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Opinions! We all have them. Find out what people really think with polls and surveys from Crowdsignal.
The Fellowship of the Ring. Not only is it the best film in the trilogy, but it absolutely is a cinematic achievement. It adapted a book that was largely considered unfilmable. It advanced Special FX work and put WETA Digital, a small New Zealand based FX studio on the map and in league with ILM. And was made by a director who's previous credits include The Frighteners, Dead Alive, and Meet the Feebles.
There's a million reasons why the movie shouldn't have worked, instead we were given a fantasy benchmark all other fantasy films will be held up to (who won't think of Ian McKellan as Gandalf for the rest of time?).
I love the Dark Knight, but let's be honest, it's because of one performance...and it's not Gravelly McGravelvoice.
I refrained from voting in this one, in part because I'm fairly equally uninterested in either film... but also why should I help set one of them up for the knockdown that There Will Be Blood has waiting next week?
The Dark Knight is the best super hero movie. But it is still only a super hero movie. Lord of the Rings is an adaptation of the best fantasy novel of all time. Easy choice.
Do you want to know how I got these scars? Having to choose between these two movies. Both amazing me and are among my favorites. I love the moral dilemmas and intricate Joker schemes, but I ultimately have to go with Fellowship. The Dark Knight leaves you amazed, but still with a grim feeling at what you just experienced. Even with the darkness shown from Moria to Boromir, Fellowship leaves the viewer with more hope, and that is what I would rather be able to rewatch.
Ben Ashworth
Lombard, IL
Let's see, either the best superhero movie of all time or a movie that's not even the best in it's trilogy...
I'm going with Dark Knight. It works better as a standalone film and has that fantastic Ledger performance. Maybe there can be a Trilogy or Franchise Madness in another year and LOTR can rightfully take it's place in the final four, but in this case I don't think it even deserves to be in the Elite Eight. Plus i'm still angry it beat out my precious Basterds.
There are many powers in this world, for good or for evil. Some are greater than you are. And against some, you have not yet been tested. Sorry Frodo but the dark knight is more powerful. Into the fire of Mount doom with you
It's kind of hilarious that a high-brow show about film that does things like Luis Bunuel and Agnes Varda marathons.....has an audience who thinks THE DARK KNIGHT is potentially the greatest film of an entire decade. City of God got voted out in the first round. A Serious Man got beaten out by a clown in a nurse costume.
I still love these tournaments, they're great fun, but just in terms of actual outcomes I think it's safe to say that Filmspotting Madness is a bit of a failed experiment guys.
There seems to be some problem. It won't allow me to vote for Before Sunset.
You either die before filmspotting madness, or you live long enough to hate making every one of these choices.
The last half hour of The Dark Knight is an absolute mess. LOTR for me.
People laud The Lord of The Rings as a cinematic achievement, but what's it's influence? It spurned a decade of overblown CGI and two and a half hour slogs. It had a prequel trilogy that was unnecessary in every sense of the word. And it started the banal trend of splitting a book up into two or more movies. Looking at you, Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. I'd go with anything else here. It just so happens that that "anything else" is a top ten movie of the decade.
I love The Dark Knight. This was easy. Fellowship all the way.
I remember my seven year old self stepping out of the theater in 2001, mind awash with soaring strings and frenetic percussion, verdant hills and dank caverns, unbreakable friendships and heart-wrenching betrayals. Fellowship of the Ring opened my mind to movies as immersive experience, and peering behind the curtain into the level of craftsmanship and dedication to each element of the film awoke my love for the craft of film. Howard Shore's masterful score is a perfect example of this level of care:
Shore's use of motifs helps ground the viewer in a complex world, with instrumentation matching the personality of the subject: fiddle for the Shire, percussion and deep brass for Isengard, ethereal chorus for the immortal elves. Motifs are placed in proximity for juxtaposition and tension, the percussion against strings mirroring Tolkien's essential conflict of industry versus nature; they are also used to add to the narrative, like the Ring's theme entering Boromir's introductory speech in Rivendell, add subtle complexity and foreshadowing to this new character. The score uses the familiarity of the motifs to tug at the heartstrings, with an especially poignant and bittersweet ending: a boys choir sings over the Shire theme about dreams of home as the hobbits face their journey alone, followed by a brief swell of the Fellowship theme, which, like the now broken team and uncertain future, fades to the wistful credit song "May It Be." The score is more than music, it's a character of its own adding to narrative.
