Bruno Tattglia, though I don’t usually approve comments that are simply ad-hominem attacks, I felt I would be doing a disservice to the rest of the world if I didn’t go ahead and post yours. I’ll let your comment stand on its own merits. – Tim

There was much more artistry and mythos in “Batman Begins,” attention to the story, despite a few clunky story elements. The thumping music was developed to much better effect in the earlier movie, brilliantly anticipating and framing the Batman’s emergence. The Batman of the new movie is less mysterious, less scary. Even when he is intimidating, in the cell with the Joker, the villain seems to have the upper hand. Compare that with the slingshot treatment Batman gives the rogue cop in “Batman Begins.” (“Swear to ME!”) It is true that the Joker is a much more formidable foe.

I liked many individual scenes of the new movie as spectacle, and for other aspects, and they are often extremely well done. I enjoyed the performance of the Joker. But one can’t appreciate scenes in isolation. I can never love this movie the way I love “Batman Begins,” which adds up to something much more.

The ending was very disappointing.

Has anyone seen Batman Dead End by Sandy Chollera? (sp?) Awesome fan film, way better than this disappointment.

If warner brothers had any sense at all, they’d hire Sandy and have him write and direct the next movie. He will have to retcon the events in DK.

p.s i hated how the joker looked when his make up was clean and not smeared. Shallow reason to be disappointed but it did bug me.

Great movie reviews by the way. I enjoyed the different perspectives.

We just had a lunchtime discussion about our take on your opinion of the movie, and much of what we said to each other mirrors Chuck’s comments above. In particular, we talked about Bruce Wayne / Batman ending the film as the hero the city deserves, but not the hero the city needs at that moment. The city needs someone to blame for all the death and violence — the hero it needed was Harvey Dent, but he’s gone; so the police must take Dent’s place as the needed hero to help the city recover from all the horrible things that have happened. Gordon says, “we’ll hunt him, because he can take it, because he’s not a hero.” Batman is haunted, dark, willing to do whatever the city requires — including take the blame for murder and mayhem. He isn’t necessarily likeable.

Tony Stark is a fun, extroverted guy. And at the end of Iron Man, he’s so full of himself and so delighted with his new status as a superhero that he happily stands up at a press conference and tells the whole world, “I am Iron Man.” Sure, he’s got plenty of flaws, but it’s hard to dislike him.

When Bruce Wayne’s press-conference moment comes, he’s ready to reveal his identity in order to save the city from the Joker — but he would do so only under that intense level of duress. He knows that he can be more powerful as an unknown, symbolic presence, serving Gotham by whatever means to root out injustice. He doesn’t care if anyone likes him; he has his own higher purpose.

Having now finished my presentation of Batman Philosophy 101, I’ll say that I didn’t go into the movie wanting or expecting it to make me feel introspective. It’s a deep, dark film about a psychopath who comes from nowhere to demonstrate the worst of humanity, and the damaged man who must find a way to defeat him. I suppose we were supposed to take away some sort of message about Humanity and the Greater Good from the scenes on the two boats, but that part struck me as completely unrealistic. In real life, the prisoners would have mobbed the guy with the detonator. When we discussed the scene after seeing the movie the first time, my husband commented that he could never blow up the other ship — but my response was that if I was on that boat with my children, I would do whatever it took to save them. By myself? Probably not. But threaten my kids, and look out. In the movie, there were mothers with children on that boat, and I don’t believe they would have sat by and let them die.

To wrap up, for me it was a “deep and wonderful battle” — but not of heroic figures. Batman isn’t a hero; he’s the darkest of dark antiheroes. Maybe Christian Bale’s performance presents that darkness so effectively that, in looking for Tony Stark or John McClane, you couldn’t help but be disappointed. Instead, you have to take Batman for who he is.