Favorite Movies: Batman Begins vs. The Dark Knight Rises

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Seeing as Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, is our latest Character of the Month, we want to reflect the hero's cinematic history. A vast majority consider The Dark Knight to be the best Batman live-action movie, but what about the other two films by director Christopher Nolan? Do they prefer the introduction or departure of Christian Bale's Batman?

In 2005, Batman Beginsbrought the Caped Crusader back to the big screen and showed moviegoers how Wayne transformed into Batman. 7 years later, Nolan completed his story with The Dark Knight Risesand once again had Bruce locked in a huge conflict with the League of Shadows and its desire to destroy Gotham City. Which tale do you prefer, though? They're obviously quite different when it comes to the messages within the narratives, development with the iconic hero, and focus on Wayne's supporting cast and villains, but if you had to side with one, which would it be and why? Don't worry, you can totally cop-out and say you like -- or dislike -- them equally!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

For many, this won't be an easy decision to make and the last thing we want to do is rush you. So, there's no need to worry or make up your mind just yet because we're leaving the poll open until Friday morning (ET). Hopefully that will give you more than enough time to reflect or even rewatch these two movies.

After you've made up your mind, we want to hear from you. Why did you vote a certain way? What is it about the options that made them standout to you? Perhaps it was a certain character arc or performance? Maybe you found one of the stories to be more compelling? Was the supporting cast stronger in one of these? You thought a specific action scene was memorable? Or maybe it boils down to simply liking the villains more in one of the films? Whatever the reasons may be, we encourage you to leap into the comments and share your thoughts with the world. Make the post exceptional enough and there's a chance we'll feature it in the updated article. Well, which will it be, Viners?

Check the homepage this Friday to see how the voting ends up and why. In the meantime, feel free to make future match-up suggestions in the comments below or tell us via Twitter.

batman begins is the worst. bruce gave joffrey the binoculars! for free!

Two "character of the month" polls in one day?

It's not like he can't buy himself another pair. The dude's loaded.

@amazingwebhead: that's not the point man. wayne enterprises endorses the iron throne!

LIked both.
Begins is the first "serious" Batman film i saw,and said "Wow,Batman's the real deal...."

@i_dont_like_comics said:

Okay, I don't really watch that show, but I read the MAD parody so I can tell that's a bad thing.

Batman Begins it sets everything into motion. It had the best of the Batman villains.

Cause!

@amazingwebhead: Favorites and Battle of the Week are always slated for Mondays. That way it gives people more time to vote/chat about it.

Batman & Robin FTW!

I thought BB was the best of the three.

TDKR, had a more epic feel and ended things nicely.

Batman Begins. It's not even a close call for me. I think it's a far superior film to TDKR. I'll even go as far as to say Batman Begins isn't even that far behind TDK. I think everything in the film was handled excellently and my only problem with the film is that Scarecrow got taken by Katie Holmes.

On one hand you have basically the best structured origin film in Batman Begins. On the other you have The Dark Knight Rises a film that goes for the epic and personal (and a whole bunch of other stuff) but most importantly finality which is such a novelty in this blockbuster never ending culture and comics.

In the end however Batman Begins is an overall stronger film structurally and more important to the larger cannon of the comic book film than The Dark Knight Rises. Begins is a film that is typical Nolan realist filmmaker because he creates rules (and than breaks them) by explaining how a superhero would function first and largely eschewing its villians to the perfiery until needed by the demands of the story.

The Dark Knight Rises is a giant film that is perhaps 15 seconds too long. But it tries to meld the two ides of Nolan's Batman films together - the comic book ninjas of Begins with the more grounded crime social commentary side of The Dark Knight. All the while functioning as a great adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns (issues 1&2) on top of a whole bunch of other Batman refernces. This was an attempt to truly make Batman legend while still ending the series(which is still such a novel idea in comic book movies).

Lets all just take a moment to appreciate the quality of this fight scene. The restraint shown in the editing and use of audio to make it seem like a clash of the titans.

Both films contained Batman character breaking things: 1 has him finding a loophole in his no-kill rule, the other has him retire for 8 years before retiring once again.

LOL! That's great! I never even realized that until now

Batman Begins, hands down. TDKR is one of the most disappointedly bad movies I've ever seen. Plot holes large enough to drive a batmobile through, really dumb logic leaps, oh and it's a Batman movie these 2 hours and 35 mins long with only about 35 mins of actual batman that leaves a whole movie's worth of time with no batman in it at all. I could go on.

Batman begins really dealt greatly with how bruce become batman and gave things in the batman cannon we've never seen before on the big screen. Also they had the balls to use scarecrow (which got the short end of the stick I'll admit) as one of the first villains.

Two films I'm not a fan of, but at the end of the day Batman Begins did a good job establishing the character... before going down a bad road. Still, Begins is a good movie even if I'm not a fan. Plus, TDKR is just a flawed film.

It was, by far

This is a tough one. I guess I like them both equally.

batman begins hands down it was the best of the 3

Aaahhhh. Thank you.

I liked the first movie, but the second one was the best, the third...pass...

