The Dark Knight (2008) - Nolan's best Batman

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+ Best Action Movie of the Year + Best Superhero Movie of the Year + Best Villain of the Year: The Joker (Heath Ledger) + Most Profitable Movie of the Year: 217 mil. $ range

The dark, exciting poster for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight

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Gotham City is terrorized by the Joker, and the new district attorney Harvey Dent looks like the metropolis' only hope. But when Dent SPOILER loses his wife and burns off half of his face in an accident, he becomes the bitter, resentful Two-Face. - And Batman will have to take the trash out!

Christian Bale (Rescue Dawn (2006)) had by British master filmmaker Christopher Nolan's (Interstellar (2014)) second Batman movie grown into a cult character as excess yuppie Bruce Wayne. Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking (2005)) is also good here as the torn man Dent.
Quality-wise, Dark Knight is nearly a schematic reflection of Nolan's first Batman movie, Batman Begins (2005), with one major exception; the Joker. Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow was neat as the villain of the first film, but Heath Ledger's (Brokeback Mountain (2005)) anarchistic heavy is larger-than-life. A truly great performance, and Ledger's only Oscar-win. Unfortunately, he died tragically of an overdose six months prior to the release of the film and therefore never received the statue in person.
Ledger's premature demise has most certainly contributed to the undue celebration of The Dark Knight that has since ensued: The film still rests at #4 on IMDb's Top 250! Knight is great entertainment for sure, but held up against the greatest Batman movie to date, Tim Burton's Batman Returns (1992), I still far prefer Burton's colorful, Gothic fantasy adventure over Nolan's stark realism and seriousness.
Knight is co-written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan (Interstellar), with David S. Goyer (Blade (1998)) contributing story.

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Batman:  Batman Returns (1992) - Burton gives us the ultimate, Gothic spin on Gotham City and its sinister characters
Batman (1989) - A huge, glitzy, empty joker
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Interstellar (2014) - Nolan heads to space in oppulent, exciting epic
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) or, Batman and the Storm, Darkness, Anarchy, Evil, Depression

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Watch the great trailer for the film here

Cost: 185 mil. $
Box office: 1,005 bil. $
=  Big hit
[The Dark Knight broke records galore: With 8 Oscar nominations, it is the most Oscar-nominated film based on a comic or graphic novel to date, beating Dick Tracy's (1990) 7 nominations. Dark Knight was 2008's highest-grossing film and remains the 4th highest-grossing superhero movie, (almost certain to be bested soon by Avengers: Age of Ultron.) It made 534.9 mil. $ (53 %) of its total gross in the US, where it had an earth-shattering opening weekend of 158.4 mil. $. The film was re-released traditionally and in IMAX in early 2009, which made it break through the 1 bil. $ mark.]

What do you think of The Dark Knight?
And Nolan's other films?

Batman/Batman: The Movie (1966) or, Batman and Robin: Kapow!!!

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KAPOW! The poster for Leslie H. Martinson's Batman seems to scream it

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Batman and 'the boy wonder', Robin, are up against a terrifying enemy: A collective of Gotham City's four worst criminals, who among other things dehydrate world leaders! 

From the left, Burgess Meredith, Cesar Romero and Frank Gorshin as the film's three male villains

They are The Riddler, The Joker, The Penguin and Catwoman, and they are all played with zeal and a speedy kind of mania by Frank Gorshin, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith and Lee Meriwether.
I found myself intensely wishing that Robin's (played by Burt Ward) mushy lips would do other things in Batman besides merely uttering idiocies. But alas. The very first Batman movie is a fatiguing, peppy, sexless, straight 60's-fantasy, which is completely relocated from reality and therefore lacks any kind of suspense. Still, it is worth a watch as a timely, stylish, psychedelic and über-enthusiastic entertainment production full of gags and yelling and noise of all kinds. It has a sensational amount of silliness and both the obligatory Batmobile, but also a Batcycle, a Batboat and a Batcopter ...!
And in case you're wondering, this is how Batman and Robin run through Gotham City in the film:

And this is how they climb tall buildings:

The film was released in the summer between the first and second season of ABC's Batman TV-series that feature almost all of the same actors, (Catwoman, however, was played by another actress.)
Batman is directed by Leslie H. Martinson (The Brady Bunch (1970-73)), a very productive mostly TV director.
Whether you'll enjoy the film depends mostly on your ability to experience the campy/innocent/silly dialog and production design as charming and funny. Ideally, Batman is experienced either with some kids, or under the influence of a joint.
Enjoy!

Watch the trailer here and at the same time enjoy Link Wray's classic theme here

Budget: 1.5 mil. $
Box office: Est. 1.7 mil. $ (US and Canada rentals)
= Uncertainty

What do you think of this the very first Batman movie?

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) or, Batman and the Storm, Darkness, Anarchy, Evil, Depression

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Christian Bale in his impressive suit on the poster for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises should undoubtedly attract people with leather and/or domination kinks

Batman has been a depressed hermit for 7 years, having retired Batman, in which time his business has gone to hell. Now a young woman steals a pearl necklace from his safe, and a lunatic by the name of Bain threatens Gotham City ...

