4. Final Fights
The final confrontation between Batman and Joker in Gotham Cathedral was excellent. After everything the Joker had put Gotham City and Batman through, it felt like a satisfactory conclusion with the Joker falling to his death. Even the fight that preceded that was well choreographed and you was with every punch Batman planted on the Jokers face. You left the cinema buzzing. Compare that to the dull train sequence in Batman Begins with the threat of the the toxin that Ra's Al Ghul wanted to unleash failing to raise the tension meter in anyway. A lot of that was down to Ra's Al Ghul being such a boring villain, you just don't care. It was dull, unmemorable and by the numbers climax. In TDK the ending was a little better. Some say the ferry sequence went on for too long and it did have it's laugh out loud moment when ex WWF wrestler Zeus threw the detonator out of the ferry window and sat down like he was having an internal emo breakdown, but overall I thought the scene was one of the highlights and full of suspense. The same can be said of the sequence with Harvey Dent holding Gordon's son hostage, it made up for the unsatisfactory scene where the Joker got arrested. I also liked Batman asking Gordon to publicly blame him for everything. In TDKR, we got a silly fist fight on the steps of City Hall. It had too many extras which took the focus away from Batman and Bane. It also concluded with the twist that demoted Bane from an overwhelming beast to cuddly bodyguard. And to top it off, we got the boring bomb plot and Batman's ''death'' that had been telegraphed two hours previously. Batman 89 got it's ending right. Burton didn't overload the cathedral with Joker goons, there was only one. Also the focus was just on Joker and Batman with Vale adding tension through her damsel in distress role. It was backwards and forwards between the two and you were drawn into the scene. Burton didn't throw a million things at you in the hope some stick. And when the Joker was hanging from the helicopter with a gargoyle for company, you had mixed emotions even though you wanted him to fall. It was good cinema. Nolan's endings, especially for Batman Begins and TDKR were a total let down.