The Dark Knight Vs. Batman Returns

I don’t think there’s much point debating which Batman movie is the best (especially if you’ve got any kind of life) even if you’ve been less than enamored with the most recent incarnation. The Dark Knight is a truly good motion picture, filled with great actors, terrific thematic depths, and pinned into place by a smart, adventurous screenplay. It resonates on a real level, despite its semi-farcical inspiration. Lets not quibble over the seriousness of comic books; they’re comic books. For better or worse, they portray a surreal world. The Dark Knight is arguably the first comic book film to feel like a real world movie. It aims higher, and for more serious things. And it hits the bulls eye.

*Owwwwwwwwnaaaagggggggggggge*

But I still like Batman Returns the best, personally. I laugh more, thrill more, am more giddy about the whole experience of watching it than I am The Dark Knight. This may be less so today, but if we’re judging by both film’s fresh-faced hay days, Returns was more than double the experience Dark Knight was. This has a lot to do with the ages at which I experienced either, but even if Knight had been released in 1992, I doubt I would have been as consumed by it.

And, well, that’s got to say something for Returns, doesn’t it? In the end, there’s no denying that preference has some stake in verifiable values, however vaguely conceived, and the fact is that not everything we enjoy is a matter of random preference. I liked Batman Returns for countless reasons, few of which I believe were accidental.

So, while the Dark Knight certainly deserved an Academy Award nomination I would not have expected for Returns, I want to see how the two films stack up in terms of the basic elements. Pound for pound, who’s got what on who? According to me.

Sets and Scenery.
This may seem like an obvious point for Burton (then again, it might not) but The Dark Knight really channeled an amazing vibe out of Chicago’s urban landscape. The clip of Batman standing nearly atop the Sears tower, very recently the tallest building on earth, in the late evening just before the sky has fallen fully black, is pitch perfect – something I envisioned years ago on a my first visit, because I'm a huge, huge dork.

Burton’s Gotham is, for the most part, an artificial creation, and takes no cues in terms of its identity. For that, it deserves some serious credit, as it holds up as a fairly consistent world and delivers an atmosphere that is truly in keeping with its title. It’s just that it doesn’t feel, at times, as grand as DK. While some sets and models amaze, others feel mild or even cramped. Draw


Cars.
The Dark Knight did everything better than its predecessor, as far as I’m concerned, and that includes the Batmobile. Sure it’s the same, massive, indescript hunk of metal as Begins, but it fits better this time. It’s more striking and colorful in its usage.

But, look, if you could have one of these two babies for the day, which would you choose? Yes, yes, the tumbler from Knight would be cool in its own way, but heads would turn for miles in all direction the moment Burton’s Batmobile wound up on pedestrian streets. It’s a fantastic, iconic machine that, frankly, has more entertainment up its sleeve than Knight’s tumbler had to offer, just. Edge: Returns


Batcave.
As Knight finds Bruce Wayne in a make-shift headquarters and Returns puts little emphasis on the caped crusader’s under-ground trappings, I’m calling it a draw.Draw 

Batsuits 

It’s nice that Knight made the effort to be realistic down to the tiniest detail by allowing Batman to turn his head by way of a costume update, but it looks silly. I’m sorry. He looks like he’s wearing a big, bulbous helmet. Return’s Batman may not have turned his head much but…it worked. He wasn’t fidgety; his motions were brief, fast, and effective, and otherwise he was still. The cape hung round the shoulders and over chest, giving him a specter-like quality that removed the character that much further from Bruce Wayne. 
Edge: Returns

Villain/Accomplice:
Catwoman – flat out. Dent was good (although came off a little awkward here and there “But Your Honor, I’m not done?”) and his transformation into two face was well played (he should have given Bale voice acting lessons) but Pfeifer owned Catwoman on both ends and produced a truly creepy yet vulnerable character. She held her own with the two other leads, and in this case that’s saying quite a lot.
Edge: Returns

Score:
I will say this: both scores are perfectly, perfectly tailored to their respective film. Elfman’s compositions scatter and twirl and soar with the action on screen, perfectly calling out ominous pieces of silence or shattering moments of destruction, and Zimmer, well, the guy is the number one score-man in Hollywood for a reason. His Dark Knight score is a marvelously understated work you’re not meant to notice, really, the first time. I certainly didn’t. Only re-watching the film recently did I notice how well it supports what’s onscreen. But Elfman’s Batman theme is one of the most recognizable pieces of score in contemporary cinema. 
Edge: Returns

