Val Kilmer vs George Clooney

[Nightwing1977]

Kilmer. I felt he handle Batman better than Clooney. Clooney smile too much few times as Bruce Wayne when he shouldn't. Like when he said "I can tell" to Dick after telling him Alfred is dying.

 

[Mr.E.Nygma]

Kilmer was more deep thinking Bruce Wayne...thus, being better than Clooney.
All this comes to how the script was written, Clooney could have been good perhaps in Forever? But even in looks and everything, I prefer Val Kilmer to George Clooney as Batman/Bruce Wayne, even if Clooney felt like a good apprentice of Adam West...

 

[Dr. Fate]

I voted for Val Kilmer.

 

[Kabuki_Jo]

I voted for Kilmer, but Clooney could have been amazing had he been given the proper material to work with.

I agree.

 

[Two-Face]

Like I said forget Keaton v Bale but what about Schumacher's Batmen.... Vote for them

 

[Rodrigo90]

I like George Clooney as a person. But Val Kilmer was the best Batman out of them two.

George seemed too friendly and fatherly to me.

 

[Fresh Prince]

Kilmer no contest.

 

[Two-Face]

In a fight, who would win?

 

[Spoonman]

In a fight, who would win?

Kilmer, I actually liked Batman fight scenes a lot in BF. There are no memorable fight secuences from Clooney or at least not that I remember truly liking.

 

[Ryan]

I actually thought Kilmer was a great Batman. I still think Bale is my favourite (his Bruce Wayne gives him the edge), but Kilmer would be my second, with Keaton third, Adam West fourth, and Clooney a distant fifth. I think Clooney probably "looked" the most like Batman, as Bob Kane had said himself, but came no where close to my expectations of a movie version Batman.

 

[Spoonman]

I actually thought Kilmer was a great Batman. I still think Bale is my favourite (his Bruce Wayne gives him the edge), but Kilmer would be my second, with Keaton third, Adam West fourth, and Clooney a distant fifth. I think Clooney probably "looked" the most like Batman, as Bob Kane had said himself, but came no where close to my expectations of a movie version Batman.

I'm sure Bob Kane said the same about Kilmer at the time of Batman Forever, its like he would say the same of the current actor playing the role.

 

[Ryan]

No idea. When I saw the "behind the scenes' special they had on tv for Batman and Robin, they quoted Kane as saying that he felt Clooney was the actor that most resembled Batman with the strong jawline. No idea what he said about the others.

 

[Proximo]

....

 

[Fresh Prince]

Clooney in a dark Batman film could proably pull off Batman.

Maybe he could play a 50 year old Bruce/Batman in TDKR movie.

 

[TMC1982]

I'm going with Val Kilmer as the better. I honestly think that George Clooney had the potential of being a great Batman/Bruce Wayne, but was brought down by the poor script and campy direction. With Kilmer, at least you got the sense that he was putting sincerity in his performance. While I just said that I don't feel that it was entirely George Clooney's fault that Batman & Robi didn't work out, I always got this vibe that he knew from the start that the movie was going to be a major cheesefest (therefore, didn't have much incentive to try hard). In comparison, Val Kilmer manage to deliver the more cheesy lines without coming across like a total dofus (sans the part where it sounds like he's lisping when he tells Nicole Kidman about taking her to the circus).

 

[TMC1982]

No idea. When I saw the "behind the scenes' special they had on tv for Batman and Robin, they quoted Kane as saying that he felt Clooney was the actor that most resembled Batman with the strong jawline. No idea what he said about the others.

I always thought that George Clooney most resembled (in comparison to Val Kilmer and Michael Keaton) the Bruce Timm drawn version of Bruce Wayne on Batman: The Animated Series.

 

[Jokey]

Val Kilmer was no Michael Keaton or Christian Bale, but he was a lot better than George Clooney.

One thing that bugs me about Schumacher's cast is Clooney. Some people say "if Clooney had a better script, he could've been an awesome Batman!" Or some such stupidity. I mean, seriously, what in Clooney's body of work suggests that the grinning tool could ever be anything except a grinning tool? He never should've been Batman. No way, no how. Not even the goofy, campy Batman, who at least had some drama going, thanks to Adam West's portrayal.

"Hi Freeze. I'm Batman."

No. No you're not.

What movie has he done which suggests he's got the chops to pull of someone like Batman? From Dusk Till Dawn? I wouldn't say he was particularly "Batman'ish" in that one. He was bewildered and a little aggressive but nothing that a lot of other Hollywood bigshots couldn't do better.

Is it his looks? Granted, he does have a sort of blustery "public" Bruce Wayne demeanor and he did those scenes well enough in B&R. Even so, either his repotoire up to now is very limited... or he as an actor is very limited. At this point, I'm more likely to believe the latter.

