

Oh that and I enjoyed the score more than TDK's.

 

[Socko]

Oh that and I enjoyed the score more than TDK's.

indeed.
I choose the first one too.

And I felt the additional 2 face ending should have been in a third installment.

Dark Knight was about Batman and the Joker IMHO

 

[Zoidberg]

BB for plot.
I love origin stories. The original and interesting part in most movies are in the build-up of the story and characters, and here it's building beautifully all through.
TDK for character.
It was great, arguably more intelligent in it's examination of vigilantism. but it was more concerned with the motivation of the characters than story.
storywise it's a bit bloated.
BB takes the edge for me.

 

[Dr.Mirakle32]

Everybody is voting TDK now, but I have a feeling Begins will be appreciated more as the better of the two, ten or twenty years from now. BB did have its flaws, and is by no means a perfect film (I tend to prefer Batman '89 over it,) but it is still a genuinely well-made, and rewatchable film.

I personally find the human story and drama moving, and rarely boring; Ra's Al Ghul and Scarecrow are great villains who had never been done on film before; Christian Bale didn't make funny faces while sounding like Clint Eastwood with throat cancer; and the basic origin of Batman had never really been fleshed out before, which film portrays wonderfully. One big prop I gotta give the film, is that while it is a much more serious take on Batsy than the previous films, it's not too ashamed of its comic book heritage (gotta love ninjas, a microwave emiter and a clever plot to destroy Gotham.)

TDK on the other hand, certainly improves on its predecessor as far as action and cinematography goes, but at the end of the day, it's nothing groundbreaking and nothing we haven't seen before. Oh no! Joker and his gang robbed a bank! What's gonna happen, next? Yay, a climax where Batman and Joker fight on a skyscraper! Neeeeeeeverrrrr seen THAT before!

It may have been done with more realism in mind, but the basic story, and plot elements are just ripped off from other films. It's like Nolan watched Batman, Batman Forever, Heat, and some James Bond films, put it all togther and slapped a darker coat of paint on it. But hey, it's supposed to be a commercial film and it made a billion bucks, so obviously it worked. It's still better than half of the series, but so what? If the previous Batman films never existed, TDK may well be an original masterpiece, but they do, and I don't feel it was.

Also, as great as the Joker and Two Face were (Ledger was just as brilliant as Nicholson, but different, and with Eckhart, I left the theater thinking "Tommy Lee who?"), we already saw them along with Scarecrow in previous films. I'm all for reinventing popular villains, just mix things up a bit and throw in someone new.

Overall, Aside from Ledger and Eckhart's performances, and being generally well done, TDK was just a crime drama featuring a clown and a guy in a rubber batsuit, that took itself way too seriously. At this point, I'm a little Batman'd out, and would rather DC work on bringing its other comic book properties to the screen, before a third (technically seventh) Warner Bros. Batman outing.

So yeah, gotta go with Batman Begins.

 

[MaulFan]

For me, it's pretty much a tie. They each have some great things going for them but those elements are missing from the other.

For instance, I love how Begins really dives into the Bruce and Batman characters, in that regard TDK dissappointed because it focused on several people, it did that very well (not like Spiderman 3) but where my main draw to Batman, especially Nolan and Bale's take, it was a bummer not getting as deep into him in TDK, which I hope the third film will return to.

On the other hand, I find I liked the pace and intensity of TDK over Begins. It was cool in TDK to have such a chaotic world. While the Begins Gotham was grim, it was almost manageable, but TDK seemed almost impossible, and I like when hero's are pitted against impossible odds and rise above.

So, I consider them 2 significantly different types of stories that are creating one really nice, grand story mixed together, with one more key piece to come.

 

[Mighty_Jabba]

TDK by a long margin for me, Batman begins was a good but TDK was epic!

That pretty much sums it up for me

 

[paul_atd-i]

I prefer TDK although there is a charm about BB. I just felt that TDK was better executed and I liked how the majority of it was shot on location rather than being shot in an airplane hanger like they used for BB. I think this that gave TDK a realistic edge for me.