Villain
Before stating the obvious, lets take a moment to realize that Danny Devitto’s penquin was a pretty radical characterization, gross and ridiculous, scary and weird. Loads of fun. And nowhere even close to how great a thing Heath Ledger’s Joker continues to be. The Joker is not simply one of the best movie villains in history, but one of the most entertaining, engaging characters of all time. Without him, Dark Knight wouldn’t have been half the film it was. 
Edge: Knight

Commisioner Gordon:

I always liked the original Gordon, but Gary Oldman drew the character into the story with real meaning and momentum. He meant something to the Dark Knight; in Returns, he’s just a fixture. 
Edge: Knight

Alfred:
Michael Gough’s Alfred is a charming guy, but, as with Gordon, he’s merely a prop in Returns. The Dark Knight, for one thing, has Michael Frigging Caine (His formal title) taking the role, and as a sharp follow up, allows him to weigh-in the film’s moral undertones in a right ducky cockney accent. No contest. 
Edge: Knight

Plot:
Batman returns does a really great job of delivering a really not great story. Honestly, I’m not even that clear on what the movie is actually about; for me, it’s always been about how awesome Batman is, how cool Gotham looks, and how much the Penguin loves that raw fish. Something about a corrupt run for mayor? I dunno. The Dark Knight, on the other hand, is a mamouth tapestry of twists, turns, and moral dilemma, and while repeated viewing has lowered my initial regard for its construction, it’s still something to seriously admire.
Edge: Knight


Gadgets and Tricks
Ya know, while the technical lasooing of the Joker’s eighteen wheeler in Knight is cool in theory, it’s never really hit me the way I think it was meant to. Contrast this with a (suspiciously) similar moment in returns, where Batman fires a length of wire into the wall beside a henchman’s head, then flat out yanks a chuck of cement out of the building into the rear of his skull. Improbable? Sure, but a surer punch-line.

Knight does have a truly cool moment, however, when the downed Batmobile begins to rattle, then emits (WHOA!) the Batbike into the streets of Gotham, returning the caped crusader to the chase. Similar to the moment in Returns when the Batmobile sheds multiple layers in order to(WHOA!) fit down a precariously narrow alley way. Improbable, in both cases, but fun.


I wasn’t much for the sonar vision used at the end of Knight, however. It fails to really come across in an engaging way, and Freeman’s voice-over instruction, can you believe it, comes off like narration. So it comes down to something both movies share: the bat, er, glider-thing. Both films find bats leaping off a building, spreading his cape, and riding the wind like an expert hang-glider. They both get points for fun, here, but the edge, I think, goes to Knight.
Edge: Knight

Action Scenes
The Dark Knight showed how much further Nolan has come as an action director, delivering really slick, fun scenes, the pinnacle of which is a chase through, and under, and around, the city’s streets. Still, the first arrival of Batman himself is paltry in Knight when compared with the swallow-your-tongue-if-you’re-under-ten coolness of Return’s opener. And while its third-act finale is, uh, a little silly, the midway street fight and following roof battle is all the fun I could have asked for as an eight year old theater goer.
Edge: Returns

Batmen:
When I first heard that Bale would be taking the role, I though: good; he kinda looks like a Bruce Wayne, I guess. It’s too bad, however, that he carries next to zero presence in, or command of the batsuit. The first time we were supposed be aware that a mere man was running around in a suit and cape; the second round it should be less apparent. Also, the voice is, as has been well documented by now, terrible. Horrible.

Keaton owned the batsuit in the same way Ledger owned the makeup and purple suit; you’d never cast him yourself, but amazingly there exists a place in this person that IS the character – that is miles ahead of the audience in terms of what they’re ready to do. True, Ledger gave more of a performance in his role, but one should not take for granted how hard it must be “work” from within 95% body coverage. You can brood and shout, like Bale, or you can, apparently, attune your very soul to the costume. Keaton was aware of every nuance he was portraying with The Suit, and it shows. If I ran into his Batman on the street, even today, I’d flat out believe it for at least a minute. 
Edge: Returns


So, in the end, the addition rests on the side of Returns, which is some consolation. What this proves is not only that I am intuitively very, very wise about film, but that you can botch a costume and lead character, but if you nail the script and supporting cast, you've got every chance of making the best film in a franchise.


By Dave Beauchene