Ah, The Dark Knight trilogy. I’m probably the last person on the face of this planet to watch those movies for the first time. Just a few days ago, I sat down and watched one movie a day. Three movies in three days. But in a way, I’m glad it took me this long to discover such a masterpiece – if I had watched these movies at any younger age, I wouldn’t have realized that they are not just superhero movies. In fact, they transcend multiple genres. They’ve become stories, not just action movies. Each film stands in its own unique way, but Christopher Nolan is still able to tie all three together. Today I will review each one and analyze them in the process. Keep in mind that during my analyses, there will be spoilers!
Batman Begins (2005)
Review: While this film certainly doesn’t reach the depth that The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises do, it’s still an all-around good movie. The soundtrack and the visuals are there, backed by a strong plot with a believable origin story. The film shows the audience how Batman came to be, and how a young Bruce Wayne was able to continue his family’s fight against injustice even after their death. I think this movie follows the usual origin-story format – it presents a problem or a setback, some early childhood trauma, and the training and growth that our protagonist has to go through to become their true superhero form.
Analysis: I think this movie is the most surface-level one out of all three. It certainly didn’t impact me as much as its antecedents, but it’s still an entertaining 2 hours. It serves a good purpose in introducing Batman to all the injustice that he will face later – even if that injustice may not be as blatantly evil as it presents itself to be. In Batman Begins, this evil takes its form in the League of Shadows. The League wants to destroy Gotham since it thinks that the city has become corrupted. They believe that the only way to ‘save’ these people is to construct a whole new city on top of the ruin. This idea of starting over instead of continuing is a common trait among many of us – when events seem too dire, many are likely to scrap their progress and work on something new that is believed to produced more desired results. However, Batman serves as a catalyst between the League and their goal. He believes in the people of Gotham and does not think it’s too late to save them. Simply put, Batman believes that the people of Gotham are inherently good. It’s a common trait among all the antagonists in The Dark Knight Trilogy to believe the opposite – the people of Gotham are inherently corrupted. This inherent battle will continue through all three levels, though not at surface level. The film also introduces Batman as a symbol, which remains as a constant theme throughout the trilogy.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Review: The Dark Knight is the most critically-acclaimed out of all three movies. It has a score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes and has been hailed by some critics as one of the best movies ever made. The Dark Knight continues Bruce Wayne’s story with the arrival of a new villain – the Joker, played brilliantly by Heath Ledger. Batman must stop the Joker from wreaking havoc on the city of Gotham. The Joker declares that if Batman does not step forward and unmask himself, people will die. Throughout the movie, the Joker makes Batman make many moral decisions, questioning the true ethics of society as a whole. The Dark Knight had the greatest impact on me among all three movies. It has a strong plot with no plot holes and amazingly crafted characters. The visuals, as always, are amazing, and the soundtrack does not disappoint. I believe that the best movies are the ones that make you think about them long after they’ve finished, and The Dark Knight certainly fits into this category.
Analysis: On a surface level, The Dark Knight just seems like a movie where the villain wants to destroy our hero. However, the movie is so much more than that. I could ramble about the film for days, but perhaps one of its most important aspects is the struggle between Batman and the Joker. The Joker has arrived to show Gotham how things really are – how he perceives reality. The Joker doesn’t think of himself as an insane person – in fact, he thinks he’s completely normal. This is because the Joker believes that any person in Gotham could turn into a person like him. The Joker’s main goal isn’t to destroy Batman – it’s to show Batman and the city that people are easily corruptible, and that inherently, all people are bad. Batman is fighting for the complete opposite. He believes that people are not easily corrupted because people are inherently good. This moral code prevents Batman from killing others. However, Joker wants to use Batman’s own code against him to show how hindering it is. In a way, both characters achieve their goals and prove their ideologies.
The way that both characters aim to prove their ideologies is by competing for the same thing – the soul of Gotham, otherwise known as influence over the city. Batman stands for law and order while Joker stands for chaos.
Joker wins because he is able to wreak chaos in the city. His success is most prominently seen when he is able to use Harvey Dent’s grief and manipulate it. Joker is able to persuade Harvey to join his side – wreaking chaos on the city – by convincing Harvey that law and order don’t work in the world (as a result of Rachel’s death). This is powerful because Harvey Dent is seen as Gotham’s ‘white angel’. In the first act of the movie, Dent is in the frontlines against the Joker and believes in the city of Gotham to the point that he is willing to sacrifice himself for Batman. However, after being manipulated by the Joker, Dent turns into Twoface and begins a killing spree himself. Dent’s pivot to the Joker shows that even the seemingly most ‘good’ people are able to turn bad. Joker further proves his point when telling Batman that the people of Gotham will turn on him as soon as he finishes his job. To preserve the legacy of Dent after his death (so that the people of Gotham will still have someone to believe in), Batman assumes all of Dent’s crimes. Even though he has now saved the city on multiple occasions, the people still turn on him and outcast him. Batman becomes hated for his supposed ‘killings’. Just as the Joker decreed, Batman was outcasted as soon as he had served the people.
While the Joker is able to use chaos to prove the true evilness of human nature, Batman also wins. This is shown in the scene where the Joker has loaded two boats with explosives – one boat containing prisoners, and the other containing civilians. He tells the people on the boat that each boat has a trigger. If one boat explodes the other, the former will survive. However, if neither have decided to kill each other, both will go up in flames. The Joker believes that one of the boats will blow the other up because he believes in the inner darkness of human nature. Batman believes that neither boats will blow each other up because he believes in inherent goodness. While there is a lot of argument on both boats to blow the other one up, ultimately, Batman’s belief holds true. Both ships agree to not pull the trigger. In this scene, the people of Gotham prove that they, too inherently follow Batman’s moral code.
