*SPOILERS AHEAD*
THE MAIN VILLAIN
I’ve been rewatching some scenes from TDK this past week, and although I’ve already seen it at least a dozen times, it always strikes me how great a villain the Joker is, and how Heath Ledger’s portrayal raised it to a completely different level. Unfortunately, Bane never approaches those heights in TDKR. This is not an indictment on Tom Hardy. In fact, I rather enjoyed his performance (and put me squarely into the ‘pro’ camp when it comes to Bane’s voice), but anyone going up against Ledger’s Joker is going to have a tough time measuring up.
To be fair, the script could have done more to elevate Bane from a menacing villain to a great one. The reason why the Joker is so intriguing is because he is not a ‘regular’ villain, but that he the very anti-thesis of what Batman stands for.
The Musings of a Dreamer 