Batman Begins or Iron Man

[Darkfly]

Batman Begins is too much of a diamond in the rough. I feel it gets overrated because it followed two very horrible reiterations of the character, so it took a wildly different approach and gets near universial praise for it. Though the end result is nothing too spectacular. Batman Begins is like a great pitch meeting, a TON of good ideas are thrown out, but the end product ends up being an inconsistent mess of jumbled plot ideas.

Batman Begins in very much a different film in it's first act than it is in it's last. Due to the fact the movie lacks truly engaging villains, it attempts to make up for this by including an absolutely dreadful show down on a microwave emitting monorail. It totally abandons it's tone of realism for a cliche' comic book ending, complete with exposition so bad it would make infomercial writers groan. Combine that with a script that is marred by awful dialogue that doesn't even resemble the way people actually talk, and what you have left is one big mess.

Granted the film's saving grace is the admireale acting jobs by Liam Nesson, Morgan Freeman, Christian Bale and Cillian Murphy; and the direction by Christopher Nolan (fights scenes notwithstanding). Unfortunately none of their characters are written well enough for this movie to really stand out for me. The movie is about as subtle and nuanced as a sledgehammer.

Iron Man on the other hand might seem like your run of the mill blockbuster, but packs enough in to actually make it a very smart, comic "accurate" and savvy film. The character of Tony Stark is developed with a lot less dialogue, and the characters of Yinsen and Stane are used to incredible effect. The villain, ironically, is very interesting and compelling (considering all of the Iron Man villains typically suck wind). Also Jon Faveuru had a more daunting task: make a GOOD IRON MAN MOVIE.

Batman's story is compelling as it is. Even marred with bad dialogue it's so engrained in the public conscious that people already know it's greatness. It's had years upon years or revision to make it thoroughly convincing and compelling. Iron Man, in the eyes of the public, is a C-lister at best. In the comic world, Thor, Captain America (sans it's main character), all the X-Men titles, 6 titles featuring Wolverine, Spider-Man(s), Hulk(s) and even Punisher tend to outsell him...and that's only in his own company. He's not that popular.

This is due, in large part, to the fact that Iron Man is seriously not all that interesting. For years his only story that he is noted for is "Demon in a bottle", and perhaps the "Armor Wars I and II". He typically has a craptastic rogues gallery, all of which has currently died off (not kidding). The fact that any movie writer could look at this character and do a film that amazing, and do something that embodied the Marvel spirit that well just floors me.

Very well said think you captured exactly what both films are like much better than I ever could.

 

[stargazer]

That's mainly because Downy carried the movie, which is something no other actor in a Superhero movie has done. Christopher Reeve was close, but really performances by veterans like Glenn Ford and Marlon Brando somewhat upstaged him. This isn't to say he didn't deliver a great performance, which he did, but he didn't carry the weight of the movie.

What? Sorry, you just don't know what you are talking about. Yes, Downey was fantastic in the role. It was as if the role was tailor-made for him. In fact, his performance elevated the movie, which is a very standard type of action flick. And the cast was solid as well.

But you are wrong when you say that Brando and Ford, or even Hackman upstaged Christopher Reeve, IMO. Yes, those actors delivered a good/great performance (Hackman was too campy for my tastes, but it was the script and direction's fault, not him, I think), but when Chris appeared as Superman, he totally stole the show. He was indeed the star of the show, much like Downey. And I don't consider Chris a great actor, but he was good enough, and more importantly, he inhabited and embodied the character, and he also had lots of charisma. And people around the world still remember him fondly as Superman. Only time will tell how people will feel about Downey as Tony and about IM. The film is good, but I don't really see it as a classic.

Chris as Superman > Downey as Tony

But of course, this is just my opinion.

 

[Tony Stark]

What? Sorry, you just don't know what you are talking about. Yes, Downey was fantastic in the role. It was as if the role was tailor-made for him. In fact, his performance elevated the movie, which is a very standard type of action flick. And the cast was solid as well.

But you are wrong when you say that Brando and Ford, or even Hackman upstaged Christopher Reeve, IMO. Yes, those actors delivered a good/great performance (Hackman was too campy for my tastes, but it was the script and direction's fault, not him, I think), but when Chris appeared as Superman, he totally stole the show. He was indeed the star of the show, much like Downey. And I don't consider Chris a great actor, but he was good enough, and more importantly, he inhabited and embodied the character, and he also had lots of charisma. And people around the world still remember him fondly as Superman. Only time will tell how people will feel about Downey as Tony and about IM. The film is good, but I don't really see it as a classic.

Chris as Superman > Downey as Tony

But of course, this is just my opinion.

No Chris didn't carry that movie by himself. If anything it was a combination of Reeve and Kidder. Reeve doesn't even showup in the film until an hour into it, so obviously he didn't carry the film. Other performances, like Brando on Krypton, and Glenn Ford as Pa Kent, and even the young Clark, had to carry the movie until they reach Metropolis.

 

[Chris Wallace]

Despite my character preferences, I go with Iron Man.

 

[MutantGirl]

Yeah, I prefer Nolan's direction and world of realism...though personally I hope for some new non-Batman movies, I miss stuff like Memento and Following.

