The movie i enjoyed the most? Dark Knight.
The movie that's closest to the Batman mythos? Batman and not a single one after that comes close.
Penguin is not a mutant who lived in the sewer. He's a mob boss that's well dressed and well spoken, and is called The Penguin, because he's always dressed in a tuxedo and has a long nose and stubby arms and legs, and he waddles. NOT because he was born with flippers. Great movie, but i didn't see the need for that drastic change in the character. Why have the other 2 been done perfectly in terms of characterisation from the books, yet this one has been completely overhauled?
Batman Forever sucked mainly because Val Kilmer was in it for more than 3 seconds, and they turned Two Face into a joke. He's supposed to be Batman's most tragic enemy, one of the constant failures of Batman's career, his best friend disfigured and insane. Ruled by a coin to do evil or do good. He is not a laughing maniac like the Joker, he's a man obsessed with balance and justice. Harvey Dent is the hand of fate.
Joel Schumacher turned him into the guy whose gimmick was to flip a coin for no apparent reason. And of course, he killed him off as well.
Jim Carey as the Riddler, MADE that film barely worth watching. If he hadn't been in it, they'd use that movie to torture Al Quaeda members.
Batman and Robin...... I think even Joel Schumacher knew he had a steaming pile of shit in his hands when he was given that script, and his first thoughts on how to save it were "Fuck it, let's get Arnie to play Freeze. The ridiculous amount of corny one liners in this script can only be delivered by the man who made a career out of it throughout the 80s."
And that was the only good thing about Batman and Robin. Arnie's voice.
Poison Ivy's origin was actually 100% accurate to the comics. Jason Woodrue poisoned her in their research lab and she became Poison Ivy forever more. Sadly however, they decided to shit all over Bane, a character that had such an amazing debut in the comics, becoming 'The Man Who Broke The Bat', that his portrayal i B+R was downright shameful. He couldn't even speak properly for fuck sake, when comic book Bane is a criminal genius!!!!!
Then of course Mr Freeze, a man who has only ever wanted to keep his wife alive, yet has been forced to live life as an ice cube and has become devoid of all emotion, is suddenly cracking jokes and skiing in this abomination of a film.
And George Clooney as Batman? In the midst of his ER days? Schumacher, what were you snorting that year? At least you had the sense to cast Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl, even if you ruined her origin as well.
Batman Begins? Well whaddya know, Joe Chill is finally in a Batman movie. Thank fuckin' christ! Carmine Falcone runs the city when Batman first appears and even in the 10 years before that. Well done again Nolan! Ra's Al Guhl leads the League of Shadows...... WRONG! IT'S THE LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS! WHY FUCKING CHANGE THAT, IF YOU'RE GOING TO SUGGEST THAT HE IS CENTURIES OLD, like he is in the comics?
Scarecrow runs Arkham..... WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lucius Fox knows he's Batman. THIS pissed me off more than anything else. In 80 odd years of Batman comics, Lucius Fox has never even suggested that he thinks Bruce Wayne is Batman. In Nolan's films, Bruce may as well have introduced himself as Mr Batman.
And Dark Knight? Ledger's Joker was cool, but at the same time, it was nothing like the comic book Joker, and i can't honestly believe that palaceprince said it was.
The Joker is supposed to be camp. Guys like TheAnimal may not like it, but that is the character. He kills people with squirty flowers and buzzers. He wears outlandish clothes and laughs like a child. He makes the world his stage and forces them all to watch.
Read 'The Killing Joke'. He shoots Barbara Gordon in the spine and cripples her for life in front of Jim Gordon, who is then mercilessly beaten by Joker's goons. Joker's stood there wearing a Hawaiin shirt, shorts and carrying a polaroid camera. As she bleeds out on the floor, he makes repeated jokes about broken books, knowing Babs is a librarian, and then strips her of her clothes, takes photos of her bleeding all over the place, and makes Gordon sit through a ghost train ride where the photos flash everywhere in front of him, as the Joker sings about going crazy across the intercom.
Ridiculously camp and sickeningly disturbing all at the same time. That's why Nicholson's Joker is better than Ledger's. Ledger's was acted better, but Burton understood Batman much better. Obviously Nolan wasn't doing a direct copy of the comics, he was doing a more realistic version. But if want a direct comic movie, then Burton's first movie is the one to watch.
He is the only director of the three to bother paying any attention to how the Bruce/Batman dynamic actually works.
It's Batman dresses up as Bruce Wayne, not Bruce Wayne dresses up as Batman.
In Schumacher's films, he didn't feel the need to separate the two at all, and therefore his movies sucked dick.
Nolan addressed the issue, but got it backward. Bruce isn't supposed to joke with Alfred about stuff and cry and wonder what he should be doing? He's supposed to know what to do withot having to be consoled, and he should be 'doing the voice' ALL the time, unless he's at the office or on a date.
Dark Knight is a whirlwind action movie, and is probably the best Comic Book movie in existence at the moment.
Tim Burton's Batman however, is the best Batman movie.
