Your favourite Batman...

[Warped9]

So now that The Dark Knight Rises has bowed and is now known rather than just being a question lets look at your favourite live-action take of the Batman, just for fun.

Batman (1943 serial)
Batman and Robin (1949 serial)
Batman (1966 TV series)
Batman (1966)
Batman (1989)
Batman Returns (1992)
Batman Forever (1995)
Batman & Robin (1997)
Batman Begins (2005)
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The 1940's serials strike me as just throwaway efforts with little real enthusiasm to them. For their time they were disposable entertainment. The 1960's television series and feature film are just a parody of Batman and his world. They're okay for a periodc smirk, but I find them just too cringe inducing, primarily because I haven't been seven years old for a very long time.

I find this something of a tough call. I quite liked the 1989 Batman when it was released, but it has aged and at the time there wasn't a lot to compare it to. Since then we eventually got Batman Begins which really showed up the camp aspects of the '89 film. In its overall approach Batman Begins was what many of us had hoped the '89 film would have been. Now I tend to look at the recent Nolan trilogy as something of a united work, a great sprawling story spread across multiple films even though each one is somewhat self-contained. It's really tough to choose because they're each replete with great moments I really like. But if I have to choose I'd give the nod to The Dark Knight. It simply feels the most complete.

 

[JD]

I went with The Dark Knight. The Nolanverse version is my favorite live action version, and I think the already established, full strength Batman was my favorite portrayal of him in that universe.
I'd go with Batman Returns for my second pick. I do like Burton's more comic booky take on the character, but I haven't watched the '89 Batman in ages so I don't remember it very well at all.

 

[Warped9]

As much as I like the Nolanverse version it isn't quite the Batman of the comics, at least as I see him. I do think Nolan came closest though.

Having watched some fans films recently---particularly Batman: Dead End and City Of Scars---I think it's now possible to do a more classic approach to Batman without the obvious body-armour, something I'd really like to see. I also wouldn't mind a retro period piece Batman set back in the 1940s and similar to how Captain America was done last year.

 

[Gojira]

The movie that is the most "fun" for me to watch is Batman Forever. I do, however, Like Christian Bale's portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman with Batman Begins being my favorite of the Nolan movies.

 

[Sector 7]

IMO, Michael Keaton is still the best Batman. It was faithful to the comic books of my childhood, when I would go to second-hand stores and rummage for those I had not yet read. In 1989, it was amazing to see Batman come to life in a believable way. Jack Nicholson's Joker will always be my favorite portrayal. He made me hate-- and pity-- him, all at the same time due to his back story.

 

[scnj]

I don't know. My current favourite is Rises, though that might be novelty factor. By this time next year, it might be back to being the Dark Knight.

I've never really liked what Burton did with the character. It's just never sat well with me. Schumacher's take was also pretty bad, but it felt like he was attempting to recreate the Batman he grew up on (the 60's tv show) while still working within the darker universe envisioned by Burton. I think he's unfairly saddled with the reputation of Batman & Robin, when most of the issues concerning that film were out of his hands.

So yeah, I'm undecided between TDK and TDKR, but tempted to vote for B&R because I know nobody else will.

 

[Skellington]

1989 because oF its lead actor, its Batmanesque surreal nature, its status as a groundbreaker, its simple and ingenious advertising campaign and the fact that I'm not entirely sober.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Favorite live-action is 1989s Burton/Keaton/Nicholson movie. Favorite overall is B:TAS.

 

[Christopher]

I was torn between Batman '66 and The Dark Knight. Certainly TDK is the most brilliant and powerful Batman movie ever made. But the question was about my favorite, i.e. the one I derive the most enjoyment from -- and that specific phrasing, "favorite Batman" rather than "favorite Batman production," makes me feel I had to go with which version of the character brought me the most enjoyment. While TDK is an awesome movie, Christian Bale will never be my favorite Batman. Of the actors who played him in live action, I have to go with Adam West as the one I've found most enjoyable, and his show (and the associated movie) as the live-action interpretation I've been most satisfied by on the whole. (If you consider the Nolan trilogy as a whole, it has a lot more weaknesses than TDK does by itself.)

 

[od0_ital]

The Dark Knight gets my vote, with Batman Returns a close second.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Never having seen the Nolanverse films, I'd have to say 1989.

 

[Warped9]

Favorite overall is B:TAS.

I gotta say that B-TAS and films like Mask Of The Phantasm really nail Batman more so than the live-action films so far.

 

[RandyS]

IMO, Michael Keaton is still the best Batman. It was faithful to the comic books of my childhood, when I would go to second-hand stores and rummage for those I had not yet read. In 1989, it was amazing to see Batman come to life in a believable way. Jack Nicholson's Joker will always be my favorite portrayal. He made me hate-- and pity-- him, all at the same time due to his back story.

Agreed, except that for me, it's a tie between Michael Keaton and Adam West.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

Batman: TAS and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm are my all time favorite Batman material. Even more so than the comics. But since that wasn't a choice I chose Batman Begins, my favorite of all the live action Batman projects.

 

[Gojira]

Never having seen the Nolanverse films, I'd have to say 1989.

Where have you been?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I don't get to theaters much. Rarely does a movie come along anymore that I feel like blowing 10+ bucks on. I think the last one I saw was Moneyball.

 

[Gojira]

^ I don't get to theaters much. Rarely does a movie come along anymore that I feel like blowing 10+ bucks on. I think the last one I saw was Moneyball.

I don't go to the theaters much either. I generally rent the DVD and buy the ones I like. No interest in seeing them on DVD?

 

[DarKush]

Here's my rankings for the live-action takes on Batman

1) The Dark Knight Rises
2) Batman (1989)
3) Batman TV series
4) The Dark Knight
5) Batman Begins
6) Batman Returns

 

[Warped9]

Batman: TAS and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm are my all time favorite Batman material. Even more so than the comics. But since that wasn't a choice I chose Batman Begins, my favorite of all the live action Batman projects.

I initially considered including the animated works, but I felt there'd be some resistance to comparing animation with live-action.

Batman in animation is basically of two periods: before and after B-TAS. Before it was pretty straightforward adventure with next to little nuance and character---essentially generic Saturday morning kids' fare. After the debut of B-TAS we got a much more complex depiction of Batman and his world, and it's been generally consistent in overall approach since even extending into the series Batman Beyond. There might have been some difference with the other Batman series, but I can't speak to that because it never interested me. Even so that depiction doesn't seem to have had a lasting impression because the DCAU films harken back to B-TAS in overall tone and depiction of Batman. The other exception is The Brave And The Bold which has a somewhat more humorous sensibility. And while enjoyable TBATB still aren't influencing the DCAU features.

 

[stj]

Picked Batman Returns, because it has my favorite Batman, Michael Keaton plus Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, Danny DeVito's revisionist but still fabulous Penguin and Christopher Walken.

But my favorite Bruce Wayne is Val Kilmer.

The Adam West Batman is more entertaining than the Nolan movies, but they at least beat out the old Batman serial that I watched and one of the Schumacher movies.