Alternate Rachels for The Dark Knight
ST and I absolutely LOVED The Dark Knight Rises. So naturally, we had to rewatch Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
Prior to The Dark Knight Rises, Michael Keaton was my favorite Batman. Am I weird or what? I’m a Tim Burton fan. It also didn’t help that Christian Bale’s character in American Psycho completely freaked me out. 
Warning: If you haven’t watched any of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, but plan to, skip this post! There must literally be like two of you out there, but I don’t want to chance it and ruin Batman for you.
Anyway, so we rewatched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Everything was impeccable except for one character. I think you know who I’m talking about.
Rachel Dawes.
I for one like Rachel Dawes. Its just that the actresses, while talented, weren’t quite right for the role.
Katie Holmes is very pretty and she certainly looked the part of Batman’s love interest. Unfortunately, it was as if Joey Potter grew up, moved to Gotham City, and became an assistant district attorney. She even had that weird head shake/jaw clench thing going on in some scenes. She wasn’t terrible but she was definitely the weak link.
Then came Maggie Gyllenhaal. She is definitely a great actress; I thought she was wonderful in Mona Lisa Smile. Despite her acting chops, the way she sashayed in and out of every room was like Giselle Levy moved to Gotham City and started sleeping with the district attorney.
If Chris had consulted with me (yes, we’re on a first name basis) I would have chosen Jennifer Connelly!
…as my second choice. 
The amazing Rachel McAdams would be my first choice! She had me at “I like, invented her.” I heart Rachel McAdams – she’s wickedly talented and plays every role flawlessly. I so, so, so, SOOOOOO wish she was Rachel Dawes. That would have made the films absolutely perfect.
Come to think of it, if Anne Hathaway wasn’t such a splendid Cat Woman, she would have been a memorable Rachel Dawes too. But she kicked butt as Cat Woman and for that I’m grateful.
Did you think The Dark Knight Rises was the most perfect movie ever?
Would you recast any characters?
I thought Dark Knight Rises was OK. I definitely liked Avengers a lot more. DKR would have been better if it wasn’t so long; it seemed like there were a lot of scenes that could have been cut. Although maybe I feel that way because I’m just not that into Batman. I wanted every Harry Potter movie to go on forever.
You are preaching to the choir, Jill. Everyone wanted the Harry Potter movies to go on forever, even my husband. I’m a Batman girl and I thought they were sufficiently lengthy, but I can see how it could be too much though. I’m not a Marvel girl (except X-Men) so I didn’t like the Avengers at all! I find the Iron Man and Thor story lines to be so confusing!