Batman Trilogy Movie Review

Christopher Nolan's take on the dark knight, popularly known as the dark knight trilogy, proved to be a perfect balance of both real and fiction. Christopher Nolan's no CGI policy showed the world that yes y0u can make a superhero film without all the special effects.

The three films are a richly thrilling crime saga based on batman, a DC Comics superhero. The production company involves in the films include Warner Bros, Legendary Pictures, DC Comics and Syncopy. 

The Dark Knight trilogy did a fabulous job in the box office collection which shows how much people enjoyed the action film series. Many batman movies have been made before this but they don't even get close to what Nolan's movie offers.

It all started with Batman Begins, a completely different comic book movie. Batman is more of a hero than a detective in this movie. Also, Christian Bale's Batman is new as this batman is more human and realistic as compared to animated films. Christopher Nolan didn't use IMAX for Batman Begins initially. But later it was converted to IMAX and released in IMAX theaters. 

The Dark Knight which was released three years later in 2008, has 6 major sequences that were shot using 65 mm IMAX cameras with an aspect ratio of 1.43:1. This was the first film ever to be partly shot on IMAX. A taller aspect ratio provides a better exhibition of the screenplay of an action film.

The production design of Christopher Nolan movies is always near faultless. Nolan used 6 different locations for Batman Begins including Chicago, London and Essex. Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire is used as Wayne mention in Batman Begins. 

He took inspiration from comics and Batman Year One animated film to choose the Chicago Board of Trade Building as the Wayne Enterprises for the Batman Begins movie. A batman movie by Warner Bros needs a fantastic cast and good writing, it was all achieved by an astounding film crew.

Batman begins

Batman begins being the first film of the trilogy that focuses on the origin story of batman. The journey of a small boy from losing his parents to becoming a ninja, finding his own path. The film shows how Bruce Wayne joins Ra's al Ghul's League of Shadows and trains as a ninja. Bruce chooses a different path when he was ordered to kill a farmer in order to be a true member of the league. 

He refuses to be a vigilante and escapes. He comes home in order to fight crime and uses his fear as a symbol. Bruce Wayne is insanely rich as he has inherited his father's wealth from Wayne's enterprises. He uses Wayne Enterprises to build his batman suit with the help of Lucius Fox, played by Morgan Freeman himself. What transpires later is what the movies are all about.

The Dark Knight

In the second installment of the dark knight, the trilogy is when Christian Bale took it to another level. The critically acclaimed movie becomes a blockbuster from day one of release. It got an insane rotten tomatoes rating of 94 percent whereas the IMDB rating is 9. 

The dark knight won many academy awards including best cinematography, and best editing to name a few. It is considered one of the best Nolan movies ever made. The Dark Knight is one of the highest Rotten Tomatoes rated movies in the Action and Adventure genre.

The box office collection of The Dark Knight is 1000 million US dollars making it one of the highest-grossing movies starring Christian Bale.The dark knight succeeds as an entertaining comic book film that is loved by batman fans and critics. The screenplay of the film by the Nolan brothers has taken the datum up for superhero movies around the world.

In the Dark Knight, the protagonist Bruce Wayne is still fighting the crime in Gotham city. He comes across Joker who believes in anarchy. To stop the Joker the batman teams up with Jim Gordon and the white knight of the Gotham city, Harvey dent. 

The joker kills Racheal and blames Jim Gordan along with his man, this makes dent go completely crazy because of being in a relationship with Racheal. Turning the white knight against the dark knight of the Gotham city creates chaos, which the joker always wanted. This forces batman to change his rules to save Gotham city.

The Dark knight Rises

Christopher Nolan and his brother and screenplay writer Jonathan Nolan revealed that the dark knight rises are inspired by the Tail of two cities, a novel written by Charles Dickens in 1859. After the announcement, the Reddit and Twitter fanbase were blown away by the similarities and differences the films have with the 19-century novel. 

This movie is a sequel to the dark knight has to be the best in order to satisfy the expectation of the fanbase. With a rotten tomatoes rating of 87 per cent and an IMDB score of 8.4, the Dark Knight rises proved that if it's a Nolan movie then you're supposed to watch it in the theatre because it is going to be an awesome experience.

The Dark Knight Rises takes the journey of the caped crusader forward by saving the city once again even being pained as a criminal by Gotham's people and police. Bane the leader of the League of Shadow wants to destroy Gotham city. Batman confronts Bane and gets beaten badly. Bane imprisons Batman in a prison far away from Gotham. The prison is believed to be inescapable. 

The story takes turn when Batman hears a story in the prison about Henri Ducard's child who escaped the prison. The movie introduces two major characters from the DC comics world, Robin and Catwoman. This extends the Batman universe in the Gotham city making story similar to comics.

