Feelings on favorite Batman films
Hello MaconMajr here and I am a Batman fan for a long time, as is my brother more so.
Grew up with Batman TAS, and it was one I will never forget.
I remember seeing the first two on VHS when I was young of course I had no idea what was going on, since I was five (89) and eight (Returns).
My brother and I had the extremely rare opportunity to see Batman Mask of the Phantasam in theaters. That was a good Batman film as well.
We've even seen the famous Nolan trilogy. Although I felt Rises was a muddled mess.
But I must have a confession to make: my heart likes Mask of the Phantasam...
as well as Burton's entries. I can't explain it. Nolan's films were good at being realistic. It was good at the time, but regarding it now...
It's good to keep comic films somewhat grounded. But at the time cancel some of the fantasy elements somewhat kill the mood? I don't know. I'm trying to make sense of what I'm thinking.
Forgive me Bale fans, but Conroy and Keaton did it somewhat better.
Even though Batman wasn't characterized much in the Burton films, but isn't Batman supposed to be mysterious and... I can't think of anything, but Keaton did well in the moments of the films.
Comments
I really like the Michael Keaton Batman films and The Animated Series. I am still waiting for the Ben Affleck Batman movie because it might be good despite them picking DeathStroke as the villain for that movie.
Thank you. I was afraid I was going to be bashed by Nolan Batman fans.
The only other Batman entry I like was last years Lego Batman Movie.
I'm sorry to say I won't be seeing the Affleck Batman movie. I just can't seem to...commit or get interested.
Michael Keaton was for me the best at portraying both Batman and Bruce Wayne on the big screen. Others who would take up the cowl would do well at one persona ( or neither ). Mark Hamill was my favorite Joker, slightly edging out Jack and Heath, although John Doe has got to be the most fascinating recreation of him that I've seen in years in S2.
I don't feel like we ever had a proper Dick on the big screen. Batman and Robin was.. campy and fun enough I suppose. I would've liked to seen a stronger presence for him, and was a bit disappointed Nolan didn't attempt to bring him into his series.
I've read the third was supposed to have Marlon Wayans was supposed to be Dick Grayson Robin. And also a mechanic if the info was correct. For the seriousness of Burton's films, maybe Marlon could have crafted a memorable boy wonder.
Wishful thinking.
Mask of the Phantasm was amazing. I 100% agree with what you've said, but we're the same age apparently. So that makes sense.
I’ve seen every Batman film in theater except for the 1989 film. Growing up I loved Batman Forever because it had my favorite Batman villain in it. (The Riddler) But now I see how un Riddler like Jim Carrey was. My favorite Batman actor is Christian Bale seconded by Val Kilmer. Favorite overall film would probably be Mask of the Phantasm with The Dark Knight in second.
I love Nolan Trilogy becouse it was so real. Every peace has a logical and real explenation. I really dont understand why people hate Ben's Batman, he is the most Comic Book's Batman on the big screen for now. In BvS and Justice League Movie he did almoust everything like in comic books. In Justice league he stood as leader and it was him who said to resurect Superman and when WW said no he act like Comic Book Bruce. I want to see extended cut and i think is gona be brutal like it was a BvS Ultimate edition. And i want more of that Batman bcs we are all sick of Batman vs old vilains, we are full of movies like that and i think this is something new and its going to be brutal. SORRY FOR BAD ENGLISH!
I don't think Affleck is going to stick with DCEU for long. In fact i read that he is only going to appear in the Flash movie and then he is out
He will be in Suicide squde 2 and after that film he will choose to stay or leave. Nobody know his future as Batman, i think he doesnt know what will he do. I think he need to stay!
I think Batman Forever is criminally underrated, it's the second best of that franchise(the original 4) It's the one that seems to be most about Batman and has the best Bruce Wayne.
My favorite is the Dark Knight.
The Dark Knight is my favorite and it holds up so well. Such a great crime drama, which fits perfectly with the Batman character. The plot was very deep, the film was beautiful to look at, and the pace was great. In a world today when most superhero films are MCU type films, which I enjoy, it's always refreshing to watch a film like Dark Knight.
The Dark Knight felt more like a crime thriller then a superhero movie for me. And that is not a bad thing.
I mean I don't see the Affleck movie being the best Batman movie but I do like the fact that we will be seeing DeathStroke on the big screen. I kind of wished they just ended up using a better villain like Mr.Freeze or someone other than DeathStroke.