Also I think the whole experience of TDK has been unreal. What an experience to have been involved in as a batman fan. Ok so BB built that excitement but the whole viral marketing reveals, the trailers, the 6 min prologue (blew me away!), Heath's really upsetting passing and wanting to see him knock the joker role out the park (and he did! R.I.P)

Bring on Nolan Batman 3

 

[tomandshell]

I love TDK, but for some reason I found myself voting for Batman Begins. I prefer the feel of Gotham City we get in it, compared to TDK which needed to be a bit more stylized and just felt too much like real world Chicago. I think they scaled back the production design a little too much for the second one and it no longer felt like a comic book Gotham City.

 

[MANDO]

TDK owns. While Begins has a lot of good points about it but I find the end a bit too much. Didn't really care for the wave emitter and turning all the water into fear toxin. Seemed like something Cobra would do on the old sunbow cartoon. That's just me though. Both had really great villains. I particularly like Neeson's Ra's Al Ghul and of course Ledger's Joker.

 

[a-dev]

TDK for me for its particular cast of characters/actors. And it did seem more epic.

Begins remains a great film though - Liam Neeson and Cillian murphy were good in their roles.

 

[Fives]

tough to choose but im gonna go with TDK, both films are excellent though.

 

[Azrael23]

I like them both almost equally for different reasons. BB paints a more
intimate portrait of Batman, plus Ra's happens to be one of my favorite
Batman villains and Neeson was suave in the role. TDK is a beautiful
film in its own right there are just no words to describe how Ledger made
that film so edgy. For me comparing the two is like comparing the Godfather I
with Godfather 2, both are just phenomenal and great on their own merits.

 

[cerealkeller]

Too hard to say. I actually think in a few years, I'll favor begins. It has too many of those moments I get pumped over. The scene when Bruce discovers the batcave, the bats swirl around him, he stands up and knows what he must become. The way that scene plays with the pulsing music. Just perfect. Then you have the first appearance of Batman, taking the goons out at the docks. Nolan turned it into a fricking scary/suspense film for criminals!

I could go on but right now I can't vote because they are a tie to me. Begins was the perfect origin story for my favorite comic book character. TDK was huge in scope and had broader themes. It got conversations started on the nature of heroes. Just too hard to decide.

 

[Voorhees27]

I like them both almost equally for different reasons. BB paints a more
intimate portrait of Batman, plus Ra's happens to be one of my favorite
Batman villains and Neeson was suave in the role. TDK is a beautiful
film in its own right there are just no words to describe how Ledger made
that film so edgy. For me comparing the two is like comparing the Godfather I
with Godfather 2, both are just phenomenal and great on their own merits.

Too hard to say. I actually think in a few years, I'll favor begins. It has too many of those moments I get pumped over. The scene when Bruce discovers the batcave, the bats swirl around him, he stands up and knows what he must become. The way that scene plays with the pulsing music. Just perfect. Then you have the first appearance of Batman, taking the goons out at the docks. Nolan turned it into a fricking scary/suspense film for criminals!

I could go on but right now I can't vote because they are a tie to me. Begins was the perfect origin story for my favorite comic book character. TDK was huge in scope and had broader themes. It got conversations started on the nature of heroes. Just too hard to decide.

Good answers guys I couldn't agree more.

 

[tylerdurden]

frankly i think TDK is way over-rated. now let me clarify that statement.
i love TDk and think it is a very very good film. ledger's performance is legendary. the batpod sequence is awesome. and the script has layers of subtext i'm still discovering upon subsequent viewings.

but let's face it, it IS over-rated. it has some serious problems, not least of which is its insistence on making everything "real". now any movie that has a superhero in it is NEVER going to be totally "real". nolan tried his level best to make it believable why a guy would go around dressed up in a bat costume. and the tone he struck in batman begins was just right. it still had just the right amount of that comic book tonality, as someone here pointed out.

