-The city wasn't Gotham City. It felt more like New York or Chicago.
-The Joker didn't look like my vision of the Joker.
-Two-Face's origin was completely different from what I envision it to be.
-Rachel Dawes... 'Nuff said.
-The Batsuit was way too segmented and didn't look as good as the Begins suit, the 89 suit, or the Returns suit.
That's not to say it isn't a great movie, because it is a good movie. But aesthetically, it's much farther from my vision of Batman than the 1989 film.
The 1989 film has plot points that stray farther from my vision than TDK, but there's only a couple of those (such as the Joker killing Batman's parents) and the rest of the film sort of balances it out, imo.
Maybe I'll make a thread with all of my character designs and bios to give you guys an idea of what it is I keep blabbering on about.
Well, no film has gotten every single detail perfect. But I feel The Dark Knight took the foundation created with Batman Begins and expanded upon it improving in most areas(sort of like how Arkham City>Arkham Asylum).
Ledger was a fresh take on the Joker. Was it Hamill? Nicholson? No. Speaking of it not being your version of the Joker; was Nicholson really that satisfying?
To me, the Burton films were OK. Nothing horrible, nothing special. Nolan's first film was rather great and stands to this day as one of the best comic book movies ever made. For me, The Dark Knight is tied with Watchmen for the best comic book/superhero movie of all time.
As for your viewpoints, I think your critiquing the film. Let's not forget all the things the film did right. The only viewpoint I agree with you on is Rachel Dawes. Granted, her character is weak in both films.
The Batsuit was fine for me. Much better than the Begins suit or any other of the live-actions suits for that matter.
Harvey Dent/Two-Face was fine with me. Arguably the most standout performance in the film. I was just upset with the fact that he died as I think he'd have been great for a sequel.
Your flaws seem to be more personal of what YOU would do with your Batman film. Which is fine. I do the same things. But TDK got more things right than wrong.
Ledger was a good Joker. Nicholson wasn't ideal, no, however, he was more similar to my vision of what the Joker should be. TAS Joker is much more similar to my ideal Joker than both, particularly the MotP Joker.
I hate the whole Watchmen story. Heck, I hate almost everything Alan Moore has ever done. It all screams of the occult to me. Anyway, TDK is a great film, but it's been overrated and it doesn't suit my taste in Batman. I like a more noir-ish Batman that takes heavily from the original "Bat-Man" and from the O'Neal/Englehart stories of the '70s. I also like a little bit of Year One thrown in, though Frank Miller is a very overrated writer.
It got the characterization of Two-Face right. I loved Eckhart as Two-Face. It had an entertaining plot. It had Jim Gordon. It had Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. It had an entertaining, if flawed for my taste, Joker.
Everything else seemed off to me. Alfred was ok, but not serious enough. Batman has the most annoying voice in the world. Two-Face's origin was completely off. Rachel Dawes got more screentime than she deserved.
It looked way too segmented for my taste. It looked too futuristic. I love the Keaton suits because they weren't all as segmented as TDK suit was, plus they had the yellow oval symbol, which is my personal favorite. I liked that TDK suit let the actor turn his head, but other than that, I just prefer the Keaton suits.
The characterization of Two-Face was spot on. The origin? It wasn't. I hate the idea of tying a great character like Two-Face to a second-rate fill in like Rachel Dawes. Nolan has creative freedom, and it's still a valid interpretation. It's just not my favorite interpretation.
That was kinda what I was saying. It's a nice film, but it's not my ideal Batman. That's why I'd much rather just write the stories myself.
Fav Batman movies...nothing beats that very first time watching Tim Burton's/ Michael Keaton's Batman on the big screen.
Midnight session at that.
However, from Burton to Schumacher to Nolan...I think Batman Begins is essentially my favourite. It captures that realism that a character like Batman can exist in a "real" world....whereas the passion for Burton's Batman is akin more to a childhood fantasy of "wanting" to be Batman himself.
Batman Forever is mine, adventurous, fun, but also delves into the Bruce/Dick dynamic and seriousness of the mantle of the bat, with the melancholic flashback scenes. I liked Kilmer in the role because he had the physique (not overly muscular, but still tall), the reserved and calm demeanour that I see in Batman when I read the comics, and the affable, light Bruce Wayne persona that went with it. He had a good voice too, in my opinion. It's an underrated movie with it's detractors (insanely hypocritical people) focusing on a few aspects that are clearly just as bad as what their favourite Bat-films do. In any event, I hope the reboot takes a look at what the people are doing with the Arkham Asylum/City games and bringing the creativity back to Batman.
What is your favorite Batman movie?
What is your favorite out of all six of them? I don't really have a favorite. I like Batman The Dark Knight, The original Batman with Michael Keaton and Batman Forever. Batman Begins was ok. My least two are definetely Batman Returns and Batman and Robin.
My favorite would have to be an animated one. None of the Hollywood ones really capture the character and the tone adequately for me.
Nolan's Batmen were all based on "realistic" Batman which just absolutely destroys it for me (btw I really hate how many movies now are turning larger than life fictional characters into realistic versions these days, the new Bond movies are another example) Like some others have said, they are still good movies though.
Strangely enough, there are elements from the infamous Kilmer and Clooney movies that resonated well with me. Can't really pin it down, but I feel its there. That's not to say I think those movies were good, far from it. However I think sometimes the criticism may be over board, the way I see it, they were aimed at little kids, so its good to keep that in mind. I know when I was younger, I thought those films were awesome lol.
I like Batman Returns more than the original. While the 1989 movie is better, for some reason, Tim Burton's vision on Batman Returns did a better job of attracting my attention.
You're missing the entire reason the suit was designed segmented.
For movement & flexibility.
Remember Keaton's awkward fighting?
Remember how Keaton couldn't run & stiffly walked around every where???