Which screen version of Batman is your favourite?
- Thread starter saturn5
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It was no stranger than what you'd find in a Batman comic of the '50s or '60s. People forget that the Adam West show didn't invent its interpretation of Batman, it was a fairly literal translation of the content and attitude of the superhero comics of the era.
Indeed, the particular thing you're criticizing here is actually one of the less implausible ideas in the movie. Accounts of dolphins and porpoises rescuing humans from drowning, shark attacks, and the like, even at risk to their own lives, have been documented since antiquity. Delphinoids are highly social animals, and mutual aid/cooperation is one of their main survival traits, just as it is among humans. Just as humans will go to considerable lengths to rescue endangered animals, extending our social and empathetic impulses to species other than our own, so dolphins and porpoises will do the same for humans or sometimes other species of whale. Maybe a porpoise throwing itself into the path of a torpedo to save a pair of superheroes is an exaggerated take on the idea, but it's merely an example of a trope that's been part of history, myth, and literature for thousands of years.
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It's all about the Tim Burton films. Keaton was a revelation as Batman and the visual design, music and plotting are all great. I like the Nolan films a lot, but Burton's take on Batman captures my imagination a lot more.
Ditto. I respect the new films, but I love the whole pulp gothic atmosphere of the Burton films.
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I was lukewarm about Greenwood in Under the Red Hood, but he has been doing a fantastic job as Batman in Young Justice. I'm not sure whether it's because he's getting better in the role or because I'm getting more used to him. I think my initial problem was that he sounded so similar to Conroy that I was judging him against Conroy, so the differences made it feel off to me. Maybe now I'm to a point where I can judge him solely on his own merits.
I'd go Conroy, Keaton, Bale, Adams. BB and TDK are both in my Top 20 Movies Ever List, but I still like Conroy and Keaton's takes on the actual character of Batman better. I'll admit that Adams Batman is alot of fun, it's just not my favorite. And I probably haven't seen Batman Returns in close to a decade, and I've never seen B&R, so I don't feel comfortable including their actors in my version. I really liked the Under the Red Hood movie and Young Justice, but I don't remember enough about Greenwood's Batman to include him either.
In live action, my favourite Batman is Val Kilmer. He didn't play as much of a contrast between Wayne and Batman as Christian Bale or Kevin Conroy did, but there was enough. He played both roles seriously, yet allowed Bruce to seem like a nice guy with a sense of humour. His voice as Batman was low, but natural. So far, he's the only actor in live action that I've liked playing both Bruce Wayne and Batman seriously.
I think Bale is the best live action Bruce Wayne, but I agree with others that the voice he uses as Batman has been awful. It makes his lines maddeningly incomprehensible and annoying. The idea behind it is good, but the delivery is all wrong. I also agree that Conroy is the best Batman and Bruce Wayne in any medium, as his voice modulations between Batman and Bruce Wayne are perfect and completely natural-sounding.
I enjoy Adam West's Batman, but in the movie based on the series, Bruce Wayne had a romantic subplot that was supposed to be taken seriously and it was painfully unconvincing. I didn't mind all the silliness in the movie, but the way his feelings of betrayal were played straight after he found out his potential lover was Catwoman in disguise made me cringe. That's was as much the fault of the writer as West, though. It was the only thing in the movie I would consider a serious flaw, and showed the limitations of how West's Batman was written and acted.
I thought Clooney and Keaton didn't bring much to the roles of either Bruce Wayne or Batman. As Bruce Wayne, they both just seemed to be playing their screen persona at the time (Keaton as quirky and smart alecky, Clooney as suave and charming). Keaton at least acted a little more dour as Batman (and did a good job of slightly deepening his voice without sounding fake like Bale), but Clooney was the same as both Batman and Bruce Wayne.
I think Bale is the best live action Bruce Wayne, but I agree with others that the voice he uses as Batman has been awful. It makes his lines maddeningly incomprehensible and annoying. The idea behind it is good, but the delivery is all wrong. I also agree that Conroy is the best Batman and Bruce Wayne in any medium, as his voice modulations between Batman and Bruce Wayne are perfect and completely natural-sounding.
