Christian Bale Disappointed in His Batman Performances

[BH/HHH]

He was great as Bruce Wayne, his Batman was great in Begins aswell and (bar the voice) good in the Dark Knight. But his Batman in TDKR for me at times felt like he was going through the motions though, almost like he just walked through doing it in some scenes.

 

[dude stannis]

He was a great Bruce Wayne. His Batman left a bit to be desired, but a lot of that was the writing and how it was very much Nolan's interpretation of Batman, and not necessarily what Batman is.

 

[Rowsdower!]

I don't really understand why some people feel Bale should be ashamed of himself for the fight scenes; that's more on the director and fight choreographer, as well as the costume designer outfitting him with a suit that was difficult to move around in.

 

[Doctor Octopus]

Bale is best Bruce Wayne and Batman. It ok if he feel he not quite nail it. At least he not say disappointed or ashamed. Fans still love him.

 

[AnneFan]

Yep. I think Affleck will be great, but I won't try and think in terms of being better than someone. I think we should celebrate all of our worthy franchise ambassadors. Affleck would simply be joining the others in doing a good job with the role.

 

[Jekecy]

It's funny how people online are using this to justify their view on Bale. "See? I KNEW he sucked as Batman."

Definitely not the right position to take on the comments, but as someone who wasn't hot on Bale's take with the last two films...there is a bit of a sweet closure that the man himself has acknowledged his shortcomings. Especially when so many of my personal discussions has ultimately devolved to, "well what the hell more do you want??"

I genuinely think with a different director, my ideal Batman could've been fully realized. If pushed and molded, Bale would've been a near untouchable gold standard. And I realize fans already put him on that pedestal, but personally because of how huge his talents are, I did expect so much more.

Oh well. If Affleck ends up being as great as I think he may be, perhaps Bale's performance had to happen in the same way Schumacher had to happen for Chris Nolan to deliver.

 

[Batmannerism]

Sad to hear CB is disappointed with his Batman.

Personally, I couldn't think of anyone else doing the role in Nolan's Batman trilogy - maybe Jake Gyllenhall, but he doesn't have the required amount of rage. Ben Affleck certainly wouldn't have been able to pull off a performance that rivaled Bale's in the Nolan films.

What I'm trying to say is that Nolan had a particular take on Batman, and for that take Bale was the completely right actor. Nolan's Batman was all about being conflicted and being angry, which seem to come naturally to Bale.

I greatly admire Bale as an actor (the Fighter is one of my favourite films) and I don't think he has anything to feel bad about ...... well, maybe he could have done a less OTT Bat-voice, but otherwise I think he should be proud of his 3 film tenure as the Dark Knight.

Ben Affleck is going to be a different version of Batman, for a different cinematic world - and by all indications he's going to be great at it, but that does nothing to diminish Bale's work.

I have a suspicion that the Snyder/Affleck Batman will create some backlash against Nolan and Bale's version, people's memories are short. This new Batman is certainly looking to be a lot closer to the comic book version of the character, but I don't think does anything to diminsh Nolan's vision either.

 

[Drz]

Christian Bale didn't disappoint me.

 

[super85]

Bale was fantastic as Bruce Wayne , the first time in live action when I felt Bruce was likable and i rooted for him. His Batman was very good too.

It's quite silly to read some people talk about the fight scenes as something that had much to do with Bale. Stuff like that is for the director, fight choregraphers and editors to figure out.

EDIT: Earlier Rowsdower! posted pretty much what I wrote now.

 

[I Am The Knight]

He was a great Bruce Wayne. His Batman left a bit to be desired, but a lot of that was the writing and how it was very much Nolan's interpretation of Batman, and not necessarily what Batman is.

So, you don't think that Nolan gave us "Batman"?

Oh well. If Affleck ends up being as great as I think he may be, perhaps Bale's performance had to happen in the same way Schumacher had to happen for Chris Nolan to deliver.

 

[Johnny-Oh]

Yeah he was pretty bland

 

[The Joker]

Sad to hear CB is disappointed with his Batman.

He isn't. There's a difference between "My own sense of self was like 'I didn't quite nail that'", and "I was disappointed by it".

 

[super85]

Yes. And since this is the internet, somebody will probably write something like "even Christian Bale admits that he hates his performance in the Batman movies" or something equally stupid.

 

[Jekecy]

So, you don't think that Nolan gave us "Batman"?

Batman Begins was a great start and it steeply fell off from there. It's cool if it was your thing, I'm just relieved after years of moaning it looks like I'm getting what I want now.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Batman Begins was a great start and it steeply fell off from there. It's cool if it was your thing, I'm just relieved after years of moaning it looks like I'm getting what I want now.

No problem, I know not everyone fell in love with TDKT. I have mixed feelings on TDKR myself.

 

[DA_Champion]

A question for forum veterans:

Has there always been an undercurrent of Nolan skepticism from some fans, or is it a recent phenomenon? When and how did it start?

I have not been on these forums that long. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd think it's because TDKR disappointed some people.