I have a lot of love for the Dark Knight, but the love and craftsmanship that went into Fellowship is unsurpassed, and deserves to be protected for future generations to enjoy.
How these two are still in the tourney is beyond me. It makes me wince actually. There are at least 200 films I rated higher than these two in the decade. The appeal escapes me.
Fly you fools!... because the superhero masterpiece is about to trample the little wee hobbits.
Lord of the Rings is fantasy- A fantasy that it’s a good movie! I can’t believe all of that doom and gloom has schlepped it’s sorry way this far through the bracket. It beat out The Incredibles and Inglourious Basterds?! You people are obsessed, Golems all of ye are. The Dark Knight is a ray of sunshine compared to the Rings. Christopher Nolan is My Precious.
Fellowship is much like the song Stairway to Heaven. It starts in one place and ends in another with a bunch of rockin along the way. Just as Stairway wins all those best of classic rock countdowns, so too should Fellowship win this round here.
As for the Dark Knight, "This is the end, my friend "
Well, Well, Well.
The two unjust tyrants of this tournament must now battle it out. How ironic. City of God, one of the best Crime dramas ever, usurped by a lowly Hobbit. A touching animation about the greed of man focalised through a voiceless robot? Nope, I want the guy with two faces and a coin gimmick. When will our nerd overlords be appeased? When will This madness end? I abstain, let the fandoms pull each other to bits.
One of these movies completely falls apart in the third act, the other doesn't.
In a just world, Fellowship takes this easily.
You do realize that when you force people into making these impossible decisions, the Joker wins.
Though both films are parts of trilogies, the other entries (save for Dark Knight Rises) are already toast. The Dark Knight works better as a standalone piece, which is important when we have so few films to choose from in this media wasteland. You don't necessarily need Batman Begins for backstory and the ending is perfect on its own. Fellowship has a great climax, but still ends on a cliffhanger.
That said, I have to listen to my heart. I'm going to do what Batman never could and make sure the Joker can never put anyone in this position again. Fellowship, you have my sword.
2 absolute genre defining juggernauts. One, totally rewrote what a Superhero movie and villain could be, which is a Should have been best picture nominated, beloved film. The Other, the first part in one of the most ground breaking, and breathtaking fantasy movies ever conceived and executed. The way PJ set out to make LOTR Trilogy, should never have worked, and it exceeded all expectation through both sweeping visual, and intimate character driven movie making. This is like choosing between my children, if I had any. I am going to be brave, and carry the Dark Knight to the mountain of fire, and drop it off the Cliff. #FrodoLives.
-Brendan from DC.
Some film podcasts just want to watch the world burn. Both are great films from great trilogies, but when you examine them apart from their trilogies it's not even close. Fellowship without the other two leaves a fantasy tale unfinished. Knight, on the other hand, stands alone a perfect superhero film.
The answer to the question 'Why should the Dark Knight prevail over Fellowship of the Ring' is simple: Heath Ledger. Ask modern film lovers whose performance this century stands out as the most singularly compelling, the most memorable, and the most emotionally affecting, and the answer you'll hear most often is Heath Ledger as the Joker. He transcended the the source material and elevated comic book films into the realm of serious art. The Dark Knight also has a more exciting pace, more thrilling action sequences (the bank heist), breathtaking stunts (the 18-wheeler front flip), legendary practical effects (the hospital blowing up) and, I think Adam would agree, greater stakes. Other than Gandalf's fall, are we ever really concerned for the safety of anyone in Fellowship? Whereas we are consumed with dread for anyone in the same room as the Joker, and for the very soul of Batman and Gotham city itself. Fellowship is covered with moss, but The Dark Knight still gleams as brightly as a razor-sharp, polished Batarang, and it gets my vote..