WB made the decision for the films to be more "toyetic". Shumacher made them suck. A gifted storyteller can work within the parameters he's given. WB wanted lighter, more kid-friendly films for merchandising purposes. Nobody forced Schumacher to throw in bat credit cards, one liners so stupid that even David Goyer blushes and a goofy wannabe Two Face. WB should be blamed for the decision. Schumacher should be blamed for the films that we got.

 

[Fresh Prince]

Clooney is a good actor and would of made a good Batman in a different Batman film....Do not blame him for that campy movie....And to Jokey what film had Micheal Keaton done before Batman 89 to have him qualify to be Batman? Mr. MOM! Lol.

 

[Jokey]

....And to Jokey what film had Micheal Keaton done before Batman 89 to have him qualify to be Batman? Mr. MOM! Lol.

And at the end of the day, Keaton was brilliant in the Batman role. Clooney was not.

You hear people talk smack about actors "bringing something more than what's on the page" to a given role but it's so true of Keaton in Jackie Brown. He has, what, a combined three minutes worth of screen time in that movie? But he fills every bit of it up with the quirks and ticks of an ambitious cop who knows he's dealing with a career-making case. And he makes you smile a little too.

I defy anybody on this forum to show me another actor who can bring that across.

Pacific Heights doesn't get too much love -- and probably for good reason. It's a shlocky thriller but Keaton is once again on his A-game. He's a genuinely disturbing individual in that movie, and you believe it. That and (oddly enough) Gung Ho were the first post-B89 things I saw him in and they totally changed my perceptions of him as a performer.

And then there's Beetle Juice. He hammed it up to just this side of camp... but the visuals and goofy direction along with the more muted performances from the other actors really highlight his portrayal of this... thing.

What's really interesting is to study his body languange in general and his walk in particular in each of those movies. As Batman, he has a sort of stomp/swagger to his movements. As Bruce, he has a sort of low-key shuffle. In a lot of PH, he's more like a panther gliding around, a predator searching for his next target. In JB, he's got a bit of a jittery twitch, almost like he's nervously pacing but his hand movements (lifting up paper bags, pointing his finger) are very precise.

Interesting actor, there's really no one else out there like him.

 

[Fresh Prince]

If Clooney gotten a dark Batman film he could do good.

 

[Jokey]

If Clooney gotten a dark Batman film he could do good.

That's your opinion and that's fine, but I for one just can't see that.

 

[TMC1982]

Val Kilmer was no Michael Keaton or Christian Bale, but he was a lot better than George Clooney.

One thing that bugs me about Schumacher's cast is Clooney. Some people say "if Clooney had a better script, he could've been an awesome Batman!" Or some such stupidity. I mean, seriously, what in Clooney's body of work suggests that the grinning tool could ever be anything except a grinning tool? He never should've been Batman. No way, no how. Not even the goofy, campy Batman, who at least had some drama going, thanks to Adam West's portrayal.

"Hi Freeze. I'm Batman."

No. No you're not.

What movie has he done which suggests he's got the chops to pull of someone like Batman? From Dusk Till Dawn? I wouldn't say he was particularly "Batman'ish" in that one. He was bewildered and a little aggressive but nothing that a lot of other Hollywood bigshots couldn't do better.

Is it his looks? Granted, he does have a sort of blustery "public" Bruce Wayne demeanor and he did those scenes well enough in B&R. Even so, either his repotoire up to now is very limited... or he as an actor is very limited. At this point, I'm more likely to believe the latter.

WB made the decision for the films to be more "toyetic". Shumacher made them suck. A gifted storyteller can work within the parameters he's given. WB wanted lighter, more kid-friendly films for merchandising purposes. Nobody forced Schumacher to throw in bat credit cards, one liners so stupid that even David Goyer blushes and a goofy wannabe Two Face. WB should be blamed for the decision. Schumacher should be blamed for the films that we got.

I don't understand why Akiva Goldsmith doesn't get as much of the blame for the poor feedback for Batman & Robin as Joel Schumacher. While I agree, that the director is for the most part, responsible for what goes on the set and/or on screen, still, Joel Schumacher didn't write all of those cornball puns, one-liners and double entendres. I mean, Akiva Goldsmith is Calvin Schiraldi to Joel Schumacher's Bill Buckner (a 1986 World Series/Boston Red Sox reference if you don't get it).

 

[El Payaso]

If Clooney gotten a dark Batman film he could do good.

Maybe, maybe not. At the end of the day he wasn't good as Batman.

 

[Ryan]

I couldn't say anything better then Jokey's post. I have yet to see anything to suggest that Clooney is a good actor. Other then mugging for the camera and being too cool in his own mind, I have yet to see anything beyond that in any of his films to suggest greatness of any kind. While I did enjoy Kilmer's Batman over Keaton's, both actors, as well as Bale have a pretty diverse catalog of films and roles.

 

[Ipodman]

i voted Val Kimer... but as people has alrdy said, if the script and tone of B&R was good, Clooney would have been a great Batman.