One of the best adaptations of Batman in the television and film medium

Rating: 10/10 (23 September 2015)

Growing up, I admit I did not read any Batman comics. To this day, the only Batman literary material I have read is Frank Miller's brilliant graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns. Therefore, I should feel that I do not have a valid opinion on the cinematic portrayal of Batman, right? Not exactly. No, I am not literate in Batman's original medium of comic books, but the inception of my best view of Batman came from the Tim Burton 1989 Batman film and the Animated Series. I did not need to read his comics because that film and that show read them for me and adapted Batman into the film and television art-form perfectly, especially the Animated Series. From the film and the show, I knew who Batman was, I knew what he stood for, therefore allowing me to understand the decisions he would make to seek justice; allowing me to think "Batman would do that." For me, every Batman portrayal from then on were held by the standards set by 1989 Batman and the Animated Series Batman. Those standards were not met by the many Batman's in TV and film of years to come. Not even in Batman Begins. Some of the elements of what I knew and loved of Batman were in Begins, but it was still its own portrayal of Batman, albeit a decent one though. It was not until 2008 when one Batman film was able to transcend those standards I made. The Dark Knight showed me and the world a Batman I had never seen before but one I already knew. His devotion to stopping the perfect personification of chaos known as The Joker was familiar to me and I reveled in it. At the end of this film, Batman does capture the bad guy as I've always seen him do, but this time it was very different. Batman was going to teach my 14 year old self a very important lesson in what a hero truly is, a lesson I was consistently learning in my life at the time. Batman does capture The Joker, but The Joker can still win because of his manipulation of Gotham's former white knight, Harvey Dent, who has now completely transformed into the deadly Two-Face. Batman becomes what Gotham needed him to be and makes the decision to take the blame of all of Two-Face's horrid actions to keep prosperity in Gotham alive. I had always seen Batman as the good guy who just broke the rules evil always used to defend itself. After seeing this film, it allowed me to see Batman in a new light, that he would do anything to save his city, to keep justice alive. From how I knew Batman already, it allowed me to understand and accept his decision and think "Batman would do this." Alfred explained it best when he says "He's not being a hero, he's being something more." The portrayal of Batman in this film showed me what it truly meant for Batman to be a Dark Knight.