The blockbuster of the 2008 summer, The Dark Knight, is the second installment of the Christopher Nolan “reboot” of the Batman movie series. After years of monetarily successful (but substance-lacking) movies produced by Joel Schumacher, fans of the Batman series were both eager, and wary of Christopher Nolan’s takeover of the possible movie goldmine.
While the Burton era (Batman and Batman Returns) was critically acclaimed and very Burton-esque (dark, Gothic, and full of random dead people), when Joel Schumacher took over as director, the films suffered. While the franchise still managed to garner a fair amount of money, the quality and the plot suffered severely. Every movie revolved around a romantic interlude that Bruce Wayne seemed to conjure out of nowhere. The casting didn’t help at all either. While Michael Keaton provided a solid Batman, Val Kilmer and George Clooney made the character seem like a billion dollar playboy, who kind of barely fights crime on the side. Val was pretty good when it came down to the raw acting, but Clooney just played…himself, with a Batmobile. When you add Robin (the most useless damsel in distress sidekick ever), you’ve got a recipe for disaster. But oh no! They were not done! Alicia Silverstone, Uma Thurman, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, and “Ah-nold” all made appearances in the two Schumacher directed films (with only a few ever being worth their salt). Sadly, the only part that was cast correctly was Alfred, played by Michael Gough.
Eight years after the release of Batman & Robin, British director Christopher Nolan took over the series by releasing Batman Begins, a new tale on how Bruce Wane came to be the Batman we all know (and occasionally love). Nolan decided to stray far away from the visually stunning, but mostly plot-vacant world that Joel Schumacher had created. Gotham City was no longer a comic book carbon copy, but…Chicago? Not the obvious choice for one of the comic world’s most crime-ridden cities, but then again, not my choice (personally, seeing Manhattan as Gotham would have suited me just fine). But seeing as how it suited the story just fine, I’ll go on. Christian Bale, mostly known for his work in American Psycho and The Machinist (also Newsies and Equilibrium), was the first non-American to be cast in the role of the Caped Crusader. Like the Frank Miller “re-boot” of the Batman comic series in the mid 1980s, the vision that the new director had given the films gave it a mass appeal to fans and critics alike. 
After the success of Batman Begins (which has earned over $350 million to date), Nolan began working on The Dark Knight, the continuation of his revised treatment of the Batman movie franchise. He was adamant in “reinventing the Joker.” After many revisions, the script went from being a Joker origin story (ala The Killing Joke), to a rise-to-power movie, with Batman on the side. While the tragic death of Heath Ledger added to the hype the movie received before it’s release, to most, the film lived up to it. Breaking record upon record, The Dark Knight came to be the undisputed champion of the 2008 summer box-office. To this day, the film has earned almost $1 billion, kicked The Godfather off it’s pedestal at number one on the IMDB.com Top 250 list (a place it had held since 1997) and earned a devoted (and sometimes rabid) fan base. With talk of a posthumous Oscar for Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker and the imminent release of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray (on December 9th), the frenzy that accompanied the release of the film in July could very well return when the movie is finally released in a legal format (especially when it comes to Black Friday).
Joel Schumacher’s Batman movies were a visual attack, throwing everything at you at once. And for the generation that was young and impressionable at the time, it suited them just fine. But as they grew up, they craved more than just a seizure-inducing set and fast-paced plot. The same generation wanted character development, more serious dynamics and less of an ADD attack on the senses. Batman Forever and Batman & Robin were good for their time, but Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are the new wave of superhero movies. Let's enjoy the ride.
