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

Overall BB.

Better story, better villain (no offense to Hardy, love the dude but the voice sucked ass), better character progression and better plot.

TDKR gets hated on too much though and is not without its strengths. It had the best action scenes (waaay better than BB especially) and unlike the previous two films which had a notable weakness in lead female character, TDKR easily stomps both BB and TDK in this category.

Also TDKR missed Alfred a lot imo. Although it was understandable from a story perspective why he left, the second half of the movie messed his presence.

I always have trouble picking which of these two I like better...

I went with BB because I love the way Nolan executed Bruce's origin, from attempting to kill Joe Chill to training directly under Ra's al Ghul, I just thought it was brilliant. I wish BB would've been filmed more on location however, because a lot of it was filmed in a studio, which afterwards Nolan said he never wanted to do again.

I'm going with Begins. To me it was a perfect Batman origin story.

The shipping yard scene is one of the worst action scenes I have ever seen. The part where he fights gangsters is nothing but sound affects and a camera spinning around a mosh pit.

I liked the Lao scene though and the final fight vs the swat team.

But his first fight with Bane was the best action scene of the trilogy imo

Although not at all accurate to the original comic content i still enjoyed begins the best of the whole trilogy

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

Being honest, I like Begins much better than Dark Knight or Dark Knight Rises.

Batman Begins, Sure Tom Hardy's Bane from TDKR was one hell of a performance and their first actual confrontation might be the greatest superhero movie battle of all time but it was way too long for my taste and overstayed its welcome.

Begins, However, brought back the greatness of Batman movies and is probably my favorite superhero origin movie

Batman Begins, not only because it was more enjoyable, but it was refreshing in establishing a new spin on superhero movies with it's realism and grittier tone, before TDKR focused on the political/terrorism threats of the day rather than relatable, developed characters (Bane/Catwoman).

I mean, Rhas al Ghul was a multi-layered bad guy who actually convinced me he felt he was doing the right thing, whereas Bane struggled to follow Heath Ledgers acclaim and became a better meme than a villain.

Rises,though I dont expect CV will share my opinion,this site seems to have it in for that movie but critical consensus is TDK>TDKR>BB.

LIked both.

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

@toplel: ah okay. yeah that was good. the part where he summons Bats was cool too.

Plus although haters like to cry about his voice, Bale's "I'm Batman" is easily the best to date.

spiderman 3 is a better batman movie than dark knight rises

TDKR for me. One of my favorite movies ever.

Also Bale's performance was best in BB>

The Dark Knight Rises. In fact, it's actually my personal favorite of the three movies, and (I know this is going to get me so much hate) it's even my personal favorite superhero movie in general.

Tough call, but I prefer Dark Knight Rises. It's easier to move the film as a quicker pace, since Batman Begins needed to develop the back story. To me though they are part of the same story, with The Dark Knight, a movie I really liked, kind of getting in the way. Batman vs. The League of Shadows is the best Batman theme.

The key moments are very similiar, but yet different enough for me to prefer Rises.

Bruce climbs the mountain to become Batman/Bruce climbs out of prison to conclude Batman

One on one fight in a train with a previously superior nemesis/Wild street brawl with a previously superior nemesis

Yeah.....i actually was invested before he became Batman......only film i didn't say "C'mon,where's *insert superhero's name* already!?!"

BB works as an enjoyable movie. DKR is its own weird brutal thing, an impressive act of creation but not really fun.

Of the three, Batman Begins is the only one I've watched (or wanted to watch) more than once.

Batman Begins. It was not only a fresh new take on the hero we had come to know in a time when reboots when weren't so common, it was the redemption of a franchise that been ruined for what it should have been but was not when it was in Joel Schumacher's hands. Batman Begins has such a solid cast, and prefer Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. I loved Liam Neeson as Ra's Al Ghul, though it was not entirely who the character was, the new take was something that respectable, and Liam's delivery was something that great to pit him up against Bruce Wayne who was played by Christian Bale. I think in Batman Begins, all of the actors and writers deliver their best as it was the startup of something new. The story took notes from Batman: Year One. How often did we see a more realistic take on a character that been portrayed than larger than life dealing with real life villains such city thugs and addicts and mob? To make it interesting, the Scarecrow as added and I feel like that the villain brought the psychological factor that the made the movie feel darker, and the characters's first live screen appearance. More importantly to me, as I feel passionate about Batman Begins more than the other movies of the franchise, Batman Begins really showed great purpose and reasons why and how Bruce Wayne would become Batman. How often was the Wayne family ever included in anything, and more importantly show you reasons you need to care. This movie was great. Who could forget the first moment Batman showed his face to the mob boss and told him in his gritty voice, "I'm Batman." and then the brutality afterward. AWESOME.

Also, the soundtrack was superior here as Batman Begins had both James Horner and Hans Zimmer which amounted some spectacularly emotional and exciting tracks that still like to listen today.