 

[rogbngp]

I'm a relative newbie to SHH (I've been active here for four months), but even during that time it seems to me that as the picture of Affleck's version of Batman in BvS comes more clearly into focus that Bale's performance has begun to get downgraded. Judging from what I read here, the things that seem not to have held up well from TDKT are 1) the rubber batsuit, 2) the overdrawn Batvoice (parodied by Pete Holmes and epitomized by wheresthetrigger! whereisit!), and 3) comparatively underwhelming fight scenes that look a bit stiff. But that said, by the same token the consensus seems to be also that Bale performed great with the tools and resources he was given. I don't know if the Batvoice was Bale's idea, or whether Nolan directed him to use it, or they mutually agreed it was the way to go. The Batsuit and fight choreography was presumably in Nolan's hands. Also, Bale is regarded as giving us a fantastic Bruce Wayne.

I think it's just the nature of the beast that successive versions of the character move in the direction of improvement. For many, as well regarded as Burton/Keaton was for it's time, Nolan/Bale came to replace it as the definitive version of Batman for the next generation. We're seeing it now with Snyder/Affleck taking the mantel from Nolan/Bale. Affleck/Affleck will probably supersede Snyder/Affleck. And so it goes.

 

[Rocketman]

I think his disappointment stems from everybody mocking his Batman voice and not taking it seriously. Now it's a classic joke among people who say "I'm Batman."

When in reality, one of the most recognizable people in the world, on the level of Donald Trump, Bill Gates, or Mark Zuckerberg, would clearly need to disguise themselves beyond just what they're wearing. If I heard Donald Trump talking underneath a full Batman costume and mask, I would know it was Donald Trump. Same goes for ANY famous public figure like Jimmy Fallon, Kanye West, Stephen Colbert, literally ANYONE who's famous.

You can't just be a billionaire playboy and put on a mask and that's it.

The BvS/Arrow approach with the voice changer has always been the way to go in my opinion, but Bale completely nailed everything he did.

 

[The Guard]

The issue is that not he did the Batvoice. The concept is fine. The execution ranged from inconsistent to lousy. That's the issue people had with Bale's Batvoice.

A question for forum veterans:

Has there always been an undercurrent of Nolan skepticism from some fans, or is it a recent phenomenon? When and how did it start?

I have not been on these forums that long. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd think it's because TDKR disappointed some people.

It's been there since BATMAN BEGINS. Complaints about the tone not being outlandish enough, the voice, the suit, and the combat. The Batvoice especially.

 

[Boy Scout]

I've always thought that Bale could've been fantastic under different circumstances, but he was perfectly fine as he was.

 

[Jekecy]

I think his disappointment stems from everybody mocking his Batman voice and not taking it seriously. Now it's a classic joke among people who say "I'm Batman."

When in reality, one of the most recognizable people in the world, on the level of Donald Trump, Bill Gates, or Mark Zuckerberg, would clearly need to disguise themselves beyond just what they're wearing. If I heard Donald Trump talking underneath a full Batman costume and mask, I would know it was Donald Trump. Same goes for ANY famous public figure like Jimmy Fallon, Kanye West, Stephen Colbert, literally ANYONE who's famous.

You can't just be a billionaire playboy and put on a mask and that's it.

The BvS/Arrow approach with the voice changer has always been the way to go in my opinion, but Bale completely nailed everything he did.

Absolutely no one who criticized Bale's bat-voice was attacking the concept of disguise. It's a completely sound approach, and has existed way back since Keaton and Conroy. This was not a novel direction, it's the way it was brought out which nagged people.

In case people were wondering if this is attacking Bale (for whatever reason), I'm confident had he stayed on course with his approach from his initial audition, this would be a non-issue.

 

[Unbreakable Lex]

I can understand where he's coming from with his Bruce. His Batman was fine. The voice doesn't mean one is "mailing it in". Most of his in costume performance was action.

The secret to Batman is playing Bruce Wayne. His Bruce did lack the fire you'd think you would find from a man that is Batman. It is a bit bland, there is a lack of emotion in many of his scenes, particularly with Alfred and his lady friends. His voice is almost monotone. That said, I still enjoyed the heck out of the trilogy and he was the central part of it.

And honestly, Keaton was the same.

Stacking that up against what Ledger was able to do is almost unfair. Ledger played a character that oozes emotions and the Joker should be a dream for any thespian to play.

 

[rogbngp]

The issue is that not he did the Batvoice. The concept is fine. The execution ranged from inconsistent to lousy. That's the issue people had with Bale's Batvoice.



It's been there since BATMAN BEGINS. Complaints about the tone not being outlandish enough, the voice, the suit, and the combat. The Batvoice especially.

Yeah, the 'too grounded in reality' complaint.

 

[Doctor Octopus]

A question for forum veterans:

Has there always been an undercurrent of Nolan skepticism from some fans, or is it a recent phenomenon? When and how did it start?

I have not been on these forums that long. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd think it's because TDKR disappointed some people.

Only big complaint was on bat voice.

The others you sometime hear were minority and none of them stop movies from being most popular comic films. So it all good.

 

[Mjölnir]

Bale in Batman Begins is easily the best Batman in movies. He diminished a bit in the sequels, but I don't think he was the main reason why that happened.

Affleck has the advantage of getting to play a more comic book Batman and to have seen the TDK trilogy and learned from that, but he still has quite the job to match Bale, whom I think is the better actor of the two.