So, ultimately, who wins at the end of The Dark Knight? The answer is not that simple. Even though Batman wins physically against the Joker, as seen when the latter is swinging upside-down from a building after being overcome by Batman, the Joker still has completed all of his goals. He terrorizes Gotham and is able to create chaos almost out of nothing ‘but a few bullets’. It’s true – the Joker barely has any resources in the beginning, but is still able to build an army using chaos. He proves to the city and Batman that people are easily corruptible, which he believes reveals their inner darkness. Lastly, he is proven correct when the people turn against Batman. After Batman takes the blame for Dent’s crimes, he goes into hiding. The fact that such a morally strong person like Harvey Dent could become corrupt scares Batman. If Dent could live long enough to become a villain, how could Bruce be an exception? It seems that in the end, Joker’s exposure of man’s inherent evil makes Batman step down from his post. However, Batman is also able to prove that the people of Gotham follow a moral code. He physically beats Joker and goes into hiding because he believes that’s the best way he can protect the people of Gotham. In the end, Nolan leaves the question up for deliberation. The struggle against the inherent nature of man, whether we are good or evil, is one that ultimately can’t be answered. It’s simply a matter of what you believe.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Review: The final installment of The Dark Knight Trilogy effectively ties the series together and ends the story with a bang. TDKR presents new problems that Bruce Wayne must combat – along with a new band of evil, Wayne must also push his own limits. He’s not the young Batman that is able to jump at Gotham’s every need anymore. It’s been eight years since he went into hiding. Wayne is now faced with physical hindrances.
I don’t think The Dark Knight Trilogy could have ended in any better way. The score and cinematography are fitting and brilliant as always, and Nolan delivers a complex plot that serves on surface level and also leaves the audience with hope and energy. While The Dark Knight had the most lasting impact on me, The Dark Knight Rises is a close second.
Analysis: The Dark Knight Rises is an effective ending and one that matches the drama and power of its predecessors. While there are some elements of the movie that I don’t agree with, I think the movie as a whole is a fitting conclusion to the trilogy.
First, I’ll talk about what worked. The reason why I think TDKR is a fitting finale is because of its ability to communicate its overall message. Handing off Batman to John “Robin” Blake at the end was the perfect way to preserve Wayne’s original intent – preserving the good in Gotham. That goodness did not have to come in the form of Wayne, and unlike conventional Batman movies and comics, Batman doesn’t have to be Wayne either. The act of giving Batman to Blake shows that Batman really is a symbol, and that there is always a person in Gotham willing to step up and preserve the good of the order. This message can be applied to everyday life – goodness is in all of us. We can all be Batman, as cheesy as that sounds. We can all fight injustice and protect those around us. It doesn’t have to be in the form of physical confrontation or hand-to-hand combat. Wayne’s lasting message was that we can all believe in goodness and use that goodness in our actions. The ending was fitting as it gave Wayne a chance to live a normal life with Selina, and for someone newer and younger to fill in his footsteps. I also thoroughly enjoyed the scene in which it is revealed that Blake’s real name is Robin. As many of you know, Robin is Batman’s sidekick. This is fitting as Blake didn’t suddenly turn into Batman’s sidekick – he was helping him all along. Blake was at the front lines against Bane and did all he could to help the children and the police officers. He mirrors Batman’s faith in Gotham, as exhibited by his actions.
Now, I’ll move on to some of the things that didn’t really work in my opinion.
First, I didn’t like Bane’s character at all. In fact, throughout the whole movie, it was hard to form emotional attachment to the characters. Bane and Tate were just two examples. I didn’t like Tom Hardy’s weird Bane voice. I didn’t understand why Bane could physically beat Batman by so much. Going into the movie, the audience already carries the expectation that Batman can pretty much beat anyone in hand-to-hand contact. Maybe it’s because Bruce has aged considerably and the two were both trained in the League of Shadows. Whatever the case, I found it unreasonable for Batman to be beaten so badly by Bane. Further, I wasn’t able to connect with Bane’s cause at all. I understand that he was championing the League of Shadows’ goal from the first movie, but even in the first movie, I wasn’t able to sympathize with their goal either since it sounded so ludicrous. I think a better story line would have been the wealthy of Gotham pitted against the poor. It’s no question that there is a clear socioeconomic divide. I think such a battle would make Batman make the ultimate decision between good and evil.
Second, Tate’s story line was unnecessary. I thought she was annoying in the beginning and did not think she provided anything for Bruce other than the first human contact in years. Her story line took away from the power of Bane. By reducing him to some starstruck lover who Tate fought for, much of his power and superiority was absorbed by Tate, making her seem like the ultimate villain. Had Tate’s story line been removed, I think Nolan would have been able to build up the power of Bane even more and differentiate The Dark Knight Rises from Batman Begins even more. Overall, it seems as if TDKR is the second half to Batman Begins, and TDK is a stand-alone film. It would have been more effective if all three were independent but relying on small details to connect them, which would preserve coherence.
Even with all of these faults, The Dark Knight Rises is a superb film and an adequate conclusion. It’s jam-packed with action and intrigue and shows the true importance of the symbol of Batman.
Nolan’s cinematic brilliance is truly shown in The Dark Knight Trilogy. From strong plots to powerful themes, Nolan’s films are able to rise above all the others in its genre. We can all see ourselves in Bruce Wayne’s struggles, and also the Joker and even Rachel. Perhaps the greatest movies are the ones that ask us a moral question and makes us reflect on the world around us, something that The Dark Knight Trilogy effectively achieves.
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