It really is special to have a superhero film trilogy (or even any Batman story) with a complete beginning, middle and end. It\'s amazing to see a superhero who actually get to make his little bit of the world a lasting better place.
There were bigger problems with Rises than it ending, but I agree that Batman, like some superheroes in general, deserved the closure to his journey.
I wouldn\'t necessarily say three great films as much as two good either side of one true great. Begins I think was never going to be a true classic if only because it was yet another origin movie, though a very good one. TDK is a classic for the reasons you put but as above I think there were more problems with Rises than simply the ending. Quite apart from anything else, all the work and the themes of TDK with the necessity or otherwise of Batman and his actual succeeding were promptly wiped out and reset, and his big victory was faking his own death and leaving someone else to be Batman instead. Sure, Bruce Wayne finally gets a win but we still have the same cycle about to repeat itself.
Still unquestionably the best Batman films ever though, and probably amongst the best Superhero movies besides.
"These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel."
Yeah, the wording there wasn\'t great. This review\'s gone through a lot of editing, and that one was an artifact.
Anyway, jakob, I guess I\'d just say that I agree The Dark Knight is the best one. I\'m just not sure that failing to be quite as good disqualifies the others from being great.
That\'s fair, but I guess I see the difference in quality between TDK and the other two as bigger than you do. But certainly I agree with your reasoning about the strengths of the trilogy in general, and taken as a complete story it\'s hands down the best superhero tale told on the big screen. Other characters have had good films but I don\'t think any have had as consistently good a sequence, though Captain America might be running close now.
"These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel."Leave a Comment:
Three Great Films, Featuring a Man Dressed Like A Bat
Taken as a whole, the Dark Knight films are all genuinely great films. Each has a unique visual style compared to the others, from the hyper-gritty slums of Batman Begins to the urban sprawl of The Dark Knight to the sleek city falling to decay in Rises, tracing Gotham's evolution under the Batman. Each genuinely tries to wrestle with higher themes and ideas while also being a fun popcorn movie with action sequences and suspense. And each features great performances by a variety of talented actors and actresses.
But, more than that, the three films are remarkably prescient, straddling, as they do, the gap between the campier, sillier superhero films before them and the modern franchise films that have replaced them. They not only stand as great films, but as interesting commentary on the superhero film.
First, Batman Begins is simply a tremendous origin story. It starts in media res, it contains very little time-wasting or dillying about, and it actually has the character engage in a bit of soul-searching about who he is and why he needs to dress up like a bat. It's a Batman film about Batman, first and foremost. If that seems obvious, keep in mind that, of the four Batman films that preceded it, only one was even arguably really about Batman.
The Dark Knight is rightly regarded as a classic of the superhero genre and one of the best action films ever made. But it also, interestingly, critiques many of the themes of the superhero genre. It questions whether having a vigilante unfettered by the law is really a viable long-term solution and ends the story on a very ambivalent note on the subject. When so many superhero films take it for granted that they will go on forever in an endless status quo of punchable villains, Batman actually makes progress in cleaning up Gotham and has to question what place there is for him once he's fixed things. There is genuine applicability here, made with rare subtlety and often unnoticed.
And, finally, Rises, the most controversial of the three. But it does something rare: it ends.
Endings are unpopular for superheroes, even in the source material. That old joke that Batman has always been protecting Gotham for about ten years now is rooted in the very-real observation that Status Quo Is God. That if a villain dies, or Gotham starts to get better, or if he finally is satisfied with his work and settles down to try to live a normal life, the media empire built around Batman comes crashing down. That's no less true for any other superhero.
But, for me, that's what's best about Rises: it represents hope for the character. That I, who love Batman, finally get to see him win. Gotham has gone from a grimy slum to a shining city of tomorrow. Bruce Wayne gets to lay down his sword and be happy. And, rather than force the series on to rake in unlimited money forever, the people behind it respected the story enough to let it end.