5 Reasons The Dark Knight Is Better Than Batman Begins

By Josh Tyler: 2008-07-14 23:56:48

Batman Begins is good, but The Dark Knight is epic perfection. Now that you’ve read my review, I thought I’d simplify things and break down just exactly what it is that makes The Dark Knight so much better than Christopher Nolan’s first caped crusader effort. 5, spoiler-free reasons:

5. More James Gordon
Commissioner Gordon has always gotten the short end of the stick in every Batman movie. In Batman Begins, Nolan attempted to give him a personality and actually went through the trouble to cast Gary Oldman to play him. But Gordon never really felt as fully formed as he does in The Dark Knight, where he not only gets more screentime, but gets a more complex plotline. It’s great to have more Gordon, especially when he’s played by Gary Oldman.

4. Origin Story Free
Let’s face it, as good as Batman Begins was, the origin story has been done to death. The real fun of Batman isn’t in finding out where he came from but watching him stalking through Gotham City fully formed, going toe to toe with the most psychotic superhero rogues gallery ever assembled. With all the training montages out of the way, The Dark Knight is able to get down to the business of delivering the real Bat.

3. Better Action
Chris Nolan tried, but there’s no getting around some of the uneven action sequences in Batman Begins. The final battle between Christian Bale and Liam Neeson in particular suffers from extreme-shaky cam syndrome. Most of the time, we had no idea what was going on, or even who was winning. The Dark Knight solves all of that by delivering simpler, quicker, more brutal fight sequences. Maybe Nolan still has no business directing the Jet Li film, but who wants him to? He’s rounded out the awkward corners of Batman Begins’ fight scenes and delivered hard hits which are only made even harder by the philosophical underpinnings of his film. Watching Batman stalk through the darkness taking out two-bit thugs with vicious roundhouse punches is now a thing of beauty.

2. Less Bruce Wayne, More Batman
It’s Batman that’s the real person, and Bruce Wayne is the alter-ego. Yet in Batman Begins we spent a lot of time with Batman out of his costume and playing the playboy bit. The Dark Knight gets over that, and focuses more than ever on keeping Bale inside his costume, and growling his way through Gotham’s underworld. Sure we still get plenty of Bruce Wayne, but with his crime-fighting skills now fully formed, it’s Batman, not the playboy son of a billionaire who is the real focus of Nolan’s second film. Hell yeah. Keep him in the cape and I’m a happy man.

1. Better Villains
Batman has always had the best rogues gallery of any superhero character, and The Dark Knight delivers not only his best arch enemy in The Joker, but another of his most interesting baddies. No, I’m not spoiling that for you here. Much as I love Liam Neeson, he just can’t compare to Heath Ledger’s iconic, amazing, mind-bending performance as The Joker. Batman Begins was, as the title suggests, primarily about Batman and his beginnings. Most of the film is spent with Bats stalking boring gangsters and figuring out how to jump from roof to roof. This time, the villains are unleashed, and the coolest bad guys in the comics universe are better than they’ve ever been in any other incarnation. The greatness of Batman has always been tied into his villains are held up as a mirror reflection of who and what he is. The Dark Knight does that in a way Batman Begins simply couldn’t, and that alone makes this a much better film than Batman Begins could ever have hoped to have been.

RELATED: the dark knight, editorial, batman

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CDC Says:
July 16th, 2008 at 01:31
Umm since when was Laim Neeson in any Batman movie? Am I mistaken?

JoshT Says:
July 16th, 2008 at 01:33
@CDC You are very mistaken. He's Henri Drucard in Batman Begins. Maybe you're thinking of someone else?

