15 Bravest Creative Decisions In Comic Book Movie History

8. The Gritty Style Of Batman Begins

Compare The Amazing Spider-Man reboot with one that absolutely cannot be called lazy, and that's Christopher Nolan's gritty re-working of the Batman franchise. His Batman Begins reboot was everything that Joel Schumacher's two movies (Batman Forever and Batman & Robin) were not: it was serious, dark, brooding, and didn't have a scrap of camp to speak of. Stylistically, the movie was a complete breath of fresh air: the sickly neon visuals of the last two movies were substituted for a more pared-down, "realistic" depiction of Gotham, while Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard's electronic score was again something totally new. In addition to that, the all-star cast was certainly an upgrade from the rather dubious casting decisions made in the last two movies. Did It Work? Hell yes. Pretty much every aspect of the movie is first-rate: the cinematography, set design, score, acting, script and direction were all widely praised, and of course, helped make Batman a pop-culture staple once again. Nolan's style also proved massively influential, with many blockbusters tending to favour this more downcast, formalist aesthetic over cartoonish bombast.