What a novel concept! Lets have Batman be the main character in a Batman film. Hah! In the span of the caped crusaders big screen history, its ironically refreshing to have a Bruce Wayne focused narrative. Batman Begins really stands out as being different from all the other villain-centered films. For that I really can appreciate it.
I dont really think I have a preference between the two films, but I do think Begins got far more right, especially when concerned with Batman himself. I dont care how repetitive the Waynes death gets, when youre being called out to publically take your mask off and contemplating ending your vigilante run, youre internally questioning why you do this to begin with. The lack of a family death flashback scene in Dark Knight, so much as some five-second one, was unacceptable. In fact, you could substitute Dark Knight Batman with pretty much any grim and gritty superhero vigilante and have pretty much the same exact story. The exclusion of Wayne manor, signature tools like the batarang, and his dank and gothic batcave being replaced by the uncharacteristically illuminated atmosphere of his temporary pad really made Batman almost unidentifiable outside of those pointy-ears. I did very much so enjoy the detective bits
but outside of that, Batman just seemed more like some extra with throat cancer who was thrown into some RoboCop-tech pseudo-batsuit. Nolan went from getting Batman the best hes ever been in live-action to arguably, outside of Schumacher, the worst hes ever been.
The literal atmosphere in the entire Dark Knight really was just disappointing. Ive always felt that Gotham City is every bit as much the character as the people that make up its residents, but Nolan threw that to the wayside and gave us bland and boring background. Nothing more! The entire scope of the city was far too clean. By no means am I asking for Burtons film noir artistry back, which I do love, but the gritty feel of the Narrows wouldnt have hurt. Fact of the matter is that Dark Knights Gotham City looks like Chicago, not Gotham. It doesnt even look like they tried.
For the villains, Im sort of mixed. Liams Ducard/Ras Al Ghul was absolutely brilliant. I think hes got some of the best dialogue ever written in any Batman film. Despite the alterations, everything seemed character accurate. The villainous scheme seemed very comic Ras oriented; you could see him doing something like this. It fit his persona very well. Scarecrow is really just a glorified extra, but I really enjoyed his role and also felt he remained faithful to the spirit of Crane. I know some have issues with how he goes out in Begins, but really hes not the physical confrontational type. In fact, hes kind of a pansy nerd, which is accurate. Sure hes attempted fighting on a few occasions in the books, but its more played as a joke than ever really effective. In fact, most Batman villains arent the physical fighting type, much like Joker. I nowhere near feel Heath Ledgers Joker was anywhere near the definitive version. I think thats just an absurdist claim, but I do enjoy his portrayal. I could have used a lot more comic book nuances though, particularly more laughing and gags akin to the pencil trick. But Harvey Dent I really felt was wasted. I think Two-face, aesthetically, was ideally done. The scarring was just incredible! But I really think they rushed his character. In fact, I went into the film with just the natural assumption that hed be scarred and wed be left with a cliffhanger on his character, setting up the plot for a third film. I was letdown as I really only viewed him as the only other plot-driving villain left for the second sequel. Youve got a massive array to chose from when it comes to Bat rogues, but how many really hold the emotional impact while also (at smallest) this City-wide threat that Ras, Joker, and Two-Face do that are also able to hold their own?
So really
I dont think Batman Begins is better than Dark Knight, though it did achieve some things better. I just dont think Dark Knight is so vastly superior. Not even remotely.