Fellowship.
I am neither a Batman fan nor am I a Tolkien fan. But once again, I enjoyed Fellowship more than I did The Dark Knight. I have developed a fondness for the Lord of the Rings films and Peter Jackson's chutzpah.
I am clearly in the minority about Christopher Nolan. Outside of Inception and Dunkirk, I have found his films tedious. That included the Dark Knight trilogy. Come at me, everyone. I do not care.
I love both these film, and both are the best of their respective trilogies, however, the Lord of the Rings is by far the better trilogy of films and as the sole representative of the trilogy, it has to win.
I'm not sure if my vote will even count since Adam banned me on air in the Transit episode :)
Not happy with either disappearing but since we have to choose, I went with the Dark Knight.
Simply because it is a complete (albeit messy and overstuffed) story, while LOTR is the first act of a story.
If it was trilogy v trilogy it would be another thing.
p.s. are there enough trilogies for a Madness? Godfather v Star Wars in the finale? Or since it's filmspotting does the Sunrise/Set/Fall finally have enough support?
I know I'm repeating myself, but here goes: As a stand-alone movie, I don't think Fellowship works all that well. I could vote for it as sort of a stand-in for the whole trilogy — which is a masterpiece, and considerably greater than the sum total of its parts — but that's not what this is about. Also, my preferred version of Fellowship isn't the theatrical cut, but the extended version. The theatrical cut felt rushed to me, and the extra character development of the extended version helped it immensely. These are a lot of caveats, I know, but it all comes down to this: The Dark Knight is the better film, and it should win this round.
No doubt in that , Dark Knight is more than a superhero movie and changed the way we all see these type of movies . LOTR is a action movie based on one of the best books ever written , but has not changed anything imo in the history of movies , and I will never forget that it misses one of the most interesting chapters of the Tolkien book , the one dedicated to Tom Bombadil .
If we were to lose The Dark Knight, we would still have myriad great superhero films to fill the void it left behind, such as Logan, Black Panther, Into the Spiderverse, and presumably The Dark Knight's own predecessor: Batman Begins. We'd also have numerous crime dramas and what few Nolan films survived the onslaught of this bracket. If we lost Fellowship, we'd lose the crucial first and best entry in a trilogy that has these last fifteen or so years been the gold standard of fantasy films, adventure films, and the filmography of Peter Jackson. Also. Fellowship is just better. I see your Heath Ledger and raise you an Ian McKellen.
My vote goes to Fellowship.
I will lose all credibility by saying that I think all the Hobbit movies are a snooze. But I may lose more by saying DARK KNIGHT is overrated. If you really step back and look at it, it's a mess of a movie. Sometimes Nolan hammers his points so hard you just have to roll your eyes. Other times it's incoherent, or you laugh at Christian Bale's performance. But there's no denying it's what wonky critics like to call "bravura filmmaking," the kind of big, over the top director's vision that you rarely get to see anymore. I'll overlook its shortcomings and call it what it is: a Smart Blockbuster. That's a rare feat.
While The Dark Knight revolutionized superhero movies for me back when I saw it in 2008, it's by far the best part of an OK trilogy, where Fellowship is the best installment of three all-time classics.
How did we end up here? Its the battle of the most overrated films of the 2000s!
Both are really good films, but there are clearly better films that got knocked out in the play-in rounds than these. And going by the death match criteria, as someone else said, we have the LOTR books and any number of Batman TV shows, cartoons, and other films to visit when this version is gone.
Maybe I'm just bitter since I can't watch The Departed anymore.
Agree with Brett ++, both of these overrated films shouldn't have gotten this far ... almost every film in both their brackets were better than these. I hate to call out toxic fanboy nostalgia on a typically discerning audience like Filmspotters but since I can't vote "NO" on both, screaming it into the void and this comment box is all I can do here
Children of Men v There Will Be Blood makes my chest hurt.