I liked Rises more than most, apparently, but Batman Begins was the perfect origin story, had a captivating tone, and is arguably the best CBM out there.

Easy choice, begins was actually good

Batman Begins by a country mile. Not that I didn't like the Dark Knight Rises. Even including the much lauded Dark Knight, Batman Begins is my favorite of the trilogy. I'm not saying that it's necessarily the best movie of the three, but it is my favorite. The stand out factor is that it seems to be the only one where Batman actually wants to be Batman.

Agreed and it was even better when he became Batman.

High five.

When Batman told Ras he wasn't gonna save him and glided of the train......So awesome.

Batman Begins. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Rises. But the performances of Neeson and Murphy stole my heart.

The rush the scene on the docks gave me,can't be compared with anything......everytime i watch it.

".....WHERE ARE YOU?!!!"
" Here."

DARK KNIGHT RISES> I LOVED THAT MOVIE.

I own the trilogy an BB is the most played out of the 3.

Holy indecision Batman!!!

Both movies were great to me that I can't decide between them. The actors in both movies, old and new, gave some of the greatest performances in CBM history. There was good storytelling in both movies as well as Batman Begins tell of Batman's rise, and TDKR tells of his redemption after he had fallen in The Dark Knight. Lastly, there was great action in both movies, although I think The Dark Knight Rises fares better in that category since towards the end of Batman Begins it suffered from shaky cam.

However, there are two scenes in both movies that is the cause of my indecision because when I see them I'm screaming YEAHHH in my head. They both occur in kind of the same context with Batman revealing his secret identity to someone. In Batman Begins it's when he says to Rachel, "It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me." Then in TDKR it's when he says to Comissioner Gordon "a hero can be anyone even someone doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy's shoulders to let him know the world hadn't ended." Those are some of the most amazing Batman quotes ever.

I loved Begins, but Rises is (to me) the 2nd best comic film ever made, so that gets my vote.

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).

Honestly if I were to write a book about Nolan's career I would probably use these two films as book ends for his Hollywood big break. As the end points for 7 years and 5 films you can see how much he has grown in terms of staging action and ability to intergrate digital and practical effects to meet his needs.

TDKR

That this is even a question is laughable. Batman begins is at least a well made film with decent storylines, decent villain in the form of Neeson's Ra's, and its got a good approach to the Origin even if its not wholey accurate to the comics we love. The only real down sides to Begins is Scarecrow who was so lame i cringe when i see him.

Rises is a plot hole laden mess with a terrible Bane that just rode the wave of success that the previous film created.

spite

This is a really easy pick for me. While I still really enjoy The Dark Knight Rises, it was most definitely the weakest of the trilogy. Batman Begins takes this match-up. I loved the re-imagining of Batman's training and the way they handled it felt very true to the character. There is one moment towards the end of the movie that doesn't exactly stay true to the character but I still love Batman Begins.

Easy. Batman Begins. The Dark Knight Rise had more plot holes than a cheddar cheese with holes in it.

I realize I'm going to be in the minority when I say this one but I liked The Dark Knight Rises better. The first half of the movie was a little bit slow, but the second half with the whole city being under siege was incredible. Build up was incredible and the movie hits you in all the right emotional places. Tom Hardy as Bane was also an excellent choice and I actually prefer him over Ra's or Scarecrow in Begins. An excellent ending for an excellent trilogy.

Batman Begins was a great and well written movie. I also think the Batsuit looked the best in Begins.

I'm willing to bet this plot hole crowd doesn't even know what a plot hole is cause if they did they'd all hate Geoff Johns and a whole host of successful writers with fury of a thousand suns.

TDKR. Despite it's few plot holes the movie was as big as I thought it would be and as it wanted itself to be. I was beyond amazed when I saw the movie and I can say that is pretty close to the Dark Knight itself. Great movie, I just love it.

I'm still waiting for a good Batman movie. So far they have all had stupid things that I can't overlook.

I'm casting my vote with Dark Knight Rises. Though neither film is a great cinematic accomplishment, DKR is infinitely more fun to watch. Bane chews up the scenery like a master. I can't get enough. Neeson's understated performance as one of the most over the top Batman villains is a waste of time. Scarecrow had some good gags in both films so that's also a draw. Bale is decidedly dull in each film, as he is for pretty much the entire trilogy so no edge there.

Begins featured about an hour on an origin that really wasn't all it was cracked up to be, the finale also did not impress or captivate. DKR plot was pretty much glorious nonsense of Bane owning Gotham and Bruce crawling out of a hole. Hey, at least it was fun to watch. As far as female leads Katie Holmes sucks so bad in Begins she was recast in the sequel and not one person in the world complained. Anne Hathaway was decent, but gives yet another annoyingly understated performance of a fantastic character. Where was Catwoman's skill set in that movie? All she did was a couple cartwheels and rode a motorcycle, ehh, at least she wasn't Katie Holmes I guess.