Batman
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Lerxst
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My vote's cast 
Love Tim Burton films in general and "grew up" with this Batman image during my formative years.
Think Keaton made a great Bruce Wayne and liked the darkness he added to Batman; a compromise between the latest Dark Knight series and the campy 60's version. There were a lot of changes made but some classic things still remained. A lot of his fighting moves are still "classic Batman" moves, without getting too far in to the martial arts realm as well.
Bale does a decent Bruce Wayne as well, but I cringe every time he speaks as Batman... he sounds like a little kid trying to imitate a "scary voice"! Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman really save that series for me though.
Oh... and Jack Nicholson as The Joker and Danny DeVito as The Penguin!!! C'mon, it doesn't get any better than that!
Love Tim Burton films in general and "grew up" with this Batman image during my formative years. Think Keaton made a great Bruce Wayne and liked the darkness he added to Batman; a compromise between the latest Dark Knight series and the campy 60's version. There were a lot of changes made but some classic things still remained. A lot of his fighting moves are still "classic Batman" moves, without getting too far in to the martial arts realm as well.
Bale does a decent Bruce Wayne as well, but I cringe every time he speaks as Batman... he sounds like a little kid trying to imitate a "scary voice"! Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman really save that series for me though.
Oh... and Jack Nicholson as The Joker and Danny DeVito as The Penguin!!! C'mon, it doesn't get any better than that!
ChadKarding
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Michael Keaton - Late 80's-early 90's Tim Burton films
Imo, it had the best music/style of the lot.
Imo, it had the best music/style of the lot.
Gaze
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I don't think there's a better or worse. Each series of films fit the aesthetic or style of the decades when they were released or became popularpretty well. I think Christian Bale/Heath Ledger versions of Batman/Joker clearly reflect a different perspective on good/evil compared to Keaton's/Nicholson's versions. They each had their own thing to offer. The later Batmans are more focused on realism and the psychological drama which influenced the actions, while the previous versions focused on the satire and the outrageousness larger than life irony.
Brodskizzle
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I think Bale can't hold a candle to Keaton, particularly the voice (WHERE'S RACHEL? WHERE IS SHE JOKER? will never cease to make me laugh) but the supporting cast is so great, the productions are awe-inspiring, and Nolan is such a great director.
Lerxst
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He was a good Wayne, wasn't he? Overall I think the newer series give Bruce Wayne a closer look than the other movies did. The others seemed to write Bruce in as an afterthought, while the new ones focus on Bruce Wayne before they doBatman - they're almost more of a character study about him.
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I had to go with the old campy Adam West series since they are so bad they are hilarious.
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60s Batman: 4/10
I get that it's supposed to be 'campy', I just don't think it takes a lot of creativity to be lame on purpose. And it was never really laugh out loud funny, it was more about rolling your eyes at how lame it was, and to be honest I think it's really boring. I guess it's kind of neat to say you like it so that people will think you're cool or ironic or something, but I don't really like the idea of characters being written so that the audience can feel superior.
80s/Burton Batman: 6/10
I think it's kind of ironic that everyone makes fun of Bale's voice when Keaton basically did the same thing for his Batman, but with a weird Brooklyn accent to make himself sound 'tough'. The first one was alright and compared to other films in 1989 it was pretty dark, which is good-- but the whole arc for Burton's Batman was 'his parents died, something something something, he's Batman'. The Joker was the star here-- and Nicholson was amazing as always, but the overall story was very weak.
And Returns wasn't even really a Batman movie, it was more like a Tim Burton movie, which used to be a good thing until he got involved with Johnny Depp and repeated himself about 600 times. We just don't need any more films about misunderstood social rejects, or off-beat Christmas imagery, or pale-faced villains, or predictable Elfman scores. I'm glad we didn't get to see Johnny Depp as The Riddler, or Helena Bonham Carter as Poison Ivy. I loved 89 Batman when I was 11, but now I watch it and even though it looks great, you can kinda tell that Burton didn't really care about Batman, and just wanted to do The Nightmare Before Edward Scissorhands' Wooden Corpse of Fleet Street. It was good that he went 'dark', and I think that's what people liked about it.. and yes, I suppose it's nice that he found something in the character that he could identify with, but there was definitely a lot of room for improvement here.
