Re: Batman Begins: Batman/ Bruce Wayne (2011 Toy Fairs Exclusive)
And I do think TDK is just way too heavy focusing on the Joker, and how he just wanna create a massive chaos in gotham and so on and so on.
I absolutely love BATMAN BEGINS, because it's heavily focus on Bruce Wayne' s journey and the origin of Batman, who he was, what drives him to do what he did, his anger and what pushes him to do what he needs to do, his struggles and just everything BATMAN.....
I disagree that TDK focused heavily on the Joker - I think his screen time was quite minimal, and other elements (like Harvey Dent) were actually much more prominent. It's just that the love for Ledger's Joker makes his presence in the film loom larger in our minds than it objectively should.
But I do think that you're right that "Batman Begins" was focused very heavily on Bruce Wayne and his journey, and "The Dark Knight" moved away from that. But I think that that is actually a strength of the movie.
The purpose of "Batman Begins" was to chronicle the story of Wayne and the birth of Batman, while the purpose of "The Dark Knight" was to chronicle the story of Gotham City as a whole, and its reaction to the presence of Batman.
So much of the story, setting, and themes are directly about that. We see how crime has reacted to Batman (the cowering mob). We see how the citizens have reacted to Batman (Supporters on both sides of the law, like copycat vigilantes and an honest, bold new D.A., as well as detractors, like Engel and Coleman Reese). And we see the birth of new villains and an escalated criminal element, like the Joker.
I think that was a deliberate choice on the part of the filmmakers - to focus the film on Gotham, rather than Bruce - and Nolan has often said as much. I think it makes it much more interesting, because if it had been as focused on Bruce as "Batman Begins" was, then it would've been TOO similar. We'd already seen Bruce's story, so it'd be boring to see it again, and it wouldn't feel new or fresh. Yeah, Bruce's story can continue and grow - and the film DOES focus on that, to the extent that it can and does remain interesting. After all, Bruce's journey is still chronicled as he learns to accept sacrifice for the sake of his quest. But there are other aspects to the "Batman" story that are fun and even critical to examine, beyond the main character himself.
I've always thought that the best film series are the ones where each film really does feel unique and different, thematically and structurally. For example, I grew up watching the "Star Trek" films - and I think that most of the movies are really good, specifically because each one has such a unique identity. And it's not a coincidence that the ones that DON'T have that unique identity also happen to be the weakest ones of the series (V, VII, IX, and X).
I think we can expect an equally radical shift for "The Dark Knight Rises" as well. It's no secret that Nolan was hesitant to come back - and only decided to do it because he thought he could still bring something new to the table. It's why he came back after "Batman Begins," too - because he could do something really different from "Batman Begins," rather than the same film (structurally and thematically), just with the Joker thrown in the mix.
Can't wait to see what it is.
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