Then in 1989 Batman premiered at cinemas. Directed by Tim Burton and flavored it with his own visual style. It proved to be immensely popular, which in no small part had to do with Jack Nicholson’s turn as The Joker. Then in 1992 we got the sequel, Batman Returns, also by Burton, which had even more style, was much darker and was also a big success. For the upcoming two Batman movies, director Joel Schumacher took over, and things went downhill from there. Though, Batman Forever was a commercial success, critically it wasn’t on the same level. The style of Burton’s gothic vision changed drastically to a real comic book color fest. In some ways it was more in the spirit of the cheesy old batman series, even Robin came in. Val Kilmer as Batman didn’t work for me either. Part of the commercial success might be because of Jim Carrey’s part as The Riddler. Though it wasn’t al that good, the worst was yet to come: Batman & Robin! Director Schumacher fell in love with even more color, wanted another actor (or maybe Val Kilmer bailed out?) to play batman again. With George Clooney replacing Kilmer, again a bad casting choice, and even got Arnold Schwarzenegger in it!

Actually Schwarzenegger (as Mr. Freeze), together with Uma Turman (who plays Poison Ivy), make some scenes kind of watchable because they make most of all the corny nonsense, and make you laugh some. But in the end, Batman & Robin has all the wrong moves and motives. The end of Batman, never ever again!

Then somewhere in 2004 I heard plans to revive the Batman franchise again, and I thought ‘talk about a bad idea’. Especially since it was going to be a prequel, and I was full of that too. When I eventually saw Batman Begins in 2005, I was relieved. Not only was it one of the best movies of the year, but probably also the best Batman film in the series. Christian Bale made an infinitely strong Batman character, and the whole movie got a good psychological edge to it. And all this has a lot to do with the director, Christopher Nolan, mostly known for his instant cult-classic ‘Memento’. So everything was good again in Gotham City!

This was a lot of Batman history, and now we have… The Dark Knight.

After all the ultra-hype, partly because of Heath Ledger’s untimely death, it cannot possibly live up to its expectations, can it? Well, this is one of the few movies which actually does live up to it, for me at least. As far as big budget Hollywood movies go, this is it! It has an excellent script, great acting and intense set pieces. Also, the films score (again by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer) has some interesting arrangements; a combination of large orchestral themes and some avant-garde structures.

Though it is a Batman movie, this is The Jokers film, and thus Ledger’s time to shine. His performance is amazing, and can be put in Hollywood’s most memorable movie villains. His character has also far more depth then Nicholson’s previous outing. Ledger is more menacing and frightening than Nicholson, simply because his character is better and deeply written. We can all cry Ledger is no more!

Also Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne/Batman gets more complexities. He has some tough choice to make in this one, and not all is good about the Batman anymore, even questions himself for what he’s worth.

The only gripe in the Batman character is that when he talks, he grunts a lot, like he just got off the stage with his black-metal band. It becomes a bit laughable and that can’t be really good for his character. In Batman Begins, Bale had a fine voice when talking as Batman, but here it’s just over the top, which is a shame. Other than that, Bale gives a fine performance; he’s still the best Batman for me. Also worth mentioning is Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent; starting as Prince Charming for Gotham City, one of the only honest people in Gotham, eventually becoming Two Face (played by Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever). You really feel for him and what he goes through, giving him in the end a real depth.

Furthermore, the script is amazing and very smart, maybe too smart even for a summer blockbuster. But the movie is breaking all records, so that shouldn’t be a problem for the masses. This Batman movie is by far the most layered of them all, beating Batman Begins somewhat by its sheer complexity of story and characters. Also worth mentioning is Gotham City. Where in the first Batman films it was a very theatrical/art-deco design, since Batman Begins we get a more realistic version of Gotham City. Though, at the end of Batman Begins the city changes a lot to a Tim Burton vision, The Dark Knight stays more consistent. During the day, Gotham City looks like a combination of various cities in America, like New York, Chicago, etc. Things look very familiar without being really set in an actual city, although it mostly resembles New York. They scrambled bits and pieces together, through effects and editing, and made a new city, albeit more real, for the Batman world. Gotham at night looks more like a dark comic book, with great use lightening and shadows.

In the end, it just shows you that Hollywood does still has something to offer on a big scale. The movie is indeed bigger, bolder and better. Though, don’t count to see a better big budget spectacle this year.