The Batman VS Batman Begins VS Batman 1989.

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Symbol of Vengeance becomes Symbol of Hope
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I know it's more popular to compare The Batman to the Dark Knight or Rises but I've always personally felt that it makes more sense to compare it to 89 or Begins since it's also a early years Batman movie that deals with the Wayne's and theme's of revenge.

Since we love all of these Batman movie's let's keep it nice and respectful.

Try to minimize the accusations of recent biases or nostgila glasses please.

At the end of the day it's all subjective and for fun and we're lucky to have these great first stars to Batman movie at all.
 
Finally...someone actually makes the vs thread they'd prefer instead of wasting space in another thread going "actually, a better comparison would be..."

That being said...TDK is also an early years Batman film.

Now, to answer the question...TB is probably the best at being an "early years" Batman movie. An offhand comment aside, B89 Batman is pretty full formed. In BB, once Bruce actually becomes Batman, he's not much of a novice at it.
 
The Batman. He's been at work for 1.5 - 2 years. We see his affect on street crime at large. We see him take on street crime as well, viciously. Same thing for Batman 89. But in that he only takes down one freak, IE Joker. In The Batman, we essentially see him take down chief Gotham mob boss "underworld mayor" Falcone, took down Penguin, albeit briefly, took down the Riddler, as well as the Riddler's terrorist incel type followers, street gangs, and with the cut scene it's shown he took down proto year one Joker as well. Pretty legendary. If Begins showed him taking down more street level crime as well, that is the only one that could rival or surpass.
 
I am going to go with Batman 1989. The film is style over substance, but the style is so amazing that it gets the nod for me. Begins has an engaging plot, but its obsession with realism makes watching it not much fun for me. The Batman does a better job of being more comic booky, but I didn't find the plot or Bruce that engaging. Batman 89 has so many iconic shots/moments that I find myself keep going back to watch it. And the quircky Bruce is miles ahead of the the other two for me personally.
 
Batman Begins is the definitive origin imo. Can't get any early Batman than that. I love that he immediately goes to the top, with a long-term plan to target the source of what creates the conditions for street crime. Beating up teenage gangmembers is low hanging fruit.
 
Wanted to vote The Batman, probably since it's the new shiny thing, albeit, an amazing new and shiny thing. But BB is so damn good. Plus you get much better Bruce Wayne moments in it.
 
Batman Begins. Once the dust settles on The Batman. People will realize that BB is the better told story through and through. The only thing TB has over BB is the fight choreography. Everything else is tantamount or BB excels over TB.
Yep. Not saying The Batman isn't great, but Batman Begins is better in the majority of ways and was way more impactful.
 
Batman Begins. Once the dust settles on The Batman. People will realize that BB is the better told story through and through. The only thing TB has over BB is the fight choreography. Everything else is tantamount or BB excels over TB.

That's also my choice and you might be right.
 
I think some fans, like myself, may feel that The Batman is the *type* of Batman film we've wanted for a long time.

But while it nails the type of style many of us want, it doesn't nail the quality.

Not as much as I'd hoped.

Batman Begins embodied the type of Batman film I wanted at that time AND embodied the quality, all around.
 
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I think some fans, like myself, may feel that The Batman is the *type* of Batman film we've wanted for a long time.

But while it nails the type of style many of us want, it doesn't nail the quality.

Not as much as I'd hoped.

Batman Begins embodied the type of Batman film I wanted AND embodied the quality, all around.
Couldn't have said it better tbh. I think if it had come out years ago, it would have been more impactful, but when you set it's style aside, it didn't feel like it had much new to move me like Batman Begins. At times it felt like it was just trying to adapt a style that hadn't been done yet more than anything.
 
Damn this is surprisingly tricky for me. They're all such different movies. Batman 89 and Batman Begins have had such a tangible impact and legacy too, I think it's just too soon for me to comprehend where The Batman ultimately sits.

As far as depicting an "early years" Batman, I mean...The Batman tackles that aspect the most. In terms of making his arc *about* him being a younger Batman who is struggling with Batmanning hasn't quite figured things out yet. If is the *most* Batman, for sure, even just down to screentime. I'd love someone to do the math on this, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Batman has more minutes of screentime in costume than he does in 89 and Begins combined.

I'll say this. Begins definitely benefits from being part of a complete story for me. As the one classic origin tale, it occupies a very unique space in the character's history. I've noticed that Reeves has referred to Batman 89 as an origin film a few times recently, lumping it in with Begins and I disagree with that. It's not an origin story any more than The Batman is. There's only one of those in the franchise.
 
Very very close between The Batman and Batman Begins for me. I go with Batman Begins, because I just think the script is much better written compared to The Batman.
TBH, The Batman is an example where an average script gets elevated by masterful directing.
 
Random, but I really don't get "two years of nights" Batman vibe from the new film. He feels like a 7 month Batman.
 
Couldn't have said it better tbh. I think if it had come out years ago, it would have been more impactful, but when you set it's style aside, it didn't feel like it had much new to move me like Batman Begins. At times it felt like it was just trying to adapt a style that hadn't been done yet more than anything.

