The Dark Knight Trilogy Ranked

3.  The Dark Knight Rises

The finale to this great trilogy is also the worst of the three movies.  This does not mean that The Dark Knight Rises is a bad film in any way.  The film still manages to provide a satisfying ending to an epic trilogy.  Tom Hardy's Bane was incredible, and the fight scene where we see him pick Batman apart and finish him off by braking his back was one of the greatest superhero scenes of all time.  Where this movie falls short of its predecessor's was in finding a footing in the grounded universe that Nolan had established.  In a vacuum, The Dark Knight Rises may be higher on this list.  Yet, where the other two feel like they could happen in the real world, the holding of an entire city hostage, the infiltration of Talia al Guhl, and the near super strength of Bane made this movie lose its grounded touch.  Never the less, Christopher Nolan was still able to provide a great ending to this epic trilogy. 

2.  Batman Begins

Batman Begins is the quintessential superhero origin story.  This movie was able to reintroduce one of the most beloved characters of all time to the audience in a completely new way.  The radical change from the overly childish Batman and Robin in 1997 was a huge hit with audiences, and thus the greatest superhero trilogy of all time was born.  Batman Begins succeeds on nearly all levels, giving true emotion to Bruce Wayne's Batman, and giving him a dangerous and personal villain that truly allowed the film to shine.  Liam Neeson's Ras al Guhl was the perfect counter part to Bale's Batman.  The two were equally matched in strength and skills, but Bruce prevailed in mentality and values, one of the key aspects of this universe's grounded Batman.

1.  The Dark Knight

One common thing in this list has been the praise given to the villains of this trilogy.  The Dark Knight boasts arguably the greatest movie villain of all time, in Heath Ledger's perfected Joker.  He seemed to be ahead of Batman at every turn, and even in his defeat was able to wreak havoc by creating Two face through tragic means. His performance alone is reason enough to love this movie, yet it succeeds in so many other facets.  It provides the same realistic take from its prequel, yet delivers it in a darker, more introspective way that allowed audiences to experience a broken down and battered Batman like they had never seen before.  This movie is one of Christopher Nolan's greatest works, and, in my opinion, the greatest superhero movie of all time.