At the opening weekend, the dark knight rises made 160 million dollars at the box office. Taking about the camera third of the dark knight rises is shot in Imax whereas only one-fifth of the dark knight is on Imax.

Cast

Christian Bale

Casting Christian Bale as the caped crusader worked perfectly for the franchise. Christian Bale played this new batman who doesn't feel like a comic book character. It feels as if batman can exist in the real world. Christian Bale matches looks and personality similar to Batman. 

Christian Bale trained for 6 days a week to look like batman in Batman Begins. In 2004 Christian bale worked in the Machinist in which his body weight was just 53 kg, in order to play the dark knight on big-screen Bale took his body weight to 85 kg. 

He also performed most of his own stunts, taking his work ethic to another level in order to feel like Batman. Batman fan base often compares Christian Bale from Batman Begins to Tim Burton-directed Batman Returns starring Micheal Keaton making the two topmost loved Batman of all time. 

Christian Bale was offered Batman's role in Zack Snyder's Justice League and Batman Vs Superman but he refused and said will not work in any condition at all, proving himself loyal to the Dark Knight Trilogy.

Heath Ledger

Heath ledger's joker in the dark knight is considered one of the best characters in the history of cinema. The outstanding performance is highly admired by critics and fans. Ledger's excellent acting abilities are missed by many fans across the globe as the two times academy award winner died before the release of the dark knight movie.

Heath Ledger initially came for the audition of Batman for Batman Begins but Christopher Nolan had something different in mind for him and gave him the role of Joker for the Dark Knight in 2008. Heath Ledger used to read Batman comics to mould himself for Joker.

Tom Hardy

Michael Caine

Michael Caine as Alfred is too good. The chemistry between Micheal Cane and Christian Bale is quite visible in the films. There are many important scenes where Michael Caine's character has to give important advice to Bale's character, these scenes are done beautifully. 

You can see how capable are both of the actors. In Batman vs Superman and Justice League, Alfred is played by Jeremy Irons who also helps Batman with his tech for the suit. This version of Alfred eliminates Lucius Fox from the universe. Which version of Alfred do you like the most?

Gary Oldman

Jim Gordon's role is played by Gary Oldman. Gordon is one legit cop in Gotham City who is not corrupt. He works with Batman to fight crime and corruption. In the dark knight, Jim Gordon gets promoted to commissioner. Gary Oldman played the character with all the warmth and seriousness the character needed. 

Batman Begins fan base was missing Gary Oldman as Gordan when Batman vs Superman got released in 2016. Gary Oldman did a fantastic job with his acting skills as he has fewer dialogues in the three films as compared to other actors.

The best scene for me is when at the end of the dark knight rises Commissioner Gordon got to know that Bruce Wayne is the batman.

Katie Holmes

Rachel Dawes is played by Katie Holmes in Batman Begins but since she was pregnant during the shooting of the dark knight so she was replaced by Maggie Gallenhall. Katie Holmes's role in Batman Begins is more crucial as the film had to build character development along with a universe of Gotham city.

Morgan Freeman

Lucius Fox's character is what converts a ninja to batman. The Character is played by Morgan Freeman. After watching the movie you'll feel as if Morgan freeman is Mr Fox in real life. Morgan Freeman's character do a pivotal role in Batman Begins as Lucius Fox equip Batman with all the gadgets and Batman suit. 

In an interview, Morgan Freeman said that Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins gave Batman a plausible story and he said yes to the role immediately after reading the script.

Liam Neeson

If you see any DC comics of batman and take a look at Ra's al Ghul then it'll become clear why Liam Neeson was given the role of Ra's al Ghul because he looks exactly like him. 

Liam Neeson's character has a huge role to play as Ra's al Ghul is the mentor of batman, it is beautifully shown in Batman Begins. For the training montage both the actors trained for months hours to make it look real.

Cillian Murphy

Let's put it this way, Cilian Murphy can pull off any role. He played Scarecrow in the trilogy who weaponised fear gas. The Irish actor played a major role in batman begins whereas in the dark knight he was barely present the film.

Dialogues

The dialogues take the movie experience to another level. Along with the scenes, it matches perfectly making it alive. Not one dialogue in all three films will sound unnecessary. Here are some of the best dialogue of the dark knight trilogy.

Joker -

You might have seen it on a meme page, people are still making jokes about it.

This dialogue is a part of one of the Joker's 'How I got these scars' stories. Heath Ledger improvised these stories on the spot while shooting, every actor who was in the scene got scared.

According to many YouTubers and Reddit fans the Joker once served in the military that's why he knows about guns and artillery and also interrogation.

The relationship between Joker and Batman is like Tom and Jerry, they fight but without each other, they'll not be able to enjoy their own journey.

