3. Gotham City
Tim Burton without a doubt has lost the mojo that made him one of the quirkiest and top drawing directors of the late 80's and 90's. His last good film was Mars Attacks and everything since has almost seemed like a poor imitation of what made us love his films in the first place. But the one thing that has remained constant is his visual flair. You always know when you are watching a Tim Burton film and that is thanks to his unique style which was rising to it's peak when he made Batman. Tim Burtons Gotham City was pretty much spot on. It was dirty, crime ridden hell hole that was full of atmosphere. The architecture and design was grim but beautiful to look at and every building had character. Inspired by Terry Gilliam's Brazil, Batman's production designer Anton Furst said they wanted Gotham to look like ''As if hell erupted through the pavement and kept on going.'' And it did look like that with Gothams's dark brooding buildings and smoke filled streets. Everything from the clothes to the design of the Batmobile said art deco and noir and was beautiful to look at. Gotham City is much of a character as anything else in Batman. It has a look that says everything is rotten and corrupt, the bile from it's inhabitants is morphed into these Gothic looking buildings and that is why the good and Batman almost feel out of place within all that grime. You wouldn't choose to live there, the police are fighting a loosing battle and that is why Batman is needed. Nolan appeared to try and replicate that style a little in Batman Begins with the sky trains and general tone but it was no where near to the level's Burton took it. And for the sequels, any hint of that style was jettisoned for a more realistic look which actually made his films much more of a somber affair. Nolan's obsession with realism robbed us of of one of the best settings in cinema, he could have made all the city shots breathtaking to look at but instead it felt like you was looking at a postcard of downtown Manhattan or Chicago. Even the set pieces came across cold and calculated with CGI effects not being a patch on the model work in Burton's Batman. Everyone talks about Nolan's films being a spectacle but nothing in his films topped shots like in Batman 89 when the Batwing is collecting Joker's gas balloons or when it passes in front of the moon and makes the bat symbol. Those moments stick in your mind for a reason, Burton didn't use fast cutting or overload the frame with crap, it was simple striking images with a lot of power behind them and that is why you remember them. Overall, Burton's style and imagination was perfect for a comic book film like Batman and no one has bettered the Gotham he brought to the silver screen. Nolan by comparison is very clinical and not in a good way like Stanley Kubrick was. Nolan's clinicalness made his Batman films less visually exciting to watch and boring.