IW definitely had the tighter story. I think these 2 films paralleled a lot of what TDK and TDKR ended up as. Both IW and TDK started from a status quo the led to major world changing consequences as part of it's intended endgame for that installment. It was meant to shock viewers at how things are so different by the end of the movie, and how high the stakes are regarding our hero, even though we know in the next one things will be fixed. They both had a deeper message on society and the villain's philosophies and how they go against the heroes' philosophies. Both movies ended up with the audience actually rooting for the villains once it's all said and done, because the audience more or less were intrigued by their philosophies and worldview, because it made sense on the surface level. Both movies also ended with the villain winning more or less.
Now because of how shocking and world changing the ends to the previous installments were, and because the previous installments had no constraints in keeping the status quo, since that's been pushed to the enxt film, EG and TDKR both suffered from the responsibility of having the fix everything that the previous movie effed up. That type of limitation don't usually result in smooth story telling at all, especially in the case of EG, since the clusterfork left behind by IW is almost writing yourself into a corner lol. But considering the circumstances, both films turned out pretty well apart from some inconsistencies and hiccups here and there.
