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The world of superhero movies changed radically with the release of Christopher Nolan‘s 2005 film Batman Begins. An origin story for the World’s Greatest Detective, the film presented a new, grim, and hyper-realistic approach to the classic story of an orphan driven to vengeance after witnessing his parents’ murders. The film was a moderate financial success and received strong reviews, spawning two sequels and forever redefining the meaning of the words “comic book adaptation.”
Today, the Dark Knight trilogy remains the standard against which all DC movies are measured, for better and worse. The movies pretty much defined the company’s identity throughout the 2010s and “dignified” the superhero genre by adopting a more grounded approach. Indeed, the word grounded is now used as a positive to describe most superhero movies that divorce themselves from the more fantastical world of comic books. However, looking back, it’s safe to say Nolan’s movies are not distancing themselves from the source material. Yes, they are more straightforward and presented matter-of-factly, but they can only detach themselves so much from Batman’s origins. With that in mind, what follows is a ranking of every movie in the Dark Knight trilogy based on how grounded they are. The ranking will be based on the plot, the action, the characters, and how practical, rational, and logical they are.
3 ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (2012)
The Most Overblown of the Three
Released in 2012, The Dark Knight Rises is the last chapter in the trilogy and, so far, Nolan’s last superhero movie. The film is set eight years after the events of The Dark Knight and features a retired Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) living as a recluse in his house. However, he will soon be forced to return to duty when a dangerous terrorist known as Bane (Tom Hardy) targets Gotham. Aided by old and new allies, including cunning thief Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), Bruce must become Batman again and face the fight of his life.
Its insistence on never calling Hathaway Catwoman is annoying, but
The Dark Knight Rises
is a busy movie that feels more like a superhero adventure than any of its two predecessors.
Although a satisfying conclusion to Nolan’s trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises is undeniably the weakest entry. Ironically, it’s also the one that most embraces the source material, delivering a larger-than-life and occasionally overblown story that tries to do too many things at once — it mostly succeeds. The Dark Knight Rises borrows heavily from A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens‘s seminal novel about class, justice, sacrifice, and revolt. The film features a contrived plot that sees Bane hold Gotham hostage with a bomb and exiling Wayne, effectively turning the island into a no man’s land. Of the trilogy, this movie is the one that most requires audiences’ suspension of disbelief, between the plot drawing from the trilogy’s lore and Nolan staging the French Revolution in the streets of his version of Gotham. Its insistence on never calling Hathaway Catwoman is annoying, but The Dark Knight Rises is a busy movie that feels more like a superhero adventure than any of its two predecessors.
2 ‘Batman Begins’ (2005)
A Refreshing Reboot With Some Flashes of Comic Book-y Brilliance
Following the terrible reception to 1997’s Batman & Robin, the Caped Crusader took an eight-year break from the big screen, finally returning in 2005 under Nolan’s watch. Batman Begins stars Christian Bale as an aimless Bruce Wayne looking for purpose after witnessing the death of his parents as a child. Recruited by the mysterious League of Shadows while in a Bhutan prison, Bruce becomes a fearsome warrior and returns to Gotham, intending to rescue it from corruption and crime.
Batman Begins had the difficult task of restoring Batman’s reputation, and it did so with flying colors. The film is the perfect introduction to Nolan’s more grounded approach, although it features more than enough comic book elements to satisfy longtime fans of the beloved character. For example, the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) and his fear gas are pure comic book-y goodness, leading to the exciting third act, where the substance is released into Gotham, throwing it into chaos and violence. However, the League of Assassins loses the Lazarus Pit, arguably its most well-known element, and they become the League of Shadows, an ideological terrorist group rather than an ancient organization straight out of myth. The film’s version of Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson) is also subdued and uninspired, not to mention whitewashed. Still, Batman Begins is a great first chapter in this generation-defining trilogy, offering the right blend between Nolan’s hyper-realistic approach and Batman’s wilder comic book elements.
1 ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)
A Crime Thriller Starring The Clown Prince of Crime
Today, The Dark Knight is widely considered the pinnacle of the superhero genre and arguably the best comic book adaptation, and with good reason. The film finds Bale’s Batman comfortably set in his role as Gotham’s protector, sending fear into the hearts of every crime group with his violent methods. Gotham also has a new DA, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), an idealistic politician who wants to clean the city. However, their ambitions are threatened by the appearance of The Joker (Heath Ledger), a deranged, murderous anarchist who wants to throw the city into chaos and prove that everyone is one bad day away from madness.
Critically acclaimed and winner of two Academy Awards, The Dark Knight represents the perfect harmony between Nolan’s grounded tone and Batman’s superhero sensibilities. The film features all the elements of a classic Batman story — a relentless fight for Gotham’s soul, Batman’s self-sacrificing ways, and the Joker’s unpredictable antics — and stages them with unsettling and thrilling precision. Like all the best Batman adventures, The Dark Knight truly feels like the patients are running the asylum, and Batman is just another inmate; he’s just opposing the truly dangerous ones. Even its third act is more at home in a classic crime thriller than a superhero movie; it features no large-scale conflict or world-ending stakes but rather a desperate race to finally apprehend a deranged criminal. And yet, Ledger’s perfect villainous performance brings all the flair and intensity found in the comic books, offering an inspired take on the Clown Prince of Crime that will likely never be surpassed. The Dark Knight is the crowning achievement of Nolan’s grounded take on the superhero genre, a masterpiece that many have tried to imitate in the years since.
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