Batman

[KDS]

Light topic on a Friday. 

I'm not a huge superhero / comic book fan, but I've loved Batman since I was 8 years old.  That summer (1989) saw the release of Tim Burton's Batman, which remains my third favorite movie of all-time. 

So, later this month, we'll see another incarnation of Batman on the silver screen with Batman v Superman. 

So, I pose this question, what is everyone's favorite version of the Dark Knight?

The serials from the 1940s?

The Adam West campy 1960s?

The Tim Burton / Michael Keaton version from the 1980s / 1990s?

The campy Joel Schumacher Kilmer / Clooney in the mid 1990s?

The Warner Bros animated version from the early 1990s?

The Christopher Nolan / Christian Bale 2000s take?

Any of the assorted over direct to video animated versions? 

Personally, I'll always pick the Burton / Keaton version because I thought it was just the right mix of darkness, but there was some humor thrown in. 

[Rocky Raccoon]

The 1989 movie with Nicholson and Keaton is probably my favorite as well but I like a lot of Batman's incarnations.  Batman Returns is a bit of a mess but the performances by DeVito and Pfeiffer make it worthwhile.  I love the campy humor and the fun guest stars of the 60s TV series and the beautiful design of the 90s animated series.   I am very fond of the Christopher Nolan trilogy.  He brought a dignity to the series that was lost to Joel Schumacher.  However, with Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, I fear the dignity is lost again.

[KDS]

The 1989 movie with Nicholson and Keaton is probably my favorite as well but I like a lot of Batman's incarnations.  Batman Returns is a bit of a mess but the performances by DeVito and Pfeiffer make it worthwhile.  I love the campy humor and the fun guest stars of the 60s TV series and the beautiful design of the 90s animated series.   I am very fond of the Christopher Nolan trilogy.  He brought a dignity to the series that was lost to Joel Schumacher.  However, with Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, I fear the dignity is lost again.

I'm about 100% on the same page as you, except that I'm quite fond of Batman Returns, even if it wasn't quite as good as the original. 

Taken completely on its own, without comparison to the Burton films, I think Batman Forever is actually a decent movie.  Batman and Robin was a trainwreck though. 

Love the animated series and the Nolan trilogy, even if the third movie was a little too long and a little to bleak for my taste. 

I'm not terribly optimistic about the upcoming Batman universe movies.  But, I'll likely check them out (even if just for Harley Quinn).

I'm also a fan of FOX's Gotham.  The first season ranged from decent to downright terrible, but I think the second season has been a vast improvement.

[The Shift]

The Nolan films were great but the definitive for me is Frank Miller's comic books. He rebuilt Batman from the bottom up, setting the bar for everything Batman-related since then.

[Emily]

I think the Nolan films were the only Superhero movies I've seen that I thought were actually good rather than just entertaining.

[Alan Smith]

I think the Nolan films and the Burton induced series are terrible because of Frank Miller's definitive take on "The" Batman.  As noted by JM, Frank (re)set the bar - but no-one's risen to it, imo.  And in a funny way, the bar wasn't that high - focus on Bruce Wayne's mental state, keep the action tight and stakes desperate, aknowledge the pain and remain grounded in something similar to our reality (invisible helicopters and talking flying bombs excepted).

While Nolan's films receive a level of praise, and are not bereft of interesting elements, they are still very comic book and over-cooked, with too few slight nods to the moral complexities and "feelings/interactions" explored by Miller, and other writers of the time as they looked to appeal to adult comic readers.  Nolan's stuff should have been much much better, same with Burton's although more unlikely (noting that Keaton's "Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?" bit was pretty funny).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vukpjl44Yo0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHhf9ai3Tyw

I was lucky/stupid enough to read the Miller stuff when it came out and it has obviously impaired my ability to appreciate the subsequent films - quite a contrast to my love of the corny original series which I watched from knee-height and tuned into regularly after school for many repeat showings (prior to video then pay per view services arriving down here).  Who doesn't love the show intro, paired with the rockin' theme? Love that pulsing kick drum powering the band, leading into a bevy of dad jokes and dutch tilts.  A veritable gas, batgut!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ9ymE2Rcxo

[KDS]

I think the Nolan films were the only Superhero movies I've seen that I thought were actually good rather than just entertaining.

