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Hello and welcome to this show that has yet to be named! Now I'm sure everyone has at least heard, if not seen at least one comic book film. Be they bad or good, old or new, our cinemas have seen no end to the deluge of comic book film adaptations. But there has been two films that has said to have done extremely well by all standards. That is Batman Begins and Iron Man. Now, I know The Dark Knight did much much better than Batman Begins and it came out at the same time as Iron Man but the two movies have similar plots, looking at the start of a comic book hero. So let's not delay this any further. Which one is the best?
The Hero
Bruce Wayne (Batman) vs. Tony Stark (Iron Man)
These guys have so much in common, yet so little. They were both orphaned, both incredibly wealthy and intelligent, both have their own companies, and both rely on gadgets and technology to fight crime. From there, well, here's we kind of veer off. Bruce's reason to be a superhero comes rather gradually. It starts with his parents' death in the alley but in the film, it spends the first half of the film focusing on it as he resolves to kill the mugger only for him to die. He then decides to explore the criminal underworld before joining up with the League of Shadows. Following that, he has an idea what he must do and only then does he become Batman. Tony was a bit faster, his resolution coming from the fact that his weapons are being used by those who want to destroy lives of innocent people. By no means am I saying that bad though.
Their goals are completely different. Bruce wants to save Gotham from the crime and corruption it's been sinking in while Tony wants to repair the damages that his company and by extension their weapons have wrecked on the world. For some reason, I think Tony's motives are better, if you can judge motives like that. It gives him a sense of redemption that he's trying to reach in his life. Bruce, on the other hand, spent the better part of his life focusing on his fight against crime. Which does detract from his personality a little bit, making him somewhat flat. Sure, we do see him having fun but that’s not a lot compared to the blatant hedonistic behaviours of Tony. He even tries to have fun following his ordeal in Afghanistan and his determination to become Iron Man. Some parts of it have to do with the actors. Christian Bale, while a good actor, seems a little too uptight in his performance. By contrast, Robert Downey, Jr. retains a great deal of energy as Tony Stark, making him seem livelier. However, I did enjoy watching Bruce Wayne mature from a princely boy to a disillusioned determined crime fighter and Christian Bale did a good job transitioning from a lost wanderer who was two steps from oblivion to the Dark Knight.
Batman and Iron Man as their alter egos couldn’t be more different. Iron Man is definitely flashier while Batman works in the shadows, relying on fear and subtlety. And while we haven’t got to Batman’s infamous voice, we see the beginnings of it. When Iron Man speaks, it sounds much more threatening yet it doesn’t resort to a loss in articulation. A minor nit-pick, but I’ll be damned if I neglect it. The costume design for Iron Man is just fabulous, the red and gold clashing wonderfully. The Batsuit, on the other hand, it was intimidating but it did seem a bit bulky at times. Sure it was really clever of them trying to make it more realistic but still, compared to the Iron Man armour, it loses ground.
So who wins? Well, this is an incredibly hard choice but I’m going to have to go with Tony Stark on this. While I do wish I could see more of the Iron Man in action, I just barely like him over Bruce Wayne.
Batman Begins: 0 Iron Man: 1
The Villain
Ra’s al Ghul and Dr. Jonathon Crane (Scarecrow) vs. Obadiah Stane (Iron Monger)
Now where do I begin with Ra’s al Ghul? He is easily one of the best villains I’ve seen in cinema yet. A lot of it has to do with Liam Neeson’s performance which is just golden. He is extremely polite and well-mannered even as he’s burning down Wayne’s mansion. He’s completely shrouded in mystery but we know what he wants. To end corruption where he finds it through any means necessary and he just happens to line his sights on Gotham City. In this way he is given more characterisation and just overall fantastic. Crane is equally great and kudos to Cillian Murphy’s performance. When we first see him, it’s a tad unnerving as he’s leaning towards the microphone. While somewhat overshadowed by Neeson’s performance, Murphy does a pretty good job, terrorising his patients and Batman. What I really love about this movie is instead of using the more famous villains like the Joker or the Riddler in the first movie, Nolan opts to use the lesser-known enemies and develop them. By contrast, Obadiah Stane was, well, he seemed somewhat two dimensional. It was pretty obvious that he wanted to get the company and that he didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. And while the movie tries to play him as affably evil, he doesn’t really pull it off as well as Neeson. Point goes to Batman Begins.
