Maybe it’s the dark and gritty atmosphere of Gotham City, maybe it’s the sick portrayal of Wayne Enterprises’ secret bunker, maybe it’s Christian Bale’s facial structure.
Or maybe it’s all of that and more:
I. Batman Begins
The movie is intertwined with flashbacks, starting as soon as you get immersed in the main plot, and ending when you get used to the flashback plot. This switch between the backstory and real-time is something I really enjoyed. I loved how you could put pieces together from the little snippets found in the backstory.
One backstory is when Bruce (before becoming Batman) confronts Carmine Falcone, the biggest crime boss in Gotham City to show that he’s not afraid of him and he’ll pay for his crimes. This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie, as you see the corruption and unbalances of power that exists in the world. In the restaurant, Falcone pulls a gun to Bruce’s head and says even though Bruce may be rich, he has the “kind of power you can’t buy”: the power of fear. No one is going to stop Falcone from shooting Bruce if he wanted to because they know his gang controls the city more than the GCPD ever will. He tells Bruce that he doesn’t get how crime works because he’s been living in Wayne Manor, away from the true Gotham City. “You’ll always fear what you don’t understand”.
I really appreciated how the complexity of criminality was portrayed in this movie. In real-time, Bruce explains that when he lived among criminals to truly understand them (trying to steal from his own company, Wayne Enterprises), he realized that the line between right and wrong was blurry. He experienced the motivation behind crime, which was often desperation, hunger, and even love. By trying to understand criminals, he gained a greater perspective of humanity.
It was interesting how Bruce learned to set boundaries with his power. At the temple of the League of Shadows, where Bruce was being trained after leaving prison, Ra’s Al Guhl sees his potential and wants to use it to pursue his goal of eventually eliminating Gotham City. When Bruce is asked to kill a criminal as part of his training, he sees the true purpose of the League of Shadows and leaves, creating a new enemy.
II. The Dark Knight
If I said that I liked this movie for reasons other than because Heath Ledger was in it, would you believe me?
It’s partially true. This movie carries on the complex themes from before focusing on justice vs corruption. There is so much to talk about in this, but I’m going to focus on the Joker and his path of chaos. Even before he arrives in the movie, Gotham City is a victim of political corruption. It’s controlled by different mobs, each one trying to overtake the others. Batman works with Lieutenant Gordon and district attorney Harvey Dent to restore justice.
When the Joker shows up, all other mobs become insignificant. He makes it clear that he’s “the agent of chaos” through his many entertaining monologues. Most villains yearn for a certain goal, whether it be wealth, power, or anything else usually connecting to past, unresolved trauma. I loved that the Joker is the exception- his backstories change throughout the movie, meaning he’s not committing crimes for revenge or any reason at all. It’s purely out of destruction and chaos, which is what makes him such a twisted villain.
In the famous scene with the explosive ferries, he wants to prove to Batman that humanity is inherently evil/selfish. He puts explosives on 2 ferries: one filled with regular passengers, the other with prisoners. He tells them that one of the ferries must blow up the other before midnight or he will detonate both of them. The Joker is uniquely crafted- he is a nihilist who thinks the people of Gotham City are as rotten as their circumstances. But he’s proven wrong. People are better than the world allows them to be.
I loved this movie because of the message it led to. Batman wields power provided by the people. The sacrifice made by the civilians reinforces hope. In a world where law enforcement/police carry out morally questionable deeds and political campaigns are often backed by corruption, the civilians are unburdened by expectations and could easily be evil. Yet, they were able to reject corruption and show kindness, giving hope to Gotham City.
III. The Dark Knight Rises.
This movie did an amazing job of displaying class warfare in an extreme way. The excommunicated central villain, Bane, wants to get revenge on the political figures/rich bankers and businessmen who have caused an extreme wealth gap and exploited their own citizens. It was really interesting to analyze this movie and see that it actually has a lot of propaganda against anarchism, but also against wealth inequalities.
Bane and the League of Shadow’s ideals focus on imprisoning people by their own nature- mainly by giving power to the people. The city erupts into violence and turns to mobs to fight for justice, as the police department is weak and Batman was in his long hiatus after the last movie. After he returned, he had to fight for not only the criminals but also the wrongdoings of the prosperous selfish. He must redeem the city from Harvey Dent’s crimes, including the immoral judicial system and Blackgate Prison/exile in which Bane suffered. It’s honestly hard to figure out what side of the political spectrum this movie advocates for- I can see many arguments. However, I truly think that what matters is the point that when a judicial system is unjust, society will inevitably collapse.
I totally agree with you because I have been a fan of the trilogy after rewatching when I was older. Another thing I would like to add is that in Batman Begins, the way that it was filmed was also very impressive. The atmosphere of the poor areas really added to the overall feel of the movie which matched the theme. I also liked TDK for reasons other than Heath because when I was a kid, I didn’t understand that he was a great actor but yet I still very much enjoyed the film. The ending felt very unique to me as it was a way of showing the character’s true role in serving the city. Personally, I did not like TDKR as much as the other two but I still like the way that you complimented it.