I think what sets the Nolan Batman movies apart from other superhero movies is that it's put into a real world setting. 

That being said, I don't think the Nolan movies would've happened without the Burton movies.  Tim Burton's Batman movies were the first time we saw a darker version of Batman on film.

Of course, the thing I like best about Batman is that he actually doesn't have any super powers.  He's just a man.  A Bat Man. 

[Julia]

All about Batman the Animated Series. That's the best depiction of the character for me, a true work of art.

Im starting to think Superheroes just work better in animation, because I never really liked any Batman movies in live action except The Dark Knight and even that I find somewhat dated now. (Still good though but Heath Ledger carries that movie, even 17 years removed from his death, and without him it's kind of an overlong, joyless pretentious series of implausible scenarios if Im being honest.) The Mask of Phantasm & Return of the Joker (by the same team that did BTAS) are fantastic though. I didn't grow up with them but tried the Tim Burton films and thought they were a bit awkward too. I love a lot of Burton's stuff especially Peewee & Ed Wood but in live action it's too hard to suspend disbelief that it's a guy in a rubber suit talking to a clown. The new one that came out semi-recently was a piece of sh*t straight up, no redeeming values like even the Burton & Nolan films had. It was such a Dark Knight wannabe but stretched to 3 hours and not a single moment of levity to break up the monotonous slug of "this is dark, therefore it's deep." Joyless mess.

Its the same with Spiderman the best depictions by far are the recent Spider-verse movies, then a significant step lower it's the 90s animated series, then Spectacular Spider-man which is animated, then the Raimi films, then the Holland ones. Animation makes this kind of fantastical premise work, it subconsciously conditions the audience to suspend their disbelief and just accept things that look a lot more ridiculous and in some cases are just physically impossible. Most modern superhero movies are 90% CGI anyway so if you're gonna computer animate it, at least have a good art style and not "uncanny valley'd 'photo-realism'" / ai slop.

[Alex]

The 60s version with Adam West is by far the best live action Batman. It's fun to watch the way West and Ward always stay so damn serious with all the over the top dialog, while the villain actors are turning it up to 11 and just hamming it up for the cameras. I swear the Dark Knight lovers wouldn't know what fun was if it bit them in the ass.

[Julia]

The 60s version with Adam West is by far the best live action Batman. It's fun to watch the way West and Ward always stay so damn serious with all the over the top dialog, while the villain actors are turning it up to 11 and just hamming it up for the cameras. I swear the Dark Knight lovers wouldn't know what fun was if it bit them in the ass.

Yeah, the whole thing in the 2000s was the "gritty realistic reboot" where Batman can't fight any of his fantastical villains anymore (no Poison Ivy or Mr Freeze, they're too "cartoony") it's gotta be an anarcho-terrorist Joker who "could totally exist in real life!" But then the attempt at hyper-realism just calls attention to the fact that it's a guy wearing eye shadow and a rubber suit walking around talking to a guy dressed like a clown and somehow the clown has EVERYONE in his pocket, half a dozen secret locations all over the city, an army of loyal thugs, access to hospitals, police stations and rescue boats and NO ONE takes a shot at him because they believe his message of...burning all their illegal money in front of them. It's a lot harder to buy this sh*t when the movie so desperately wants us to think "no, this is the REALISTIC Batman!"

Even the visual style of that movie is so bland and generic looking. There's no sets nor shots from TDK that really stick with you. The Batcave is a corporate showroom with black walls and a solid ceiling of white fluorescent lights. Does Nolan really lack that much imagination? The original Batcave, lovingly drawn in the animated series, was an actual CAVE from the mountainside mansion Bruce Wayne lives in. There's trophies from his previous cases, like the giant penny and TRex statue. So much of TDK is bland and ugly looking compared to BTAS' gothic-noir "dark deco" artstyle that's still iconic 30 years later.

All there is in DK is Heath Ledger's performance, which I admit is every bit as good as its reputation. Im not sucking up because he died--15 years later and there'd be a reassessment by now since it's no longer a fresh tragedy--and I'm not shy about criticizing beloved icons as my post history will attest to. But he really did earn his praises regardless of the sympathetic timing of his death. Without Ledger the movie is just as flawed and overrated as Batman Begins and Dark Knight Rises, both of which have significantly more mixed reputations and negative reassessments after the hype died down.