I enjoy Adam West's Batman, but in the movie based on the series, Bruce Wayne had a romantic subplot that was supposed to be taken seriously and it was painfully unconvincing. I didn't mind all the silliness in the movie, but the way his feelings of betrayal were played straight after he found out his potential lover was Catwoman in disguise made me cringe. That's was as much the fault of the writer as West, though. It was the only thing in the movie I would consider a serious flaw, and showed the limitations of how West's Batman was written and acted.
I thought Clooney and Keaton didn't bring much to the roles of either Bruce Wayne or Batman. As Bruce Wayne, they both just seemed to be playing their screen persona at the time (Keaton as quirky and smart alecky, Clooney as suave and charming). Keaton at least acted a little more dour as Batman (and did a good job of slightly deepening his voice without sounding fake like Bale), but Clooney was the same as both Batman and Bruce Wayne.
Tim Burton's Batman is a passable Tim Burton movie, but it's a piss-poor movie about the Batman. If it had been called Joker, my impression of it may have been more favourable. I tried watching it again last month and turned it off during the sequence where Batman murders everyone in Joker's factory.
I'll go ahead and throw my support behind Kevin Conroy as my favourite Batman performance. Even in a child's cartoon, his vocal performance was nuanced and struck a chord. Batman will always sound like Conroy to me. I was pleased as hell to hear him voicing Batman in the recent Arkham games. Reuniting Conroy and Hamil as Batman and Joker really kicked that game up a notch.
Bale does a decent enough job, but his Bat-Voice is ridiculous and I feel like he's missing the slightly crazy edge that a serious portrayal of the Batman requires.
No offense to Ms. Meriwether, but I remember being disappointed as a kid that the "real" Catwoman (i.e. Newmar) wasn't in the movie . . . .
I tend to agree. Maybe that's a bit hypocritical, seeing as how I champion the idea that comic Batman incarnations like West's and Bader's are just as legitimate as serious ones like Conroy's and Bale's, but the character Keaton played just never felt like Batman to me.
Except that wasn't the Joker, it was Jack Nicholson in whiteface. He was even more off than Batman.
*sigh* Are we ever, as a culture, going to outgrow this stereotype that animation is automatically for children? Batman: TAS was NOT "a child's cartoon." It was originally aired in primetime as well as weekday afternoons. It had to restrict violence and sexual content enough to be suitable for children due to network censorship, but it was written for teens and adults.
And even if it were a kids' cartoon, why should it be surprising that its star gave a nuanced performance? For one thing, surely children deserve nothing less than the best effort we can give them. For another, parents generally watch their kids' shows along with them, or should, and the people making the shows are adults and need a reason to enjoy their work, so it's always been the case that worthwhile kids' shows have been made with levels of storytelling and performance that were aimed at adults.
I voted Christian Bale/Christopher Nolan (which is really what the choice should have been labeled as since Burton and Schumaker were up there). I hear Kevin Conroy's voice when I read Batman comics. To me he's the definitive voice of the character.
Christian Bale for me.
I think that the animated series is very, very good and I enjoy Conroy's performance. But, with all respect to voice actors, I don't think that it's quite the same achievement to go in and record your lines as it is to get yourself in shape the way Bale did, to carry off two physical personas and performances as Bruce and Batman as well as the voice (incidentally, I'm in the minority and LIKE his Batman voice). I appreciate that people might enjoy Kevin's performance just as much - but I just think Bale had a harder job than he did.
I enjoy Adam West's performance for the fun, campy deadpan job it was.
Michael Keaton did a good job despite being miscast but he was never really my idea of Batman or Bruce. It was a sort of Elseworlds take on Batman, as far as I was concerned.
I liked Kilmer's Batman and Bruce. He was the first actor to really nail the physicality and I thought there was enough of a difference between his Batman and Bruce. He also brought just the right amount of humour to this lighter take on the Bat.
Other than his resemblance to how the character is drawn in the comics, I don't like anything about Clooney's Batman. Shame, because he could have been the best screen Batman. Imagine the toughness of his character from From Dusk to Dawn, the inner vulnerability of Doug Ross, the iciness of his character in The American and the ingenuity of Danny Ocean all mixed in one character. I don't blame George, I blame the writer and director of that Godawful movie.