Edward Says:
July 16th, 2008 at 10:38
He's thinking of Lesley Neeson.

mw Says:
July 16th, 2008 at 10:38
Unliek you people i just saw the film in aus. I only watch the other film the other day so there borth recent to me. TBH the film was to long for my taste, a little to much talking. But soo much better. There are just parts when it doesnt feel like the acter is who they seem to be. They are the character.

josh powell Says:
July 16th, 2008 at 12:10
Completely disagree with #4 his origin was never told in full. That is what everyone loved about batman begins. We wanted to know how he became batman. We knew about his parents, but never knew the story between his parents dying and him becoming batman.

aaron Says:
July 16th, 2008 at 16:53
josh, are you kidding? Like did you not watch the first half of batman begins where he goes into the crime circuts to get to know the criminals and hunt down the killers after he finds the mob boss and wants to kill him and then training with a secret society in a training montage that leads to him supposedly taking down that secret society then going home and fighting crime and building up his costume and all his bat-toys? Like, seriously?

AC Says:
July 16th, 2008 at 16:53
Great article - I'm really looking forward to this movie.

As a side note, the link for your review points to this article itself.

Regards.

samuel Says:
July 17th, 2008 at 02:15
aaron he meant we didn't knwo that until we saw batman begins.

Trav Says:
July 17th, 2008 at 14:43
I hear you Josh. As fantastic as Batman Begins was, The Dark Knight is better. And that doesnt tear down the original at all, its simply a testament as to just how amazing the new film is. Seriously, when you guys watch it, its just going to blow your mind. I watched it yesterday and I swear if they would have let me sit there and watch it again I would have. Its just incredible.

ImBatman Says:
July 19th, 2008 at 14:48
These are very true points (I saw the film last night). THere is less drama with Bruce and more Batman. And the Joker is hands down the best villain I've ever seen in a movie. He deserves a solid gold oscar (yeah I Know he passed away).

JerryT Says:
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:10
I watched Dark Knight today and was thoroughly underwhelmed. Batman Begins was a better picture because:
1) Humor. Dark Knight made the same mistake that Star Wars did: it took itself too seriously in the later pictures. Dark Knight was, well, too dark...less fun.
2) Character Development. We got to see how Bruce Wayne got to be Batman. I like the Far East angle, ninjas, the complexity between justice and vengence against the backdrop of his murdered parents. Dark Knight didn't really pull anything new out of character.
3) Leger..an Oscar? Uhhhhh....Leger's Joker was great...but he wasn't Oscar great. I prefered the league of shadows over one well-played wackjob.
4) Too much Two-Face. If they wanted to have Harvey Dent in so much of the movie they should have made him the villain in the NEXT Batman movie.
5) Intangibles. Batman Begins was fun, fresh. Dark Knight tried too hard and came up short.

TheDarkestKnight Says:
July 24th, 2008 at 03:52
I agree with JerryT, I've seen both upteen times and IMHO 'Begins' is faaaaaaar superior... plot, acting, dialogue and a damn sight LESS cgi!!!

And I've been looking forward to this one for AGES!

Damn you Nolan

Lynne Says:
July 28th, 2008 at 12:25
I totally agree with JerryT. Well, not totally, I did not mind seeing two-face.

lynne Says:
July 28th, 2008 at 12:26
I agree with 5, 4, and 1 but I still like Batman Begins better.

Josh Says:
July 31st, 2008 at 14:21
I just saw Dark Knight, and although I thought it was pretty good, it paled in comparison to Batman Begins. By a lot.

kenss Says:
August 5th, 2008 at 16:55
"epic perfection", thats not my assessment. Technically it was brilliant but l thought the bat car chase confusing at times. l walked out of the theater feeling beaten down and l still felt beaten down for the next several days. And thats after l payed a zillion dollars for my popcorn and soft drink. The film reminded me of what the nazis did during the second world war. They would give a prisoner a gun and demand he either kill his wife or kill his children. If he refuses or shoots himself, they will kill both the wife and the children. The theme on the big screen of pushing good men past their limits and blackmailing people to destroy others before they destroy you, is repugnant. Thats not popcorn movie material. Let them put that in the Criminal Minds or a Sopranos type TV series , but not on a big screen. l wont watch this movie again.
PS the morally challenged must be reveling in the movie theme.
Regards Kenss

Megan Says:
September 3rd, 2008 at 22:44
I have seen TDK 5x, and I must say. It never loses the impact of the first viewing. In fact, it gets better each time.

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5 Reasons The Dark Knight Is Better Than Batman Begins

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