Rises is impressive, partially shot in IMAX, and it has scenes, - especially action scenes and those featuring its futuristic vehicles, - which pack a wallop. The production values are top notch, and the huge budget involved here wasn't lost on CGI excesses.
The ensemble cast is huge and also overly so; the film suffers from too many characters and a running time that is way too permissive; the film should have lost about 40 minutes.

Hans Zimmer (Inferno (2016)) has created another rumbling, excitement-awakening score full of chanting and war drums, and Rises also has first-rate sound work. English master co-writer/director Christopher Nolan (Inception) wrote the movie with his brother Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer, trying to tie a highly mythical ending to the Nolan Batman trilogy, while introducing several new but familiar characters (namely Catwoman and Robin), and it becomes too much.
Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)) is menacing as the kind of super-terrorist madman Bain, but the Nolans have kept way too much of his gloom and doom speeches in their final movie. This also makes the film too dark and heavy for a superhero movie. (The film's overly dark mode was made an even more pregnant fact around the time of its summer release, when a young, deranged man shot 12 people and wounded 58, wearing a Bain-like gas mask at a midnight showing of the film in Aurora, Colorado. He later called himself the Joker. The tragedy pulled a heavy, dark shadow over a movie that already had too much darkness in itself.)
Despite its many good elements, Dark Knight Rises is a disappointing end of this Batman, and it also has a nonsense ending, SPOILER in which Batman's death is mourned, after he has sacrificed himself for Gotham in a nuclear explosion; only to mysteriously survive this impossible ordeal and pop up in Florence.

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Tom Hardy is fairly unrecognizable as the angry, strong, merciless Bain, in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises

Most of the principal characters of The Dark Knight Rises on display in this appropriately dark as !#?¤ artwork

Watch the trailer here

Budget: 230 mil. $ (after tax reductions)
Box office: 1 bl. $
= Mega-hit, 10th highest grossing film of all time

What do you think of The Dark Knight Rises?

Batman (1989) - A huge, glitzy, empty joker

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A poster for Tim Burton's Batman

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Gotham City's gangster problem numero uno, played by Jack Palance (Shane (1953)), is exterminated, but the replacement is no better...
Michael Keaton (Jackie Brown (1997)) is good, but very yuppie-ish as Bruce Wayne. Batman has quite a few awkward 80s qualities, - among others songs by Prince composed for the movie. The first Batman of Warner Bros.' initial film series is strangely frigid, and the interest on behalf of the audience never grows out of the curious but essentially passive.

Jack Nicholson as the Joker

The main reason to watch Batman is, of course, top-billed villainous Jack Nicholson (Chinatown (1974)), who goes theatrical and all-in as the total wacko. Nicholson himself was no fool, however; he got paid an astounding 6 mil. $ salary for his part + a considerable gross percentage, which ran up to somewhere between 60-90 mil. $!

Jack Nicholson's goofing around in Batman earned him more money than few other movies have ever made their star

Batman was a huge production with impressive special effects, but, - though many people seem to love it, - it is certainly not among director Tim Burton (Batman Returns (1992)) best films, and it also isn't among the top 3 best Batman films.
Burton has himself expounded on his negative thoughts about it, calling its production "torture. The worst period of my life!" - As its budget spiraled upwards from 30 mil. to 48 mil. $. In retrospect he has said; "I liked parts of it, but the whole movie is mainly boring to me. It's OK, but it was more of a cultural phenomenon than a great movie." - And he is totally correct.

Related review:

Tim Burton: Batman Returns (1992) - Burton gives us the ultimate, Gothic spin on Gotham City and its sinister characters 
Beetle Juice (1988) - Burton and team serve one of the best horror comedies ever 

Watch the original trailer here

Budget: 48 mil. $
Box office: 411.3 mil. $ (+ 750 mil. $ of merchandise!)
= Huge blockbuster + first film to reach 100 mil. $ within 10 days of release

What do you think of Tim Burton's first Batman?

Batman Returns (1992) - Burton gives us the ultimate, Gothic spin on Gotham City and its sinister characters

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Featuring Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny DaVito and Christopher Walken, all in stellar performances in a visually incredible film, Tim Burton's Batman Returns is the best Batman movie ever

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The story rotates around the Penguin, a man, who has lived in Gotham City's sewers, and who now wants to be the mayor. He gets help from the city's business king, Max Shreck. His secretary in the meantime begins to meow ....
Michael Keaton (Beetle Juice (1988)) is busy as Batman in this the second big movie adaptation of the DC comic by Warner Bros., but the story is well-told in a pace that has to be labeled as perfect. Danny Elfman's (The Simpsons (1989-)) score compliments Bo Welch's (Beetle Juice (1988)) amazing, Burtonesque production design to a tee. - Returns is one of Elfman's best works, because the film is perfectly suited to his grandiose, playful style.