I would agree.

And I think that what brings The Batman down for me, as well - is that like Joker (2019), it feels like it's sometimes more interested in being the films it was influenced by than creating something all its own.
 
Random, but I really don't get "two years of nights" Batman vibe from the new film. He feels like a 7 month Batman.

Yes!!! This bothered me quite a bit. Two years into being Batman and you’re afraid to fly. Let alone completely suck at it. Get beat up and blasted by redditors. Hardly any stealth or predator like tactics. Can’t figure out that falcone is the rat until it’s right in front of his face. This is just to name a few.
 
2 years isn't that much of time, so he's still learning, but yeah, this early career thing could've been better shown, maybe he crafting something at batcave, or some flashbacks of his relationship with Gordon could've helped.
 
In terms of ranking the three films in terms of my favorites

1)Batman 1989: It's the film that got me into Batman and was a great theatrical experience in the 1980s .It's got all type nostalgic and emotional value for me

2) Batman Begins : I can't add to what's already been said about its greatness

3) The Batman
 
I also felt there was a real lack of "creature of the night" vibes in comparison to when Bale first dons the cowl at the dock scene in Batman Begins or when Keaton slowly descends into frame in Batman 89. In this, he just slowly walks out of the darkness. Which is cool, but not scary. This just feels scarier.

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I think Reeves may have been more interested in a Batman that isn't an "expert", which is fine I guess, but this is supposed to be year 2 right? He should be more together than he is at this point

I know it sounds like I'm hating on the film a lot, but I do still really enjoy it. I think some of my nitpicks are starting to come out more though.
 
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I do think it would made more sense for this to take place in year one but I understand Reeves didn't want this to be an origin story.
 
I also felt there was a real lack of "creature of the night" vibes in comparison to when Bale first dons the cowl at the dock scene in Batman Begins or when Keaton slowly descends into frame in Batman 89. In this, he just slowly walks out of the darkness. Which is cool, but not scary. This just feels scarier.

39e48ceb84543368ebb6e3a23eab6270.gif


b97a79bb4683a73406b189104b4bc8e4.gif


batman-keaton-gif-5.gif





I think Reeves may have been more interested in a Batman that isn't an "expert", which is fine I guess, but this is supposed to be year 2 right? He should be more together than he is at this point

I know it sounds like I'm hating on the film a lot, but I do still really enjoy it. I think some of my nitpicks are starting to come out more though.
I think what they were going for was, we've seen Batman sneak up on people plenty. There's a more unexpected factor that's also pretty "badass" in its own fashion to just hearing the menacing sounds of those boot steps click-clacking and getting closer and closer as he steps out of the darkness and that theme is playing.

Again, I wasn't expecting it, but something about him just walking up to the door of the Iceberg Lounge, knocking and saying "know who I am?" Is a bit unexpected but also extremely (I hope you don't cringe lol) "badass" in it's own sort of way. It shows this younger Batman doesn't care for anything extra and just goes into situations head-on ready to brawl.

He's sort of a ... "Hothead" in that way lol
 
The Batman has better cinematography, action, costume/production design and score but Batman Begins tells a stronger story with characters that seem more fleshed out and admittedly changed the course of superhero movie history (even more so than The Dark Knight).
The Batman is a terrific reboot and has a lot going for it, it’s much more polished than any of the Nolan movies but my vote currently goes to Batman Begins.
Batman ‘89 while not really in contention for the title here still holds a very special place in my heart. This movie is a riot through and through, a perfect product of its time, full of classic bits and imagery.

I think it’s incredible that in 33 years we got 3 different franchises about the same character that are so drastically different from one another and that you can enjoy for very different reasons. Rarely has any ip allowed for that kind of experience.
 
I also felt there was a real lack of "creature of the night" vibes in comparison to when Bale first dons the cowl at the dock scene in Batman Begins or when Keaton slowly descends into frame in Batman 89. In this, he just slowly walks out of the darkness. Which is cool, but not scary. This just feels scarier.

39e48ceb84543368ebb6e3a23eab6270.gif


b97a79bb4683a73406b189104b4bc8e4.gif


batman-keaton-gif-5.gif





I think Reeves may have been more interested in a Batman that isn't an "expert", which is fine I guess, but this is supposed to be year 2 right? He should be more together than he is at this point

I know it sounds like I'm hating on the film a lot, but I do still really enjoy it. I think some of my nitpicks are starting to come out more though.

I was thinking about this at work today, but despite the inconsistent nature of Nolan's fight scenes, Bale's fighting style is a lot more faithful to what Reeves is going for. Pattinson's Batman doesn't quite feel like a stealthy ninja, even if it is year two and that he was trained mostly by Alfred. The whole line about "They think I'm hiding in the shadows" is a lot more relevant to Bale's Batman or even Keaton's.
 
Batman Begins is the best, no doubt. Just great storytelling.

But I’m high on The Batman right now and definitely appreciating everything it brought to the table, and excited to see more.

I used to throw on BB on the background all the time just to soak up the world, but I imagine it will be replaced by TB over the next years.
 

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