There's always that one choice that makes me cry "Adam and Sam, you are eeeevil?" Seriously, my all time favorite comic book superhero film, and an all around excellent film at that, against a superb first film of a trilogy that has become an absolute cinematic masterpiece. Christopher, Christian, and Heath, I will love you always but the Middle-Earth has a hold on my heart for all eternity.
Darn you guys. Most of these choices have been hard, but this week is so brutal. All four of these decisions were so hard. This decade was my burgeoning cinephile days. The Filmspotting community already destroyed the other Nolan films in this exercise. I cannot bear to see the "The Dark Knight" to bite the dust as well. In a world of CGI fest and recycled superhero storylines (Aquaman), TDK is creme de la creme of the genre. It is an action-packed crime thriller with maybe the best villain to grace the screens. This hero is grounded in reality and deals with real-life consequences of the role of a vigilante do-gooder. I remember being gripped into my seat from the first frame to the last and being absolutely floored with the curtain call. TFOTR is almost as hard to part with because I absolutely love and adore all the characters and there are so many themes of love, friendship, sacrifice, and Christian allegory throughout. Samwise's character is especially endearing to me, while Gandalf's stand in the mines of Moria always sends shivers up my spine. I feel like there are other fantasy films that have this going for them as well as these are common themes in fantasy, but not sure that they do it quite as well. TDK, on the other hand, I feel sets itself apart as a superhero genre and can even double as a crime/suspense as well. Frodo and his crew will have to be tossed into Mount Doom, sad to say. Keep up the good work guys. This is a fun but extremely painful exercise.
All I can say is my geek heart hurts right now. Dark Knight gets my vote as I push the Hobbits into the fires of Mount Doom.
Why is The Fellowship of the Ring still hanging around? I thought it was seeded too high to start. In that part of the bracket, already eliminated were The Incredibles, Inglorious Basterds, Minority Report, The Departed and Wall-E. All should have advanced farther than Fellowship.
My own choices on this two films are probably not to be trusted on this point, I've betrayed them both in the past and voted for them both, down is up, Sideways is nowhere to be found, I'm all at sea with neither master nor commander, oh well this is the madness . . . but Fellowship of the Ring felt like a promise fulfilled at the beginning of a long journey, so I'm going to choose to linger in the light of the Shire for as long as I can.
As much as I love the Lord of the Rings, and have since I was a kid, I simply cannot vote against the very best movie there is, about the very best superhero there is. Don't @ me.
Sherwood, AR
Here is where my Dark Knight fandom comes to a close. The lessor third act finally kills it in the end. I'll still have decades of comics to enjoy.
Oh, what a delectable matchup we have here! Can't believe it's the Dark Knight that represents Nolan this far in the matchups but I think it's the one that gets my vote here. Both franchises have been overrated to some extent over the years but I think the other LOTR movies are more interesting than Fellowship. Meanwhile, the Dark Knight is the best entry within its own trilogy and has some heft to it still after all these years. Sorry Frodo, the journey ends here.
So many blockbuster films since these came out have tried to be one of these two films. Their influence is incalculable.
But for me, Fellowship is one of the warmest, sweetest movies of the decade. I return to it as fondly as Ganalf and Frodo reuniting in the Shire. This shouldn't even be close. Bye Bruce
The nerd in me is screaming for having to make this decision! I love both of these movies so much, but at the end of the day it has to be Fellowship. I love the Dark Knight, but honestly can’t remember if I’ve rewatched it since it’s release, whereas I rewatch Fellowship ( and the entire LOTR trilogy) at least once a year. Also, in the larger context of their respective trilogies, Fellowship is a strong start to a perfect film trilogy, whereas Dark Knight is clearly the strongest entry in a series that has some very clear weaknesses ( I’m looking at you Dark Knight Rises).