 

[stargazer]

No Chris didn't carry that movie by himself. If anything it was a combination of Reeve and Kidder. Reeve doesn't even showup in the film until an hour into it, so obviously he didn't carry the film. Other performances, like Brando on Krypton, and Glenn Ford as Pa Kent, and even the young Clark, had to carry the movie until they reach Metropolis.

The cast in STM was very solid to great, but after you saw the movie (like a did as a young child in theaters when the movie first came out), all you could think about was Christopher Reeve as Superman and the wonderful score. He was that mezmerizing. He was the movie. And most people went back to see the movie because of him.

But let's agree to disagree. I'm done.

 

[Go God Go!]

I preferred Transformers over the both of them.

 

[Tony Stark]

The cast in STM was very solid to great, but after you saw the movie (like a did as a young child in theaters when the movie first came out), all you could think about was Christopher Reeve as Superman and the wonderful score. He was that mezmerizing. He was the movie. And most people went back to see the movie because of him.

But let's agree to disagree. I'm done.

You don't even seem to get the point here. Yes Christopher Reeve was the best Superman ever. He embodied the character. Reeve did not carry the film on his own, as evidence that he isn't even in the movie for at least 45 min to an hour.

Downey is in every virtually every scene in Iron Man, from start to finish. He carried the film.

You seem to think this is some critique on the job Reeve did, it isn't. It is simply stating the fact that Downey is the centerpiece of this film.

 

[dasam12]

I would say Batman. I thought that movie was brilliant and portrayed Batman right on the nose. He was Dark, actually a detective and they really focused on Bruce Wayne as a charater.
Iron man was fun, overall Batman was a better movie.

 

[Victarion]

I preferred Iron Man's dialogue and the character arc for Tony. I preferred the villains of Batman Begins. Its really an even toss up for me.

 

[Sawyer]

BB, just for the fact that I dont really care about the character of Iron Man.

 

[JokerLedger]

You hit the nail on the head, of what annoys me about BB. On the whole I liked the movie, and outside Katie Holmes there were some great performances.

However, I couldn't stand the fact that he'd get one piece of equipment, and then go "oh crap, now I need a cape. Hey dude what do you have that I could make a cape with?", then he had his cape. Then Alfred comes in and tells him "hey all of the cowells we ordered for you are defective, so we'll have to order more." Then they order some more. etc., etc.

Iron Man they went from Mark I to Mark III armor and you didn't feel like any screen time was wasted.

Building the suit was a learning experience Just like Stark;s MK I and II suits building up the the third and final. First Bruce he needed a suit that would enable him to climb buildings. After Gordon chased him leaving him with no choice but to jump a building, he knew he needed something else to prevent this from happening again. He needed wings so he asks Fox for something that would enable him to glide. Then he goes and gets a cape.

They both learned from their mistakes throughout the process and I felt no time was wasted in either Begins or Iron Man.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Building the suit was a learning experience Just like Stark;s MK I and II suits building up the the third and final. First Bruce he needed a suit that would enable him to climb buildings. After Gordon chased him leaving him with no choice but to jump a building, he knew he needed something else to prevent this from happening again. He needed wings so he asks Fox for something that would enable him to glide. Then he goes and gets a cape.

They both learned from their mistakes throughout the process and I felt no time was wasted in either Begins or Iron Man.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

As batman is my fav hero, obviously batman, however, Iron man was unexpectedly good.

 

[yoshimura]

I'm a big Bats fan, but Begins is overrated.

Iron Man is popcorn fun.

 

[SFII]

I'm a big Bats fan, but Begins is overrated.

Iron Man is popcorn fun.

i agree.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Finally BB is were it should be ahead Iron Man.

 

[DoomRulz]

Def. Iron Man b/c it's a set up for all least 6 future Marvel films.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Batman Begins.

Because it revived the franchise. For all good reasons....Batman SHOULD have been dead after Batman and Robin, and probably didn't deserve one in such a short period of time.

Iron Man was awesome as hell. But, it had a white canvas to paint on. It had a first impression to make.

Batman Begins had an ugly, embrassing canvas covered with neon, nipples and horrible jokes to paint over and win back people.

I guess I'd argue that many people went into Iron Man with no bad, or wrong assumptions or bad feelings about it.

Batman Begins probably had many people, who didn't follow it, expecting it to be one thing, not another.

So, that's why I'd say it was a better franchise starter. Cause it popped the hood, and gave the franchise a boost to keep on truckin'.

 

[bullets]

i like both just as much for different reasons.

 

[Mike059jig]

both are great but I love the way bruce transforms in to the bats that alone wins it for me......IM was really great though popcorn fun, but just doesn't have that replay value like BB has....

 

[Cyrusbales]

BB was better, but only because Iron Man was so poor.

 

[TLH]

Iron Man is more watchable and enjoyable than Batman Begins. Yeah, BB is pure brilliance and I love every second of it, but it lacks the fun, accessible action tone that I like from comic book movies. It stands only second to Iron Man IMO.

 

[DoomRulz]

Iron Man is more watchable and enjoyable than Batman Begins. Yeah, BB is pure brilliance and I love every second of it, but it lacks the fun, accessible action tone that I like from comic book movies. It stands only second to Iron Man IMO.

Well obviously, Iron Man is practically a kid's movie next to BB. BB is intended for a mature audience; everyone can watch IM and get into it.

 

[The Joker]

everyone can watch IM and get into it.

Which is what you want with a comic book movie.