Right, gonna go OT and say Dark Knight right now, but I want to vent a small bit.
I've hardly been terribly impressed by many of the Batman films, live or animated. I really tried, but these are my reasons.
The 60's Adam West Batman movie is by no means bad, it just feels more like an extended episode of the show. The camp is fun, to be sure, but it lacks staying power for me because its trying to be light entertainment. Decent light entertainment, mind, but nothing really substantial.
I used to like Tim Burton's Batman when I was younger, but now, its one of those movies where EVERY little thing bothers me. You know, the one movie where you question the logic of everything? I normally don't do that, but with this movie, I can't help it.
Why does Gordon go into a combat scenario in his dinner clothes/no armor just to tell off the guy in charge? Why does the newspaper room look right out of the 50's when there are TVs, cameras, and pretty much everything else to make it look contemporary? Why does the batmobile have a tether to make tight turns? Couldn't he have made a car that just had better steering? Why does Bruce Wayne stay shy and reserved at a party at HIS OWN MANSION and lie to a woman asking if he's Bruce Wayne? And why doesn't she know what he looks like? Didn't that paper ever have a picture of the richest man in Gotham she could find? Why do Joker's men follow him? Yeah, he was a higher-up before he became Joker, but why would they just suddenly go along with a man who dresses like a clown and starts doing weird shit? Why did Vicky open that box Joker gave her in her apartment? She couldn't have thought anything good would come out of it. Why don't any police show up during the parade to try to apprehend Joker because he caused the death of many with his cosmetics chemicals? What was Joker's plan? He doesn't ever say he wants to take over Gotham, or anything. Joker ALWAYS has a plan, he just doesn't care if he loses.
Yeah, too many holes for me. Other than that, I think Bruce Wayne is dully personified. Keaton's Batman is good, but the writing wasn't strong enough to make me care about Bruce Wayne.
Batman returns I thought had even less personality for Wayne, which I think is a great shame. I thought the fights were mostly pretty uninteresting, and Max Schrek was a poorly conceived villain with lousy dialog. Aside from other holes that I'm sure no one wants to read after my previous wall of text, I think Penguin was just a bit too over the top. I liked the reimagining and DeVito's performance was memorable, but I think it was just a bit too much. There wasn't enough subtlety with him, and I really think there should have been. Though I honestly have no criticism for how they handled Catwoman. Yeah, she's a bit different from how she was portrayed before, but I though Pfiefer gave the best performance and had the best planned out scenes and dialog.
So, yeah, Burton's Batman movies are visually wonderful, but I think they both just have too many gaps of logic. At least, the kinds of gaps I can't stand.
I'd say of the "four", I liked Batman Forever best, despite its heavy flaws. Two-Face really had nothing to do, and its clear the studio wanted Jim Carey to be Ace Ventura, not the Riddler (despite the fact I still think he has the ability to play the perfect Riddler), and the plot is pretty lame. However, I like how they explored Bruce Wayne's opinion when he saw another boy going through what he did, and reflecting on how his life turned out watching Dick Grayson's want for vengeance. Villains are interesting, and all, but I maintain that the heroes need just as much personality. Its enough to make me think this movie was decent.
Batman and Robin...well, its Batman and Robin. It was a comedy in a franchise when nobody wanted a comedy in said franchise. Even taken on its own, I don't find its attempt at campy humor to be all that good. Enough's been said about this movie, and I don't have much too add.
I can't say I was very impressed with Mask of Phantasm. I mean, I liked the overall story...until they added the Joker. I seriously do not think the Joker had a place in that movie's story. I also thought the jetpack fight in the ruined theme park was in stupid contrast with the darker feel of the rest of the movie. Other than that, I'm sad to say that I wasn't too impressed with Kevin Conroy's performance. I personally think Kevin didn't really nail the Batman voice until later in his career. Also, I really don't get the ending. With spoiling too much, let me just say, after dealing with the Joker, why couldn't Bruce and the love interest talk out the relationship afterwards? She seemed level headed enough to make that sort of decision. Why just leave? It just feels like they dropped their romance plot because "oooh, it just can't ever be".
I haven't seen any other Batman focused animated movies(a shame, because I'm an animation fan), but from what I've seen, Return of the Joker and Under Red Hood look promising.
As for Nolan's ones, they're just closer to how I always thought Batman should be. I like Begins, but I'm not too impressed with how they used Ra's Al Ghul or Scarecrow. It almost felt like an original villain could have taken their place. Yeah the fights early on aren't too good, but I like the final fight on the train. Also, Katie Holmes was pretty lackluster. It was at least a solid origin story that made me care about Bruce and his decisions.
And Dark Knight is just an improvement on Begins. The only things I can say against it is the "fight" with Batman and Joker at the end was pretty lame. Joker is a bit OP, but everything he says and does is powerful enough to make me thoroughly interested in everything he does. A few moments are kinda cheesy, with the boat scene at the end, but otherwise, I thought it was the best at personifying the cast, and I always enjoy watching it.
Thanks for putting up with me.
