Ranking the (Non-Animated) Film Batmans!

[Wishbone]

5. Val Kilmer
This was the beginning of the transition from "Val Kilmer, amazing actor" to "Val Kilmer, terrible person you don't want to work with." Did you remember he was a Batman?

Let's be careful not to do a disservice to his role in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang now.

 

[Imaculata]

Fav liveaction Batman:

1. Bale may be my favourite Batman, but Keaton is my favourite Bruce Wayne. So a tie.
2. Adam West. I grew up watching this batman. He was endlessly entertaining.
3. Val Kilmer... only because the others are so terrible. Truth be told, Val Kilmer's Batman performance is really forgettable. But Clooney was easily the worst, and I strongly dislike Batfleck's brutish violence.

Fav liveaction Joker:

1. Heath Ledger, what a performance. This man put so much work into this role, I wish we got more of it.
2. Jack Nicholson, the first dark take on a live action Joker. He clearly has so much fun in the part, despite the gruelling makeup work. He was so good in the part, that he largely overshadowed Keaton.
3. Cesar Romero, although he refused to shave his mustache for the part, which is annoying. But he has a great Joker cackle.

 

[Nobby-W]

1. Adam West, of course. Do I really look that old?

Christian Bale in the Nolan trilogy was pretty good, though. The others were pretty unmemorable.

Tom Hardy's Bane was a pretty good villain - he made a decent fist of the character. I haven't seen Jared Leto, but all the Jokers I have seen (Mark Hamill, Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson and Cesar Romero) were all very well done and memorable performances. I don't think I've ever seen a badly done Joker, although I'm definitely in the Heath Ledger camp as my fave.

 

[MarkB]

Keaton in the 1989 Batman is the best. He plays up the Bruce Wayne / Batman dichotomy well, and that movie has an energy to it that the others don't, especially considering that when it came out, the superhero movie genre was looking pretty dead.

 

[Imaculata]

I love how Keaton wears his glasses in the batcave when he is doing detective work and brooding behind his wall of computer screens, and Alfred is very much his partner in the 1989 Batman and Batman Returns. I think I like this take on Bruce Wayna and Alfred the best. In the Nolan films, Alfred seems more disapproving of Bruce's antics, trying to get him to lead a normal life, like a worried father. Which I guess fits the story that Nolan was going for and I don't really have a problem with it. But Alfred working together with Bruce feels more in line with the comicbook character.

 

[Retreater]

My preferences are
1 Keaton
2 Bale
3 Affleck
4 Kilmer
5 West
6 Clooney

Keaton's Batman hit at the right time for me (early teens) and those movies were the first depiction I saw of "modern" superhero films.
Bale was brooding, artful, and gave an amazing performance. I liked the movies but they didn't really capture the Batman comic feel that I grew up with (1970s-1980s).
Affleck could've rated higher. I don't feel like he was able to really give his all because he was more of a side character in some pretty bad movies.

 

[Imaculata]

Yeah, I think its fair to say that the 1989 Batman was the first dark depiction of Batman on the silver screen and it paved the way for the multitude of comicbook adaptions that we see today. Nolan's trilogy was more of a 'realistic' take on Batman, trying to root the movie in as much believability as possible. But Keaton's Batman is certainly more true to the comicbook feeling.

I still remember seeing the 1989 Batman in the theaters... it was insane. There were lines in front of the theater like I had never seen before. It went on for several streets. I had never seen this many people waiting for one movie.

I still have a soft spot for Adam West in my heart though. When I hear his voice, I instantly think of Batman.

 

[ccs]

My two favorites;
Michael Keaton - love this version. Keaton in/out of the mask, the suit, the car, the Danny Elfman theme, Gotham, the supporting casts.
Adam West - Love this show. The car. Silly, endlessly entertaining, no matter how many times I've seen an episode. I LOVE how how it's played straight (especially West) no matter how absurd the lines or plots.

After that....
Kevin Conroy - Crisis on Infinite Earths on the CW Arrowverse stuff. Even though he wasn't in the Bat-suit.
Christian Bale - I really liked him as Bruce Wayne. I'd like his BM more if they hadn't gone with the distorted voice. I HATE his car (unless your talking about the sports car he wrecks late in #2).

Lewis Wilson (Batman, 1943)/Robert Lowery (Batman and Robin, 1949) - they're 1940s serials. They are what they are. Wich is still better than

Ben Affleck - He really only had that one really good fight sequence in the warehouse in BvS.
Val Kilmer - Bleh. Though the car was sorta cool.
George Clooney - Even more bleh. And the car.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I think the blandness of Clooney's performance was a tremendous boon to his career. I forget he was in that terrible movie within moments of watching it. I bet he doesn't even remember playing Batman. Had he been a memorable Batman the movie still would have been terrible on the strength of a hundred other awful things, and I'd think of it whenever I saw him.

 

[trappedslider]

I think the blandness of Clooney's performance was a tremendous boon to his career. I forget he was in that terrible movie within moments of watching it. I bet he doesn't even remember playing Batman. Had he been a memorable Batman the movie still would have been terrible on the strength of a hundred other awful things, and I'd think of it whenever I saw him.

Legend states that if you were to meet him and show him a ticket stub from the movie he would reimburse you for it.