I don't pick favorites, for me there's just good and bad. I hate it when I mention the Nolan version or Burton version and someone else is basically like "STFU, that one sucks and this one is better than life itself"- why does it have to be that way? For example, I don't get why it's insane to some people that I refuse to choose between Pfeiffer Catwoman and Hathaway Catwoman- I LOVE them both! Both of them tapped into different parts of Selina's core in a fantastic way. Hathaway's was actually more faithful, more like Brubaker's post 2000 Catwoman while Pfeiffer's was a reimagining that reflected her psychology and conflict in an equally effective way.
The things that don't work for me usually don't work because they suck in their own right. For example, Ben Affleck sucks as Batman because he's a very commercial celebrity who we know so much about- you can't really see him as being mysterious the way Bruce is supposed to be. He'd be a good Millionaire Playboy Bruce Wayne but the audience knows that it isn't who he really is so there's no sense casting an actor like him. That's why Kilmer didn't work and that's why Clooney didn't work, they didn't disappear into their roles. Controversial opinion- I also felt that way about Jack Nicholson as the Joker - I felt like he was basically playing himself with clown makeup but some people think that's what Joker kind is like on the inside so whatever.
Overall I like Batman Returns, all the Nolan trilogy, and the Mask of Phantasm.
Agreed, one of the reasons it's still refreshing to watch after 10 years.
If I have to be honest, despite The Dark Knight being my favourite live-action Batman film together with Batman by Tim Burton, I really don't like Christian Bale's portrayal of Bruce/Batman, the main reason being he doesn't feel like the vengeance and the night, that is he's not mysterious (we know EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM), menacing and intriguing like the other versions, especially the Keaton and Conroy ones, and let's not talk about that ridiculous voice, that's too goofy for Batman. If I have to pick up a favourite movie, I'll go with Under the Red Hood, because of the story, the relantionship between Jason and Bruce, the portrayal of Joker by John DiMaggio and the excellent final act. Still, Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy are the best Joker and Batman overall.
My favorite is 100% Michael Keaton, I know he only lasted 2 movies due to Joel Schumacher's twist with Batman Forever but he is such a unique, fun to watch awesome Batman. My favorite scenes of his are definitely the one where he holds the crook over the edge of the rooftop and says I'm Batman, another one of my favorites would have to be where Batman attaches an entire bomb on to a criminals pants. I also really enjoyed watching Jack Nicholson's extremely terrifying, menacing and creepy version of The Joker, I always used to get creeped out by how his mouth was stuck in the position of a smile.
Another Batman I enjoyed watching/hearing was Kevin Conroy from the DCAU because of how angry and in need of vengeance he sounded 24/7 365. Batman TAS is one of the best Batman animated shows ever if not then the best because it really shows you the stuff that Batman has to go through everyday along with the normal life of Bruce Wayne, from time to time the Dick Grayson Robin and Batgirl would show up. It had Batman's most iconic villains and their origins which made you feel for the characters and give you a better understanding of who they are and what they do.
So yeah, My favorites are Michael Keaton and Kevin Conroy.
Have to go with the Dark Knight. It just had such an impact on me when I first watched it in the cinema, and I think it made me a much bigger fan of film in general. I end up watching it at some point every year (well, the whole trilogy). There's so much I appreciate about it and I keep finding out little details about it. Bale's voice only really got annoying a bit in Rises, but other than that I think he absolutely nailed it. The villains are fantastic, though I'll give credit to Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, and Liam Neeson. They were great, but Ledger's mesmerizing performance... Aaron Eckhart also deserves more credit for his Two-Face.
I could go on about how much I love that film for ages, but I'm a fan of the other movies (excluding BvS and Batman & Robin), and if I were to get pedantic and say which is the best Batman movie, yeah in terms of best characterization of Batman - Mask of the Phantasm takes that spot. As others have mentioned, the whole DCAU is amazing. Batman Beyond is probably my favourite series from that and ROTJ was great also. Yeah, there's also loads of other great animated movies, makes it hard to choose.
I always like sharing my thoughts about Batman with me being a pretty big fan of the character (as I'm sure we all are). So I'll end it there, don't want to ramble.
The Dark Knight is an absolute masterpiece and to this day my second favourite Batman movie behind my personal best (Returns, 1992, Burton). It's not about Heath's performance, the whole story arc is extremely well done. This is a movie which managed to capture the struggles of being Batman.
I hope my post didn't come across as me saying the movie was only really good because of Heath's performance. On the contrary, I strongly disagree with it and it annoys me when people say it. I agree with your points and I don't think I've ever seen anyone say Returns was their favourite Batman film. Nothing wrong with that of course, I like the film a lot myself.