Here are things I liked better about Burton's Batman:
I love this post, gonna hit you back with some responses
- The score (definitive Batman, fellas)
Can't disagree with this it's superb especially the main theme. I will say though that I think the Dark Knight Returns animated films score comes very close to Elfman's in my opinion.
- The batmobile (and I'll add the batplane, and even the batboat from Returns up there as well)
I do love the Tumbler but again I agree the Burton Batmobile is my favourite. However, watching Burtons films I never actually believed the car could move so fast unlike the Tumbler.
- the batsuit (It looks like a creature, like the actual BATMAN, Batman in the Nolan film always looks like a guy dressing up as Batman instead of a creature, hence the armor/mechanical look)
The one in Returns was better than the one in '89 and that one had the best cowl but I prefer the Begins suit, it looked less rubbery and I always prefer the black bat symbol over the yellow oval
- the batcave. It was just awesome and all around cool looking. Exactly what I think of when i think of Batman. Nolan's was pretty mundane.
I never bought into the Burton or Schumachers caves, they always looked like giant toys to me, the cave in Nolan's looks like a real cave and I much prefer that.
- Keaton was a better Batman. There. I said it. His Batman voice is awesome and he looked cooler, and he kept his cool. He was like the Batman of the comics. He never flew off the handle or became a screaming maniac. There is a reason why people make fun of Bale's (or Nolan's) Batman on youtube/college humor so much, doing the voice/character that way lended a lot of ridiculousness to it.
While I still think Keaton's I'm Batman scene is still the best self declaration scene in any superhero movie I thought Bale was the better Batman, believing he can do the things he does is important to me. Even though I loved Keaton I always felt he wasn't as good when he wasn't using his toys. Bale's Batman voice only got silly in the Dark Knight and I truly believe that was due to the change in cowl. Still you wouldn't believe he was Bruce Wayne would you?
- Gotham city. Anton Furst got academy award cred for his Gotham City. That's how Gotham should like, not too far from reality but it should be its own world
I think you like the fantasy element and that makes sense as its more like the comic book. Only problem I have in Burtons films is everything looks like a set whereas in Nolan's it looks like a real city. I actually think Begins did it best, it had that darkness to it that still felt comic book.
- permawhite Joker WITH laughing gas. Laughing to death is still 100 times more terrifying to me than a dude slashing my face. It's a contrast, which is what the Joker is. I think Nicholson and Ledger are neck and neck, but I knew Nicholson could do it since he is the Joker in a lot of ways in real life (to perfect for the part), Ledger was kind of a shock for me, so that definitely makes me hold his performance in a higher regard, although I will say they are equally as good at the end of the day.
Ahh gotta disagree again I love Jack Nicholson as the Joker but he played himself in Joker make up. Ledger transformed into the Joker fir me, the perma white stuff is unimportant in my opinion. The whole laughing gas stuff was just funny to me not scary in anyway but when Ledger had that knife to Michael Jai White's mouth I felt the tension.
- The 89 film is a Batman movie, not a "Burton" film, not a "Nolan" film, not a "crime drama"
I half agree, I still feel '89 feels much like a Burton film but not as much as Returns. I feel only the second half of Begins feels like a true Batman film to me.
....now here's what I liked better about Nolan's films:
- That Bruce Wayne's parents were killed by a common street thug (Joe Chill) without any ties to future Batman villains. They get the origin right in that respect for the most part. I do wish the Waynes had attended a movie instead of a play (a play about BATS of all things...what the ****, but I get it I guess) I do wish they'd have shown him travelling the world and perfecting his detective/disguise/chmical/skills and athletic prowess more, but maybe next time.
I agree completely on Joe Chill, I didn't like the Joker been Wayne's parents killer but I get why they did it.
Agree on the movie, were there problems with rights to Zorro?
Actually that's one thing I don't think any Batman film has done very well, he's never felt like a detective to me.
- Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon. Perfect casting, the guy was born to play him
- The Batman/Gordon relationship being prevalent throughout the series. This was done perfectly, IMO, exactly how it should have been done and how I always wanted to see it
Agreed 100%
- Bruce Wayne being a socialite and doing some overall Bruce Wayney things - there isn't much of that in either of the Burton films, or as much I should say. Little things like Bruce being asleep at the meeting in TDK I liked.
- The multiple villains Nolan weaved into TDK without making us notice too much; I liked that the Scarecrow was in every film and Two Face was in TDK - although I think both could carry their own films. People complain that the villains are sometimes given too much spot in the Batman films, but for me, half of Batman has always been his villains.
- Catwoman's portrayal in TDKR - just a petty thief. I may have liked Burton's Catwoman costume better, but let's face it, in no way is Nolan (or many other directors) ever going to be able to touch Burton stylistically, which is both a good and bad thing on some days, although I did not think Catwoman's costume was bad on the whole in TDKR. I liked her portrayal as just a thief better than some freaky woman who was pushed out of a window revived by cats - even though that was cool in its own way, it's very Burtony and NOT Batman, and ultimately not what I want to see in a Batman movie (in addition to his Penguin creation, DeVito was perfect casting, but Burton effed it with having him play his high school creation he called "The Penguin" instead of the actual comic book character of The Penguin, I still enjoy some of DeVito's scenes though)
- That Batman himself does not kill (Depending on the circumstances I can see how this rule being violated as an exception sometimes, however on the whole I believe it should be maintained that the character does NOT kill, ever for the most part)
Agreed mostly
...having said all that, neither have got it 100% right so far, the best incarnation of Batman is still, to this day Batman: The Animates Series. A movie done with that style and tone is my ideal Batman film, even something along the lines of what they did with the Zorro film by Martin Campbell from the nineties, keep the level of fun/swashbucklerness of it that gets you excited about the character in addition to the dark and the heaviness and the seriousness and mystery and suspense of it, then you got the perfect Batman movie. Along with Elfman's and/or Shirley Walker's Batman score and the 89 or animated series batmobile of course.
Batman the Animated Series will forever be my Batman
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