Who was the best Batman?

[fodigg]

Yeah, I've been in these discussions before. It's clear that I just don't get whatever Keaton's appeal was, and nobody ever really sells their PoV that well.

I understand Keaton's appeal more than I understand the ones who hold up Jack Nicolson as "the best joker ever". That I will never understand.

At least with Keaton you got somebody who played the flippant Bruce Wayne well. You got somebody who portrayed someone a little...off. A little strange and obsessed. Which you don't really get from Bale. With Bale you get a Bruce Wayne who is "driven". There's always a method to his madness, not just plain ol' madness.

Which is interesting to me considering how well he played his role in American Psycho.

 

[Merlin's Shadow]

I understand Keaton's appeal more than I understand the ones who hold up Jack Nicolson as "the best joker ever". That I will never understand.

At least with Keaton you got somebody who played the flippant Bruce Wayne well. You got somebody who portrayed someone a little...off. A little strange and obsessed. Which you don't really get from Bale. With Bale you get a Bruce Wayne who is "driven". There's always a method to his madness, not just plain ol' madness.

Which is interesting to me considering how well he played his role in American Psycho.

I think part of it, though, is one's interpretation of Bruce Wayne. Some writers have written him as fairly straight, but driven; while others portray him as "a little off."

 

[fodigg]

I think part of it, though, is one's interpretation of Bruce Wayne. Some writers have written him as fairly straight, but driven; while others portray him as "a little off."

Agreed. Keaton plays the dark knight as a member of the grand opera that is Gotham's nightlife. Bale plays the dark protector who uses imagery as a tool.

With Keaton it's a compulsion. With Bale it's a mission. Both are appropriate to the Batman mythos.

 

[Klaus]

Agreed. Keaton plays the dark knight as a member of the grand opera that is Gotham's nightlife. Bale plays the dark protector who uses imagery as a tool.

With Keaton it's a compulsion. With Bale it's a mission. Both are appropriate to the Batman mythos.

Well said.

While Keaton isn't my favorite Batman, I agree that he was perfect for the kind of movie he was in (Tim Burton's operatic style suits him).

 

[Shadeydm]

Should we be voting only on the Batman performance or should the Bruce Wayne performance have equal weight in the score? Personally I thought that as good as Keaton's Batman was his Bruce Wayne was equally horrible.

 

[garyh]

I echo the sentiments of "What? No Kevin Conroy?", the voice of the animated Batman. I love Bale, but when I read Batman comics now I hear Kevin Conroy. Live action be damned.

I'm still not sure if I would pick Mark Hamill over Ledger for best Joker. Both are great.

I was about to type the same thing. Bale's my favorite live Batman, but when I read a Batman comic, I hear Kevin Conroy. Not only is he fantastic in the part, but the sheer volume of Batman stories featuring Kevin Conroy dwarfs anyone else who's ever played the part.

I also typically hear Hamill when reading the Joker, but when I read "The Killing Joke" for the first time last week, I definitely had some Ledger in mind with that portrayal. But there's been so many different takes on the Joker by different writers, and since the character is a chaotic nutjob, I think picturing him as the Hamill Joker in one scene and then as the Ledger Joker in another in the same story works for the character.

 

[Darrell]

I'm afraid I cannot agree with, nor even understand the viewpoint of, anyone who prefers Keaton's Batman. I hated the movie when it came out, and thought from the get-go that he was horribly miscast. Of course, a good deal of my dislike for that movie also lay in Nicholson's 'Shining/Witches of Eastwick/etc./etc.-character-in-whiteface' aqnd my general distaste for Tim Burton's entire body of work. Frankly, as much as I dispise them, I actually prefer Schumacher's god-awful 'attempt-at-campy' Bat-movies to Burton's.

 

[Deepest Bluest Evil]

The unlisted one; Kevin Conroy.

 

[Merlin's Shadow]

Frankly, as much as I dispise them, I actually prefer Schumacher's god-awful 'attempt-at-campy' Bat-movies to Burton's.

Wow. I'm not sure I've heard anyone with that opinion before. I certainly had issues with Burton's take on Batman, but found it far better than Schumacher's.

 

[Superfreak]

Val Kilmer forever!