Schumacher/90s Batman: 2/10
I think Schumacher hates Batman. I also think that he hates people who like Batman. From the beginning you can sort of tell that he's written Batman fans off as peons who deserve to be condescended to. He used the characters as star vehicles (and nothing more)-- there was zero character development, atrocious dialogue, and gaudy ugly stupid action scenes. Forever was pretty much Ace Ventura 3, and B&R doesn't even deserve to be talked about. When he's not embracing his inner fascist (like in Falling Down, which was offensive but hilarious), all of Schumacher's movies are shit, and these are no different.
00's/Nolan Batman: 9.5/10.
I don't think there's any room for improvement in the Batman saga anymore-- because all 3 Nolan films nailed it so perfectly that it would be impossible. Every portrayal of every character is note-perfect… there might have been a better choice than Bale, but he still did a really really good job. Best of all, the character was treated with respect… you can tell Nolan really looked deeply into the character and tried to figure him out, as opposed to trying to make the character fit into whatever story he personally wanted to tell. I think it really speaks volumes when I can go to the theater in my 20s and enjoy a new Batman movie more than one I saw when I was 11. All 3 movies are brilliant-- so much work was put into making them relevant and faithful, which is the sign of a true director and a great adaptation. It might be possible to make a movie as good as these, but there will never be a better one.
Wow, that was long. I'm a geek!
I get that it's supposed to be 'campy', I just don't think it takes a lot of creativity to be lame on purpose. And it was never really laugh out loud funny, it was more about rolling your eyes at how lame it was, and to be honest I think it's really boring. I guess it's kind of neat to say you like it so that people will think you're cool or ironic or something, but I don't really like the idea of characters being written so that the audience can feel superior.
80s/Burton Batman: 6/10
I think it's kind of ironic that everyone makes fun of Bale's voice when Keaton basically did the same thing for his Batman, but with a weird Brooklyn accent to make himself sound 'tough'. The first one was alright and compared to other films in 1989 it was pretty dark, which is good-- but the whole arc for Burton's Batman was 'his parents died, something something something, he's Batman'. The Joker was the star here-- and Nicholson was amazing as always, but the overall story was very weak.
And Returns wasn't even really a Batman movie, it was more like a Tim Burton movie, which used to be a good thing until he got involved with Johnny Depp and repeated himself about 600 times. We just don't need any more films about misunderstood social rejects, or off-beat Christmas imagery, or pale-faced villains, or predictable Elfman scores. I'm glad we didn't get to see Johnny Depp as The Riddler, or Helena Bonham Carter as Poison Ivy. I loved 89 Batman when I was 11, but now I watch it and even though it looks great, you can kinda tell that Burton didn't really care about Batman, and just wanted to do The Nightmare Before Edward Scissorhands' Wooden Corpse of Fleet Street. It was good that he went 'dark', and I think that's what people liked about it.. and yes, I suppose it's nice that he found something in the character that he could identify with, but there was definitely a lot of room for improvement here.
Schumacher/90s Batman: 2/10
I think Schumacher hates Batman. I also think that he hates people who like Batman. From the beginning you can sort of tell that he's written Batman fans off as peons who deserve to be condescended to. He used the characters as star vehicles (and nothing more)-- there was zero character development, atrocious dialogue, and gaudy ugly stupid action scenes. Forever was pretty much Ace Ventura 3, and B&R doesn't even deserve to be talked about. When he's not embracing his inner fascist (like in Falling Down, which was offensive but hilarious), all of Schumacher's movies are shit, and these are no different.
00's/Nolan Batman: 9.5/10.
I don't think there's any room for improvement in the Batman saga anymore-- because all 3 Nolan films nailed it so perfectly that it would be impossible. Every portrayal of every character is note-perfect… there might have been a better choice than Bale, but he still did a really really good job. Best of all, the character was treated with respect… you can tell Nolan really looked deeply into the character and tried to figure him out, as opposed to trying to make the character fit into whatever story he personally wanted to tell. I think it really speaks volumes when I can go to the theater in my 20s and enjoy a new Batman movie more than one I saw when I was 11. All 3 movies are brilliant-- so much work was put into making them relevant and faithful, which is the sign of a true director and a great adaptation. It might be possible to make a movie as good as these, but there will never be a better one.
Wow, that was long. I'm a geek!