Why Batman Begins Is Not Underrated
As a result of the acclaim and popularity of The Dark Knight trilogy amongst critics, audiences, and many fans, it’s been hotly debated in the blogosphere over which film deserves to be crowned the best installment, whether or not they deserved their success, and how affluent each particular film was. Due to the fact that The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises were significantly more acclaimed and garnered more financial revenue, this has led to the belief that Batman Begins is somehow underrated. This is simply not true for many reasons.
Setting aside that the cultural zeitgeist for superhero films and general cinema was drastically disparate in 2005, Batman Begins was still a rapturous success in its heyday. It was the highest-rated Batman film at the time, and by the end of 2005, it was featured on 105 top-ten lists by North American film critics (CriticsTop10.com: Best Movies of 2005). If we extend this to more top-ten lists overseas, the amount of critical appreciation it garnered deems it the fifth-most acclaimed DC Comics film behind Wonder Woman, The Dark Knight Rises, Joker, and The Dark Knight. (See more: The Suicide Squad top-ten lists, and Highest-rated DC Comics films according to film critics.)
Beyond vindication from critics and audiences, Batman Begins continues to be cherished as one of the best superhero films ever made, and was a major influence on Hollywood reboots and pop culture adaptations over the years (Batman Begins Wikipedia: Impact). Various comic writers have endorsed all three films; one key voice from this is Dennis’ ONeil, who was a fan of all three films and has especially endorsed their depictions of Ra’s al Ghul and Talia al Ghul despite them being controversial to certain people in fan communities (‘Batman’ Comic Writers Agree: Christopher Nolan ‘Got It Right’). (Comics writer Chuck Dixon, the creator of Batman supervillain Bane, gave his blessing in regards to Tom Hardy’s portrayal of him in The Dark Knight Rises.)
Certain people attribute Batman Begins being overlooked by the public to the unprecedented success of The Dark Knight, but that’s only one factor. Over the past several years, there’s been an unfortunate trend of webzine authors and fans who seem hell-bent on downplaying the success and legacies of The Dark Knight Rises, Batman Begins, and other superhero films so that only The Dark Knight maintains the status quo. This has been articulated through articles or videos from the likes of Collider and ScreenRant with a variation of the title “Why has no other superhero film matched The Dark Knight?”; in the end, these articles only serve as echo chambers for why The Dark Knight is honored as it is while rejecting its surrounding films and other superhero titles out of hand.
With Matt Reeves’ The Batman heading into theaters and already being blessed with early positive reviews (and even premature vindication before being released), it’s crucial to not forget about the Batman films that paved the way for its release and to keep their respective success and legacies alive.