but in tdk, the realism just became overbearing. gotham city had ZERO personality. it just looked and felt like chicago or new york. i'm not asking for giant statues and neon lights everywhere, ala schumacher's gotham. but a tinge of that gothic feel wouldn't have hurt would it?

and tdk's plot was just BLOATED. i'm sure u guys know what i mean.

worst of all for me is that it suffered the same problem ppl were hating spiderman 3 for: rushing thru a major villian's arc in one film. of course, harvey dent's rise and fall is MUCH better handled but they really did not need to have him become 2 face in this film. i felt it would've been much more emotionally impactful if they futher developed his friendship with bruce wayne/batman. then only at the end of tdk, he turns. which would keep the 3rd film wide open for a very juicy (and properly set up) antagonism between hero and villain.

and lastly, i don;t know why ppl give katie holmes so much crap. yeah she's mrs. tom cruise. so what? i think she was absolutely fine in her role. honestly, i don't think maggie gyllenhaal brought any significant improvement performance-wise. in fact her physical presence just took me out of the movie. the whole cast of bb was pretty much intact. when rachel dawes suddenly looks so different, it's jarring. and i felt this role REQUIRED the female love interest to be hot. sorry but maggie with her haggard face just did not do it for me.

sorry for the long-winded rant. but that's my 2 cents'.

 

[intothevoid]

frankly i think TDK is way over-rated. now let me clarify that statement.
i love TDk and think it is a very very good film. ledger's performance is legendary. the batpod sequence is awesome. and the script has layers of subtext i'm still discovering upon subsequent viewings.

but let's face it, it IS over-rated. it has some serious problems, not least of which is its insistence on making everything "real". now any movie that has a superhero in it is NEVER going to be totally "real". nolan tried his level best to make it believable why a guy would go around dressed up in a bat costume. and the tone he struck in batman begins was just right. it still had just the right amount of that comic book tonality, as someone here pointed out.

but in tdk, the realism just became overbearing. gotham city had ZERO personality. it just looked and felt like chicago or new york. i'm not asking for giant statues and neon lights everywhere, ala schumacher's gotham. but a tinge of that gothic feel wouldn't have hurt would it?

and tdk's plot was just BLOATED. i'm sure u guys know what i mean.

worst of all for me is that it suffered the same problem ppl were hating spiderman 3 for: rushing thru a major villian's arc in one film. of course, harvey dent's rise and fall is MUCH better handled but they really did not need to have him become 2 face in this film. i felt it would've been much more emotionally impactful if they futher developed his friendship with bruce wayne/batman. then only at the end of tdk, he turns. which would keep the 3rd film wide open for a very juicy (and properly set up) antagonism between hero and villain.

and lastly, i don;t know why ppl give katie holmes so much crap. yeah she's mrs. tom cruise. so what? i think she was absolutely fine in her role. honestly, i don't think maggie gyllenhaal brought any significant improvement performance-wise. in fact her physical presence just took me out of the movie. the whole cast of bb was pretty much intact. when rachel dawes suddenly looks so different, it's jarring. and i felt this role REQUIRED the female love interest to be hot. sorry but maggie with her haggard face just did not do it for me.

sorry for the long-winded rant. but that's my 2 cents'.

I respectfully disagree. No film has ever given me quite the same feeling as watching TDK did. I think its one of the top 5 films ever made.

 

[Bustajesse]

I love TDK and it is my favorite movie of all time. That being said, Batman Begins is second.

 

[Riko]

but in tdk, the realism just became overbearing. gotham city had ZERO personality. it just looked and felt like chicago or new york. i'm not asking for giant statues and neon lights everywhere, ala schumacher's gotham. but a tinge of that gothic feel wouldn't have hurt would it?

gotta comment on that one.

this is Nolan, he chose for a realistic setting, so a realistic feel to Gotham would be in place rather than a gothic Gotham..
We already had a Gothic Gotham given us by Burton. And besides, a mix between a realistic way to go with a gothic city would have been absurd to look at.

So, new director, other aproach.
Plus I guess he pulled it of quite well since they got an oscar nomination for their art direction