Who’s Your Batman

So I was watching “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman”, George Clooney was on. There was a brief mention of his batman days; in which he mentioned he always apologizes for taking the role, which in my opinion is unnecessary. I’ve had the conversion about what makes a good batman, who played the character best and why with a few people (I won’t be including pre 80s). Now this may ruffle a few feathers but I speak no lies.

You need to be able to portray two characters in order to be “The Batman”. There’s Billionaire Bruce Wayne and The Vigilante Bat. . . . not everyone can play both. Now of course there are other factors such as writing, source material, ect. So keeping that in mind there are obviously some issues throughout the various Batman’s over the years.

 Some people met one standard and not the other, some met none. I welcome conversation in the comments as people are entitled to their own opinion and it’s stimulating for the brain but keep it civil. We’ll start with Val Kilmer and George Clooney as both their movies were directed by Joel Schumacher. [On a side note these are a couple of my guilty pleasures, don’t judge me] In short George was the better Batman and Val had the better movie.

George was a plausible Bruce Wayne, he’s got the charisma for it,  I wasn’t buying his Batman. To be honest Val initially comes off very stiff, as if he’s constantly thinking about what’s next and how to execute it. As I’ve rewatch it plenty of times I realize Val’s portrale ephazises that Bruce Wayne isn’t a nepo baby without skill. To the average watcher he didn’t display much personality,  he went straight for business man with a hobby.

Which brings me to Michael Keaton whom was quite lively. His performance wasn’t what I would have thought of for Batman but for the time it was made and the way it was filmed it fit. Still not ideal, I think his Bruce was better than his Batman but in all it worked nicely and worked just as well if not better his second time playing Batman.

On to Christian Bale, granted just about everything in his trilogy was set up perfectly and as it’s a trilogy you get to see the character development which helps add depth. You saw how his parents affected him, how he came to build himself into The Bat. We saw how he lived up to his billionaire playboy persona in the public eye and was methodical in his process. Lastly, Ben Affleck; I think the choice not to introduce Batman with an origin story was smart, however, I don’t think Ben fits the character.[I don’t think he’s the only person to be miscast in this film] He reads as more of a grouchy detective than anything else. Yes, he’s supposed to the older, jaded Bruce Wayne but that’s not how it comes across, especially when Henry Cavill IS Superman and the dialogue doesn’t help either. After watching justice league my opinion of Ben being a poor choice is solidified. Time for the ranking from best to worst.

1 comment