Batman Begins was the best between these two. TDKR really further detracted from the Batman mythos what with him being retired for 7 years equaling a total of maybe a year as Batman. Not only that, but I didn't appreciate the "HEY, I'M TALIA!" twist. I feel that really diminished Bane as the central villain. And I know that he was her lackey for a time in the books, but it just didn't work for the end of a trilogy.

Not only all of that, but Batman kind of breaks his "one rule" throughout the trilogy and in TDKR it's so blatant. Sure, in Batman Begins he blows up a house full of ninjas and doesn't save Ra's, but in Rises he straight shoots a guy to death with The Bat. He kills a guy. With a gun. A heavy machine gun. Dead. By my estimate, Batman killed at least 27 people over the course of that trilogy

@jj_was_here: he also tackled Harvey dent off of a cliff and killed him.

Begins >>>> Rises. Was disappointed by DKR.

I liked the DKR up until the ending, therefore, my vote goes to BB

pretty disappointed they deleted my post. probably not going to use this site again, hooray censorship!

Batman Begins by far. Better action scenes, better plot, better acting, better pacing, just more interesting in general.

If anything, I actually think Batman Begins was 15 minutes too short, and The Dark Knight Rises was 15 minutes too long.

And that Batman vs. Bane fight scene...ugh, I don't think I've seen a worse-choreographed fight scene in any other film. It's so OBVIOUSLY just two dudes flailing their arms around pointlessly, that it just loses all sense of tension.

Oh, yeah, and the Talia plot twist was awful.

I don't see a deleted post...?

The whole trilogy was great but Begins is simply better

@jayc1324: Yeah totally! I wasn't even counting that movie, but let's tally it up. In Batman Begins he blows up the monastery, that alone probably killed like 20-30 dudes, then he refused to save Ra's. In Dark Knight, Batman tosses those poor dogs down an unfinished elevator shaft and tackles Harvey Dent off a building to fall to his death not to mention whoever could have been in their car when he was blowing stuff up with the Bat Pod in pursuit, in Dark Knight Rises, his lowest kill count, he shoots up the truck driver at the end and I'm going to count Talia too because she couldn't get control of the truck afterwards and crashed to the lower level to have the worst death scene in cinematic history.

"I NEVER KILL!" I disagree, Batman. By my count you killed 30-50 individuals over the course of the trilogy. They aren't sleeping, Batman. You murdered them.

I find this unfair...because, I don't know if I'm the only one...but for me, TDKR is so good because of what came before.

Batman Begins started it all...so for me, Batman Begins is part of TDKR.

I think TDKR is better simply because it builds upon what Begins and TDK made.

So while it's lying to say that Begins is better...TDKR wouldn't be as good if it wasn't for Begins (and TDK).

Therefore...I will not vote.

Of the three movies I loved the second, but since it's not here...hmmmm

BB I have not watched again for how many years, but far as I can remember it was a good start.

The only part I liked in TDKR was when they sort of teased JGL to be Robin. (or was it just me?)

Long story short, (and due to my memory failing me) I like them both.

I liked both. In my opinion I liked TDKR a bit more. I always enjoy movies that involve a person rising above and making a comeback against the odds. Bruce being down and out and then finding himself again, then leading to (in my opinion) the climax of his return when he lit the bridge with the Bat symbol and Bane in disbelief. That did it for me. (but neither better than the second)

Both movies were the best.

Batman Begins, by far. If it had better action scenes (only the "first night out" dock scene and the batmobile chase are worth keeping, imo), it would be on the same level with Dark Knight. Ok, so maybe Ra's and Scarecrow, while well portrayed, are not as thrilling villains as the Joker (i'm talking about their cinematic adaptations, not the comic lore), but Begins is a really fucking amazing origin story.

The Dark Knight Rises is good, but deeply flawed. I don't care about its plot holes (which aren't that much as the internet wants you to believe, by the way), neither about the lack of Batman screen time. The main problem lies in the new characters: he simply introduced way too many new faces for a single movie. Bane, Catwoman, Talia and Blake don't have enough time to be really fleshed out. Bane's and Talia's connected origins and motivations are very rushed to have a proper impact on the viewer, Catwoman is given some personality but her arc "should i be good or bad", while quintessential Catwoman stuff, is again rushed, while Blake is a truly poor substitute for the role of Robin: his personality is bland as fuck.

Not to mention the flimsy and thin romances. Neither Talia nor Catwoman display a lot of chemistry with Batman (due to both the actors' chemistry as well as the script) and what should have been a tour-de-force of romantic interplay and emotion (remember these two girls are Batman's most popular and beloved -no pun- love interests) ends up as fairly ordinary Hollywood "let's put a romance in this superhero film" drivel.

And, well, the action scenes (except Batman's first night out with the Batpod and some of the Bat scenes in the third act) are truly the low point of the films action sequences.

1. The Dark Knight (2008)

2. Batman Forever (1995)

3. Batman (1989)

All three of these films are better Batman films than Batman Begins or The Dark Knight Rises.

Batman Begins. The Dark Knight Rises was utter trash.

@thedarkknight9283:

Its nice to see that Batman Forever is also in someone elses top 3.

BF is my #1 in my top 3 Batman movies.

Begins

Begins.

Begins slowly becomes more comic accurate the darker other adaptations become.