I think that the animated series is very, very good and I enjoy Conroy's performance. But, with all respect to voice actors, I don't think that it's quite the same achievement to go in and record your lines as it is to get yourself in shape the way Bale did, to carry off two physical personas and performances as Bruce and Batman as well as the voice (incidentally, I'm in the minority and LIKE his Batman voice). I appreciate that people might enjoy Kevin's performance just as much - but I just think Bale had a harder job than he did.
I enjoy Adam West's performance for the fun, campy deadpan job it was.
Michael Keaton did a good job despite being miscast but he was never really my idea of Batman or Bruce. It was a sort of Elseworlds take on Batman, as far as I was concerned.
I liked Kilmer's Batman and Bruce. He was the first actor to really nail the physicality and I thought there was enough of a difference between his Batman and Bruce. He also brought just the right amount of humour to this lighter take on the Bat.
Other than his resemblance to how the character is drawn in the comics, I don't like anything about Clooney's Batman. Shame, because he could have been the best screen Batman. Imagine the toughness of his character from From Dusk to Dawn, the inner vulnerability of Doug Ross, the iciness of his character in The American and the ingenuity of Danny Ocean all mixed in one character. I don't blame George, I blame the writer and director of that Godawful movie.
I'm fond of Adam West as well. Was a huge fan of the 60's series when I was kid. Wore a blue towel and used to play with my brother "Batman" all the time. We'd reenact episodes and the movie. Adam West as Batman has one of my favorite all time bits of dialogue and delivery from anything "There are some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb." I laugh every time I hear him say that.
Conroy and Keaton are the Batmans I grew up with. Conroy is THE voice of Batman as far as I'm concerned. Keaton is THE live-action Batman.
I really like Christian Bale as well, however. His, and Nolan's, more realistic take on the character and universe really work for me. But, when push comes to shove, Keaton wins out.
Adam West = I never really watched this version. I remember watching it as a VERY young kid back in the 80s when it was on Nick-at-Night, but don't remember that much about it.
Val Kilmer = meh. Not bad, but not really good. Just average.
George Clooney = THE HORROR, THE HORROR.
I really like Christian Bale as well, however. His, and Nolan's, more realistic take on the character and universe really work for me. But, when push comes to shove, Keaton wins out.
Adam West = I never really watched this version. I remember watching it as a VERY young kid back in the 80s when it was on Nick-at-Night, but don't remember that much about it.
Val Kilmer = meh. Not bad, but not really good. Just average.
George Clooney = THE HORROR, THE HORROR.
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Kevin Conroy/Batman: TAS
It is really a shame that a man who could have been the best Batman ended up the worst ie Clooney! I always remember a quote from Schummacher before it came out where he basically said that the darker side of Bats needed lightening up because he'd got over the death of his parents now!
I still like Keaton, but mainly as Bruce rather than Batman. He's the only one who's really come close to portraying the fact that a man who dresses up as a bat and fights crime is essentially fucking nuts!
Bale is a revelation, and I remember watching Begins and being slightly dissapointed that now he was Batman he'd likely never be Bond. The bat voice is a little odd however, and like Keaton he works better as Bruce than Batman.
Kilmer is underated I think, and let down by being lumbered with a Robin who seems almost as old as he is, and by being in a Schummacher film.
Adam West is a legend!
I haven't voted, I guess cos I like all of them...except Clooney, and I don't blame George for that, aside from the fact that he signed on for that script! That said Batman and Robin is unintentionally hilarious at times, and at least its never dull...
I still like Keaton, but mainly as Bruce rather than Batman. He's the only one who's really come close to portraying the fact that a man who dresses up as a bat and fights crime is essentially fucking nuts!
Bale is a revelation, and I remember watching Begins and being slightly dissapointed that now he was Batman he'd likely never be Bond. The bat voice is a little odd however, and like Keaton he works better as Bruce than Batman.
Kilmer is underated I think, and let down by being lumbered with a Robin who seems almost as old as he is, and by being in a Schummacher film.
Adam West is a legend!
I haven't voted, I guess cos I like all of them...except Clooney, and I don't blame George for that, aside from the fact that he signed on for that script! That said Batman and Robin is unintentionally hilarious at times, and at least its never dull...