This is roughly a summary of Joker's ideology in the dark knight movie. He also calls himself an agent of chaos, it goes with his actions in the film.

This dialogue solidifies fans' theory as he might be one of those honest people in the past who thinks can change the world by following the rules like Gordon, but something changed him and now he believes the true nature of human is corrupt.

Well! nothing can be said about this dialogue.

- Very first dialogue of the joker will bring goosebumps to you. Christopher likes to impact the audience with a great opening scene and with joker he delivers it.

Alfred Pennyworth -

- Alfred's sense of humour takes the movie's tone to a little lighter.

- Alfred is not only a butler but also Bruce's father figure. Alfred making fun of Bruce will make you chuckle instantly, not everyone can pull Bruce's leg because of his high IQ and charming personality.

Racheal Dawes -

An eye-opening line for Bruce which he finally says to tell Rachel Dawes that he is the Batman. Katie Holmes delivered this line with excellence.

Henri Ducard/ Ra's al Ghul -

- Henri Dugard is also known as the Ra's al Ghul trains batman with the investigation and fighting skills to make him a ninja. According to the film's writing, he believes in will more than anything else.

- In order to conquer his own fear Batman has to face his own fear and ultimately make the fear a part of himself. The films are all about fear and how to conquer it. In the opening scene of Batman begins Bruce falls into a pit full of bats. Here the fear of bats initiates in him and the story advances on how he deals with it and makes it his strength to fight the corruption of the Gotham city. This also forces batman to create a fine line between his personal life and his life as batman.

The Batman/ Mr. Wayne -

The reason for him to choose a symbol as Batman. Nobody can kill a person without an identity. Otherwise, people would have killed him in the first place and after Bruce Wayne, this legacy can be transferred to Robin as he becomes batman at the end of the dark knight rises. The writing of the movie slowly establishes that someone else has to take the mantle of batman.v

Harvey Dent/ Two-Face -

- Harvey Dent doesn't die a hero, he becomes the villain. He says this before he becomes Two-Face which means he knows that one can change in changing the world.

Joker

The dark knight is a comic book movie but it doesn't feel like one because the film is quite mature. The way Joker is portrayed in the movie really tells us about storytelling and the future of comic book movies. There is a reason for Joker's actions and behaviour. He is a product of society just like Bruce Wayne but he believes that humanity has no hope.

Harvey dent

Harvey dent is a perfect villain for a superhero film like the dark knight. The character is very important as he changes from good to bad after certain events proving Joker's theory right. Harvey becomes district attorney in the middle of the movie changing the fate of Gotham city. Joker killing Racheal changes everything for him. Joker chooses Harvey over Bruce and Gordan because he believed he was the strongest.

How the character changes and what Harvey becomes is a product of an excellent storyline. Aaron Eckhart played Harvey's character in the Dark Knight film. According to Aaron Eckhart, the movie is a reflection of our time and people need superheroes to stay motivated.

Ra's al Ghul

Being a Batman film Ra's al Ghul's character is one of the most important. In comics, Ra's al Ghul is almost immortal due to the powers obtained from the Lazarus pit. The movie version of him is quite different as he's just a human being with no superpower. Bruce Wayne's mentor not only trains him to be a ninja but also gives him a path.

Scarecrow

A professor of psychology, Scarecrow studies different kinds of substances to induce fear in a person. He builds fear gas to intoxicate batman and other victims. Since Scarecrow plays with one's fear he is shown a little scary in the film.

Bane

The leader of the League of Shadows wants to fulfil Ra's al Ghul's destiny. In Batman Begins Ra's al Ghul fails to stop evil and corruption as he dies fighting Batman. Ra's al Ghul believes in taking matters into his own hands to bring justice to society. According to comics, Bane takes Venom drug for his super strength.

Bane raids with a group of thugs in Gotham's wall street market. The scene looks legit because it was shot on New York Stock Exchange. Bane bankrupted Wayne Enterprises before cope can even take action.According to comics, Bane takes Venom drug for his super strength. His backstory was going to be a part of the Dark Knight Rises but eventually got cut from the final script.

Background score/ Sound mix

The entire film has an awesome sound mix. Hans Zimmer's themes make the whole experience better as it feels like a hero movie. The film has a different soundtrack for each character. Joker's theme name Why So Serious is one of the best and suits perfectly the situation, once the music is played you know something cynical is going to happen. 

A soundtrack can make a huge impact on a film, you can't imagine Batman beginning a training montage without Hans Zimmer's music playing in the background or the dark knight rises pit scene where Christian Bale climbs up the pit.

The writer has perfectly timed the scenes with a background score to enhance our emotions. My favourite soundtracks from the series are A Dark Knight, I'm Not a Hero, Why do we fall and Always a catch. Search Hans Zimmer on Spotify, plug in your headphone and just enjoy.