Begins, Falls, Rises: Christopher Nolan’s Batman

Well the story’s over.  The epic Dark Knight Saga has come to a close and Christopher Nolan is moving on the other projects.  And damn it I want more!  I think now that the trilogy has come to a close, it would be a good time to look over the series as a whole and just what was so great about these fantastic films.

To start with, ignore for one moment that there are Batman comics.  Then ask yourself, are these still good movies?  The answer is yes.  The thing about the Dark Knight Saga is that these films allowed comic book adaptations to be freed from being considered comic book films.  That is to say that they stand on their own as works of art separate from their comic book counterparts.  Even people who never read Batman like these films.  This in turn paved the way for other film adaptations of comic books, such as The Avengers.  The Dark Knight Saga has taken the superhero film to another level both in quality, and success.

Besides being great films in and of themselves, the films draw inspiration from some of the best storylines in Batman’s history.  Knightfall, No Man’s Land, The Killing Joke, and The Long Halloween are just some of the fantastic titles that gave Nolan and his team inspiration behind both the stories and the characters.  The great consequence of this is that this in turn introduces people previously unfamiliar with Batman to these great examples of his mythos.  Hopefully the films will continue to attract new readers.

Now onto the films themselves.  There’s little that I can say that hasn’t already been said by just about anyone who’s seen these films.  They are fantastic.  The sheer depth of them is almost unparalleled.  They touch on both personal themes such as loss, love, and duty, and wider societal themes like crime, poverty, and the moral nature of humanity itself.  These films are both epic and personal in scope.

The story itself is fantastic.  Throughout the course of these films, we have seen Bruce Wayne’s story as it goes through highs and lows.  We have seen the characters have reaching arcs with a satisfying culmination.  You feel when watching these films that you’re getting a look at this person’s, Bruce Wayne and Batman, entire life story.  We see him in his humble beginnings, his fall from grace, and his rise from the ashes to finally defeat the evil that has threatened him and everything he cares about.  That’s one of the best parts of the trilogy, we get to see the whole stories of just about everyone involved who doesn’t die.  Hell, even Scarecrow gets a complete character arc!

Overall, the Dark Knight Saga is a masterpiece both of filmmaking and storytelling.  The films will likely be considered some of the best films of the last few decades.  I doubt that there will be a better film adaptation of Batman, but I’d like to see it if there is one.

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