Just now, Christopher Nolan is once again conquering the world’s screens with “Oppenheimer.” But the director has already made his mark on other genres: With his Batman trilogy, he has set new standards in the superhero*in genre.
Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy has shaped the genre of superheroine adaptations like hardly any other blockbuster series and has finally given the cinema of comic book adaptations the necessary seriousness that fans had been hoping for for years. Even today, more than 18 years after the release of “Batman Begins,” Nolan’s genre contributions remain the ultimate in comic book adaptations.
Starting today, August 12, 2023, Prime subscribers* can watch Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of the Dark Avenger of Gotham on Amazon Prime Video at no additional cost. So for those who have yet to fill that education gap, now is the perfect opportunity.
ONE OF THE BEST ORIGIN STORIES EVER
In 2005, master director Nolan started his excursion into the world of the Bat-Avenger and with “Batman Begins” he managed to create one of the best origin stories of a superhero ever right off the bat. Whereas similar blockbusters have tended to be colorful and over-the-top, Nolan presented here the antithesis to the works of Joel Schuhmacher (“Batman Forever”) or Sam Raimi (“Spider-Man”).
Realistic and vulnerable came across as its hero, whose work as a crime fighter was more like an inner compulsion than moral self-determination – due in no small part to a superb Christian Bale, who played Batman with manic determination. And the action wasn’t a colorful roller coaster ride either, but seemed downright grounded.
“THE DARK KNIGHT” UNDEFEATED TO THIS DAY
To this day, “The Dark Knight” remains for us the best comic book adaptation of all time. Not even grandiose blockbusters like “Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Spider-Man 2” or “Guardians Of The Galaxy” can keep up. Nolan consistently developed the themes he started in “Batman Begins” and created a dark superhero epic that perfectly captured the terror zeitgeist of a post-9/11 America. In addition, Heath Ledger, who died shortly after the film’s completion, delivered arguably the performance of a lifetime with his portrayal of the iconic anarchist villain Joker.
But the film isn’t just a masterpiece for us (we gave it top marks in our review), our community also celebrates the film and even voted it the best superhero movie of all time:
EVEN THE WEAKEST FILM IN THE SERIES STILL PUTS THE COMPETITION IN ITS POCKET
The trilogy conclusion “The Dark Knight Rises” may be the weakest film of the series and yet the aged and broken dark knight, who must prove his abilities one last time, offer much more in terms of content than many works of the competition. In particular, Tom Hardy as the supervillain Bane gives a whimsical but nonetheless very impressive portrayal of an overbearing antagonist who not only wants to defeat the hero, but break him directly.
In our 4-star review, editor Björn Becher comes to the following conclusion:
“With ‘Batman Begins’, ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Christopher Nolan has given the hero in the bat costume an overall outstanding trilogy that has set the bar very high for any “Batman” film to come at some point. Even if the conclusion of the series is a bit overloaded thematically and narratively, and thus doesn’t quite measure up to its predecessors, Nolan brings his Batman story to a satisfying conclusion. “
If that’s not enough of the Batman for you, you already have a reason to rejoice: Starting on August 19, 2023, “The Batman” will also be available on Amazon Prime Video. Fortunately, the flick with Robert Pattinson in the role of Bruce Wayne could meet the oversized expectations after the Nolan films and delivers its own, but no less exciting Batman narrative approach.
