One of the most popular incarnations of Batman, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, used a subtle genre trick to make the hero work. Starring Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader, Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy started with 2005's Batman Begins, with follow-ups in 2008 and 2012 with The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises respectively. The trilogy made use of a more grounded tone than many superhero films opt to take, making Bale's Batman a more believable hero in a way that hadn't previously been achieved.
Each of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight movies featured different Batman villains, with Batman facing Ra's al Ghul (Liam Neeson) and Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), Two-Face (Aaron Eckhart), the Joker (Heath Ledger), Catwoman (Anne Hathaway), Bane (Tom Hardy), and Talia al Ghul (Marion Cotillard) all within a short three-film span. While this introduction of many of Batman's rogues' gallery was ambitious, the trilogy's grounded tone and Nolan's cinematic approach to storytelling made them feel organic to the Dark Knight trilogy's Gotham.
There's actually more to this than meets the eye, however. Nolan used a subtle trick to make each film work: every film in the Dark Knight trilogy makes use of tropes from different genres. This helped Nolan to make Batman and his villains feel like a natural part of their world, as the audience's perspective of that world was shifted in order to better fit the story. This not only made the trilogy work, but it also made Christian Bale's Batman one of the definitive iterations of the character, because it fleshed the Dark Knight out in an exciting new way.
Why Batman Films Struggle To Capture The Hero's Tone
Though Batman has had a number of popular incarnations over the character's long history, his films are often divisive among fans. This stems from the iconic nature of the character, and the broad spectrum of different iterations there have been since his first comic book appearance. Every version of Batman focuses on just one or two ideas to capture the nature of the character, and often, this leaves other aspects of the Dark Knight untouched.
The general issue is that Batman's history is contradictory. Even in movies alone, he's had sillier, more cartoonish versions (such as Adam West's), wacky, childish incarnations (like that of George Clooney), and more brutal, cynical versions (like Ben Affleck's). This range of approaches that can be taken to the character may work on one or two levels, but there's always something left out, and that leaves almost every Batman movie feeling as though it only represents a small part of the character. Consequently, any single Batman cinematic effort will inevitably fail to deliver on one or more aspects of the source material that many viewers will consider essential.
Batman Begins Used Elements Of Horror
Though Nolan's films predominantly fit into the superhero genre, Batman Begins' plot involved Scarecrow's fear toxin, and as a result, the film subtly adopted some elements of horror movies. The use of Ra's al Ghul also fed into this - the idea of an immortal antagonist with murderous intentions is at the heart of the slasher genre, after all - but Scarecrow is the ultimate reason for Batman Begins' horror elements. Much is made of Batman's use of fear, particularly with regards to his approach to his vigilantism, and the idea that both Batman and Scarecrow want to scare their enemies is central to their characterization in the film.
Batman Begins' Gotham is a dark and scary place, with specific aspects of the film's cinematography clearly intended to evoke fear. This is key to the film's villain, too - Scarecrow's fear toxin in Batman Begins makes his victims vividly hallucinate their worst fears, and Ra's al Ghul helps him to disperse it across half of the city. The use of fear as a driving force behind the film's plot really leans into the aspects of the horror genre that often appear in Batman's stories.
The Dark Knight Was A Crime Thriller
The Dark Knight is widely considered the strongest of the trilogy, thanks in part to its epic story that shakes the very foundations of Gotham's society. Following Batman's involvement with DA Harvey Dent and his continued work with James Gordon of the GD, The Dark Knight sees the trio attempt to tackle Gotham's organized crime syndicates. Though the film's main villain, Heath Ledger's Joker, might not seem obviously related to organized crime, he works at their behest to kill Batman and bring chaos to Gotham.
The use of organized crime as a part of the film's plot makes The Dark Knight feel more like a crime thriller than a superhero film. With the police attempting to catch and take down notorious criminals before they can enact their violent plans, the emphasis in The Dark Knight is very much on tackling crime. This is a major shift from Batman Begins' tone, but it works, particularly as it highlights the detective and crime-fighting elements of Batman's character, adding another important genre notch to Christian Bale's utility belt.
The Dark Knight Rises Tried Subtle Apocalyptic Themes
Perhaps the loosest fit of the trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises pits Batman against Bane as the pair fight for control of Gotham City. Bane's supposed plan is to hold the city hostage, which he enacts by trapping its entire police force underground and destroying all of the bridges out of the city. By cutting the city off and declaring his own form of martial law, Bane makes The Dark Knight Rises feel distinctly post-apocalyptic.
The Dark Knight Rises explores how Batman operates outside of the law, and how certain situations call for a sense of morally-sound lawlessness. The film also deals with Bale's Batman emerging from self-imposed retirement, adding a survival-of-the-fittest clause to its broad list of themes. The final film in Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy attempts to resolve other elements of Batman not explored in the previous two films, ending with Batman's victory as he saves the city one final time - inspiring a successor in the process.
How Nolan's Genre Trick Made His Batman Trilogy Work
Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy explores the character of Batman in a way that other incarnations of the character haven't. By subtly shifting genre in each film, Nolan painted Bale's Batman in a slightly different light each time, showing the way in which he adapts to different situations and different villains. Above all, this makes Bale's Batman feel more adaptable than previous incarnations, as Nolan's trilogy made use of a wide range of the character's various elements.
The shifting of genres allows for the films of Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy to change in order to adapt to their respective stories and villains, which made Christian Bale's Batman feel better explored by his films. Not only does this speak to the versatility of Christopher Nolan as a filmmaker, but it gels perfectly with the character of Batman, who has undergone a number of iterations over the years, many of which contradict one another. By utilizing this subtle genre trick, Christopher Nolan ensured that his The Dark Knight trilogy delivered a well-rounded and generally comprehensive version of Batman.
