The Real Debate Batman (1989) or Batman Begins (2005)

[DjfunkmasterG]

Which truly is the better film? Batman Begins gets my nod solely on the story and characters. The relationship of Bruce and His Dad, his conflict within to become Batman etc etc. Thoughts? I wish I had a poll Function. HEY MINION MAKE ME A POLL BATMAN or BATMAN BEGINS

[Arcades057]

Tough question, but I gotta go with the original. Micheal Keaton and Jack mothertruckin Nicholson are Gods.

[axlish]

I side with Batman Begins. It exceeded my expectations, I don't think I could have written it any better. We be pollin' now

[deadwrtr]

Which truly is the better film? Batman Begins gets my nod solely on the story and characters. The relationship of Bruce and His Dad, his conflict within to become Batman etc etc. Thoughts? Batman Begins gets my vote. While I liked Keaton and Nicholson, I found that Batman to be a bit too comic-bookish, whereas Batman Begins developed the ideology of Batman much better, especially his foray's into the criminal mind. Plus, Bale is the sh*t. Did you see him in The Machinist? Holy crap... what an actor.

[erisi236]

gotta give the original some love

[Danny]

the origional, batman begins sucked it was a prequel for christs sake!

[glsjaw]

for petes sake Batman begins is so hollywood and not the true meaning of batman, (I.E.nice batmobile)

[Tri0xin]

Ain't nothin' like the real thing, baby! Tim Burton's Batman. Michael, Kim, Jack... great cast.

[Hawkboy]

I didn't think it was even up for debate with anyone (at least in Comic Book circles)... Batman Begins captures the feeling of the Comic much more than the Burton pic. As the Batman films progressed after Burtons they became less like the comic and more like the camp-fest TV series that really doesn't reflect the true comic Batman very well. My only complaint was that they should have ditched the Black suit and gone with something more like the comic.

[MinionZombie]

Obviously you figured it out, so I'll sit back in my chair and vote for "Begins". While the original film is friggin' awesome, the new film's story, acting, character development etc is just fantastic. It felt so good to see a franchise that was dead in the water, twitching and dribbling, to be reborn with an excellent new film, and Bale rocked ... slightly daft "gruff Batman voice" aside.

[DjfunkmasterG]

I always give props to the original especially because of Nicholson, but lets face facts BATMAN BEGINS was closer to the comic than BATMAN. Plus in BEGINS you get to see who realy killed Bruce Waynes parents. It wasn't the joker as the 1st film would have you believe, it was a homeless man on the streets of Gotham. For overall entertainment BEGINS delivers, BATMAN exceeds. For overall quality I have to go with BEGINS. For performances and story, again BEGINS gets my nod.

[bassman]

the origional, batman begins sucked it was a prequel for christs sake! It's not a prequel. It has nothing to do with the old Burton/Shumacher franchise. In fact, the villian in the next film is supposed to be the Joker. So it's not a prequel....It's the beginning of a new franchise(which will start going downhill just like the last one did, i'm sure) It's hard to choose between the two. They're both great films. Overall, I think I would have to go with "Begins" because of the reasons everyone else have stated. "Begins" makes Wayne/Batman more human. I consider both about equal..

[DjfunkmasterG]

It is, but it isn't a prequel. However, you are right it has S H I T to do with the Burton and Shuhacker films.

[bassman]

It is, but it isn't a prequel. What do you mean? "It is" what? One other thing I like about "Begins" is the awesome supporting cast. Sure, Burton's "Batman" had Nicholson, but "Begins" has Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman(who I think made a PERFECT Gordon), Tom Wilkinson, etc. Truly awesome cast. Hopefully this "Batman" film franchise can stay decent past the second film....

[Tullaryx]

This is a simple one for me: Batman Begins. I may be the few who actually didn't think the original Burton Batman was that great once I actually got past the novelty of a comic book movie finally being on the big screen. Burton's film really only had one thing going for it and that was Wayne Manor and the gothic feel of Gotham. Other than that all the characters were either overwritten caricatures of their comic version, and remember Burton was supposedly basing his film post-Miller Dark Knight Returns Batman in terms of attitude and feel. Keaton was all wrong to play both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Not once did I feel like Keaton as the Wayne persona was actually an indolent playboy who cared nothing but himself, or at least pretended not to have any sort of social agenda. And as Batman he didn't have the physicality to pull it off. Nicholson was a very good Joker, but again he seemed more like Nicholson pretending to be Joker instead of actually becoming the character. Really, Nicholson seemed like he was playing one of his past kookie characters but with clown make-up on. Don't even get me started on what Burton did to the character of Police Commissioner Gordon. Nolan's Batman Begins actually follows the concepts and ideas laid down in the comics. Nolan wasn't a slave to the canonical information from the comics, but he actually was able to capture the spirit, if not, the exact feel of them and at the same time keep the film based on reality. The supporting characters were very close to what was established in the comics, with special mention towards Miller's Year: One characterizations. Even the technology used by Batman were shown, described and explained to make them something that could be possible. As for Bale's voice for Batman, it's little-known outside of the comic-book geeks (which I am proud to call myself one) that Bruce Wayne changes his voice to be a menacing raspy sounding voice to be Batman's voice. That was a little detail in the film that made me smile. I knew then they wanted to do the definitive Batman film. As for the Batmobile...whatever reservations I had ended once I saw it in action and also realized that this is just Batman starting out, hence he still hasn't made too much modifications to make it look more like a Bat-themed vehicle. There's more to say, but for now those are what made Nolan's film better and really put Burton's film out into the open as something that really looks closer to the 60's camp TV series than to what Miller tried to do when he reinvented the Dark Knight.