Here are my thoughts and preferences on the Batman live action films so far (Burton and Nolan of course, although as a young kid I did enjoy Batman & Robin, Batman Forever has always been my least favorite Batman movie, I know that's weird for a lot of people):
Here are things I liked better about Burton's Batman:
- The score (definitive Batman, fellas)
- The batmobile (and I'll add the batplane, and even the batboat from Returns up there as well)
- 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 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 throughout every movie, I kept expecting them to improve as they went along, but they didn't.
- 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.
- 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
- 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 the flesh in many ways in real life (too perfect for the part some might say, but I love him), Ledger was kind of a shock for me, so that definitely makes me hold his performance in a higher regard in one sense, although I will say they are equally as good at the end of the day.
- The 89 film is a Batman movie, not a "Burton" film, not a "Nolan" film, not a "crime drama"
- Vicki Vale love interest, I hated Rachel Dawes and she was a terrible character, doesn't help that she doesn't exist in the comics, either
....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.
- 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
- 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)
...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.
Rankings for me:
1.) Batman '89 - 9.5/10
2.) The Dark Knight - 9.4/10
3.) Batman Begins - 6.5/10
4.) The Dark Knight Rises - 5.5/10
5.) Batman Returns - 4.9/10
6.) Batman & Robin - 0.1/10
7.) Batman Forever - 0/10
Yeah, I prefer Batman & Robin to Batman Forever, B & R was at least honest about itself with what it was, Forever tries to make you think it's a good movie when it isn't and it's attempts to engage come off as way over dramatic, I hate watching any of it, B & R I can at least look at and laugh at some of it and accept it for what it is, although I will admit I enjoyed parts of it as a young kid.
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