Batman Begins: 1 Iron Man: 1
The Love Interest
Rachel Dawes vs. Pepper Potts
Well this is rather interesting, I suppose, since these characters are incredibly different. Rachel is Bruce’s childhood friend who becomes an assistant for the District Attorney while Pepper (I’m trying not to laugh or wince while I’m typing her name) is Tony’s personal assistant and for all intents and purposes...his babysitter. Oddly enough, the awkward relationship between Tony and Pepper is the more compelling. Part of it has to do with Bruce’s somewhat lack of personality, while another part of it has to do with the fact that Rachel here looks like she’s twelve. Also Pepper definitely seemed to have the most personality and characterisation of the two. And since neither girl is on my sig below, I really can’t go on looks for this one. Point goes to Iron Man.
Batman Begins: 1 Iron Man: 2
The Supporting Characters
So, both Batman and Iron Man had an entire host of people to help them and support them as they went through their struggles. First of all, let me get this out of the way. I absolutely LOVED Yinsen. I found him to be an extremely sympathetic character and nearly cried when he gave his life for Stark and said “Don’t waste it”. Jarvis as a computer rather an actual butler was extremely interesting and I loved the crew for that. Plus Paul Bettany’s soft sarcastic sounds send delights down my ears. And Rhodes was rather good, showing a sense of disapproval to Tony's antics but nevertheless running with them because he's such a good friend. However, for here, I really have to go with the supporting cast in Batman Begins. You really can’t say no to the combined powers of Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman. Can you? I thought so. Oldman as Sergeant Gordon was an excellent choice, especially in the scene where he comforts the young Bruce Wayne, you can really see the fatherly affections. Afterward, you can see the struggle inside him as he tries to redeem a falling city. Morgan Freeman, despite having a somewhat limited role, did a magnificent job. And finally, Michael Caine playing the ever-faithful and the ever-snarky Alfred Pennyworth. My god, I think that role was made for him. He has the fatherly affection mixed with the stern mentoring on Bruce Wayne and it has wonderful chemistry between the two. NOT THAT KIND! And well, you really can’t see Tony and Jarvis doing anything like Bruce and Alfred, can you? Point goes to Batman Begins.
Batman Begins: 2 Iron Man: 2
Visual Effects
Now between Batman and Iron Man, their techniques are incredibly different. Iron Man is extremely bombastic and flashy while Batman uses fear and subterfuge to take down his opponents. But the thing is, the camera was way too shaky in Batman Begins. Sure, he relies on the shadows and everything but, really I kinda want to see what Batman is doing. We’re not viewing the fight from the thug’s point of view, for god’s sakes. The Scarecrow hallucinations were just awesome though. I love how Batman sees bats crawling out of Scarecrow’s mouth.....before the crazy camera starts again. Half the time, I didn’t even know Scarecrow was dousing him with alcohol. And then again, in the climatic fight with Ra’s al Ghul. Really, what’s your obsession with the shaky camera effect, Batman Begins? By contrast, every action scene with Iron Man was filmed where we could get the entire experience without getting motion sickness. And I like to keep my popcorn in my belly, thank you.
Batman Begins: 2 Iron Man: 3
Story
Right so this is the deciding point here. Now, like I said, both superheroes are in some way similar and as a result their stories are somewhat similar. Something traumatises them into becoming superheroes. Both movies did a great job showing the evolution from a normal civilian to a crime fighter, risking his life for other people. But to be quite honest, I liked Nolan’s story telling of the origin of Batman. While Batman himself wasn’t that rich in characterisation, he was passable and the supporting characters were more than enough. And I really enjoyed Nolan’s use of flashbacks, flipping through his training with the League of Shadows and his childhood. Plus I felt it was more connected than the way Iron Man was presented. Close call, but I’m going to have to go with Batman Begins on this one.
Batman Begins: 3 Iron Man: 3
So this now brings us.....oh great. It brings us into a tie. So much for trying to figure out which one is the best. I could say both movies are equally good but screw it, this is America and we need to know which one is the best, gorramit. I guess we’ll have to wait until Iron Man 2 comes out to decide, won’t we? Happy now? This is Caunion, signing off until next time.
Please comment and vote which battle you want to see next. And sorry this was SO late.