Michelle Pfeiffer in one freaky and very sexy role as Catwoman in Tim Burton's Batman Returns

The film offers exceptional, Gothic images and legendary performances by, in particular, Michelle Pfeiffer (Scarface (1983)) as the sexy Catwoman and Danny DeVito (Anything Else (2003)) as the oozing Penguin, one of the all-time best movie villains.

Danny DeVito in one of the best villain roles ever created on the screen, as the Penguin in Tim Burton's Batman Returns

Returns is a fantasy movie with a thick underlining of the word fantasy and totally without consequences for reality; it is escapism in its purest form. In these cases, the fantasy must be excessively thorough and amazingly conceived to hit the highest notes: Batman Returns is just that, and might be master director Tim Burton's (Mars Attacks! (1996)) best film yet: Weird, funny, sexy, scary, inventive and wildly entertaining throughout.
Burton is working on an untraditional project for him at the moment, Big Eyes, a 'low budget' (10 mil. $) period drama about real-life painter Margaret Keane, set in the 50s and 60s, with Amy Adams, Krysten Ritter and Christoph Waltz. - Sounding very intriguing.

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Batman Begins (2005) or, Modern, Dark, Smooth Batman 

The movie is better than its trailer makes it look, but here it is anyway

Budget: 80 mil. $ (incl. marketing)
Box office: 266.8 mil. $
= Blockbuster

Do you agree that Batman Returns is the best Batman movie?

Batman Begins (2005) or, Modern, Dark, Smooth Batman

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+ Best Superhero Movie of the Year

A beautiful, hand-painted poster for Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins

How did Gotham City's mysterious billionaire Bruce Wayne also become its dark-robed protector and disguised vigilante, the Batman?

 

My favorite superhero returned in 2005 in the hands of English master filmmaker, co-writer/director Christopher Nolan (Inception (2010)) and in the shape of the impressive, Welsh Christian Bale (Rescue Dawn (2006)). Batman Begins is the first in Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy of modern, darker, less mythical and more realism-adhering Batman films than what is known from earlier entries in the DC Comics franchise started by Bob Kane and Bill Fingers in 1939.
The action, gadgets and new Batmobile (known as the tumbler) are especially awesome. Nolan uses a minimum of CGI, and refused a second unit to keep his vision consistent throughout the film.
The cast is impressive. To pick out a few of the most noteworthy performances, Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later (2002)) looks good and feels completely right as the villain, Dr. Jonathan Crane who becomes the Scarecrow. Tom Wilkinson (Valkyrie (2008)) is pungent as Gotham's gangster overlord, Carmine Falcone. And Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption (1994)) is handy as Lucius Fox, the series' sympathetic Mr. Gadget.
The script by Nolan and David S. Goyer (Blade (1998)) tells much of Batman's origins, and it works well, except for the one, original character created for the series, Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes (The Extra Man (2010))), or Miss Moralizing, who is too close to Mary Jane Watson of Spiderman sugar-sweet to fit the quite dark tone of the film.
Generally, however, Batman Begins is too bereft of sex, filth and really colorful villains to compete with the best of the Batman films, which in my opinion remains Tim Burton's Batman Returns (1992), a masterpiece in lavish entertainment, Gothicism, villains and wild eye-candy.
Nolan here launches himself big-time with a solid, dramaturgic construction of the Batman character in one of the most popular films of the 00s, Batman Begins.

 

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Batman: The Dark Knight Rises (2012) or, Batman and the Storm, Darkness, Anarchy, Evil, Depression

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The Dark Knight (2008) - Nolan's best Batman 

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Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 150 mil. $
Box office: 373.6 mil. $
= Even

[Batman Begins premiered 31 May (Tokyo) and runs 140 minutes. Nolan and Goyer were hired for the reboot in 2003. Bale was paid 9 mil. $ for his performance; Liam Neeson (Love Actually (2003)) 2 mil. $; Holmes 1 mil. $. Shooting took place from March - September 2004 in Iceland, England, including in London, Chicago, Illinois and in New York. The film opened #1 to a 48.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend at #1 and then another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#3-#5), grossing 205.3 mil. $, which with later re-releases has grown to 206.8 mil. $ (55.4 % of the total gross). It was the 7th highest-grossing film of the year in North America. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 30 mil. $ (8 %) and Mexico with 12.8 mil. $ (3.4 %). The film was nominated for 1 Oscar: For Best Cinematography (Wally Pfister (Moneyball (2011))), lost to Dion Beebe for Memoirs of a Geisha. It was also nominated for 3 BAFTAs, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #126 on the site's Top 250, sitting between For a Few Dollars More (1965) and Dangal (2016). The film had additionally made 167 mil. $ on domestic home video sales by Summer 2006. Bale's Batman returned in Nolan's second in the trilogy, The Dark Knight (2008). Nolan first returned with The Prestige (2006). Bale first returned in The New World (2005). Batman Begins is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Batman Begins?