13. Cast
Some of the casting decisions made by Nolan left a lot to be desired. Both Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman are accomplished actors but let's be honest, they have been phoning in the same performance since 1994. Katie Holmes drained the life out of every scene she appeared in Batman Begins and it was a relief when she got replaced by the much more reliable Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight, but even she wasn't given enough of a character to drop the last film's baggae. And Matthew Modine was just awful in TDKR but that had much to do with the script as his acting ability. But credit where credit's due, Gary Oldman was good as Commissioner Gordon and so was Michael Caine and Joseph Gordon Levitt shone in TDKR as did Anne Hattaway (who saw that coming?). But the best performance came from Aaron Eckhart as Two Face who was the real star of TDK and not Heath Ledger. However, once you start comparing them to Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Jack Palance and even Robert Wuhl, you immediately realise why Tim Burton's Batman is much more fun to watch than Nolan's pretentious trilogy. Apart from Aaron Eckhart, Burton's cast runs rings around all the other performances in Nolan's three films. Granted Nolan's cast have a more serious and meaty script to get their teeth into but would rather watch Levitt shepherd some school children around for half an hour or Bale and Neeson discuss who's a better ninja when the alternative is to have Nicholson and Palance go at it after calling each other "sugar bumps?" Burton's casting was pure genius. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63iuB-cSY7Q