SO MUCH BATMAN

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Well, Ledger pulled it off, didn't he? I was very sceptical upon hearing the news that he was cast as the Joker, needless to say i was proven wrong. Comparisons to Nicholson, Hamill or Romero just don't come into it, all 3 were totally different Jokers.

My views on the Batman films (I'm leaving out the serials, the 60's movies, and the Animated films).

Batman 1989= I have a lot of love for this movie, maybe alot of it due to Nostalgia. I honestly believe Jack Nicholson was a closer Joker to the comics than Ledgers was, although he was a bit tame. I also thought Nicholson should have tapped more into his portrayal of Jack from The Shining for his portrayal of the Joker, but I still liked his how it was as well. I also love Michael Keaton and think that he is the best Batman/Bruce Wayne we have had on screen. And although the film was dull and dragged on at times I still love it to this day.

Batman Returns: I love this movie as well! And I don't really think Nostalgia is a major reason, (although it still is part of it) Michelle Pheifer was superb as Selina Kyle/Catwoman and I enjoyed Danny Devito's portrayal of The Penguin as well. Now while it wasn't really a Batman movie I still love it.

Batman Forever: I enjoyed this movie. I by no means think it's a great movie but it wasn't terrible. Sure the dialog was pretty bad at times, and the visual effects were ridiculous, and Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones were NOTHING like The Riddler or Two Face, I thought it general it was an enjoyable film.

Batman and Robin: Quite possibly one of the worst movies of all time.

Batman Begins: This IMO was a fantastic movie and felt like the perfect mix between the comics Batman and reality. I have absolutely no problems with this whatsoever other than Katie Holmes less than good preformance and Christian Bale's meh portrayal of Batman/Bruce Wayne.

The Dark Knight: Well... My views are kind of mixed on this one... Yes it is a great movie, but it does have some flaws, and it grossly overrated. I loved Aaron Eckhart and Harvey Dent, Maggie Gyllenhall and Rachel Dawes, and Heath Ledger as the Joker, and I loved the Harvey Dent/ Two Face story of the movie (much more than I did the Joker parts of the story) I still didn't like Christian Bale at Batman/Bruce Wayne, and I felt that some parts dragged on a bit, and there where issues with the plot (the Lau stuff was really just meh for me). I also felt it was less a Batman movie and more a Crime Drama that happened to have Batman characters in it.

@Xenu: isn't ra's al ghul pronounced RAESH al ghul. then why in batman begins was it pronounced RAZZZ al ghul? do some writer's call him one and some the other like a tomato/tomatto thing?

It's supposed to be pronounced Raeysh but I don't think it's a major issue. I mean it's not like calling Aang, Ung.

Here's my views on the Batman flicks.

Batman 89: I grew up with this via a grainy VHS recording on Sky Movies, and needless to say i was instantly hooked. Fast forward to 2010 and it has significantly lost it's shine and feels empty behind Jack Nicholson's sneer and swagger. Don't get me wrong, Nicholson is a good Joker, but his performance verges on the hammy side and he looks too much like a mobster in clown make-up. Danny Elfman's orchestral score is better than the Prince tracks, and Michael Keaton is a great Batman/Bruce Wayne, but i sometimes feel he's not that intimidating in the Batsuit. Kim Basinger was a satisfactory love interest, but her screams were irritating. Having said that, i still watch it from time to time, and it is still a classic.

Batman Returns: In my humble opinion, Returns went one better than it's predecessor. Danny DeVito's morbid, baroque and lecherous portrayal of the Penguin is excellent and Michelle Pfeiffer was a superb Catwoman, in a kinky, schizophrenic kind of way . My only gripe was Christopher Walken and that ridiculous bouffant hair-do. Still, it's darker and more entertaining than 89.

Batman Forever: I'll admit, it's not the worst movie ever, but this is when the franchise began it's nose-dive. Val Kilmer is not that great as Batman, and his chemistry with Nicole Kidman verges on cringeworthy with overtly sexual dialogue that feels more like a Sex and the City episode than a Batman movie. Kidman herself acted like a total s*ut, must half her dialogue be peppered with sexual innuendos? Tommy Lee Jones was basically a Joker reject that laughed every 5 seconds, while Jim Carrey had the most ludicrous Riddler plot-line ever (a stalker trying to upstage Bruce Wayne who creates a device that manipulates and sucks peoples brainwaves to make him grow smarter? Please!) and felt like a walking sideshow. O'Donnell was purely eye-candy for fangirls, nuff said.

Batman and Robin: The worst movie ever. Nuff said.

Batman Begins: Or should i say, back to basics? At least Gotham is portrayed as a city corrupt and dieing, and no costumed superfreaks like Poison Ivy or Mr Freeze clogging up the screentime. Bale brings a new level of intensity to the character of Batman, something which Keaton, Kilmer and Clooney failed enormously at. He also makes Bruce Wayne a real spoilt, vacuous airhead, that's what's needed to deflect people away from the fact he's a sociopathic loony vigilante dressed as a bat. Michael Caine is a great Alfred, providing some light-hearted humour and the film's emotional spine. Neeson is just as good as Ra's Al Ghul, Gary Oldman is a decent Sgt Jim Gordon while Cillian Murphy is an excellent Scarecrow. My only gripe is Katie Holmes, imagining her as a DA is a stretch, but her chemistry with Bale is refreshingly free of any Peter Parker/Mary Jane Watson style whining, not to mention the cringeworthy Kilmer/Kidman chemistry. In short, the best comic book movie ever.

The Dark Knight: Yeah it's a fantastic movie, but i will admit that the running time does make it drag on slightly. Apart from Bale's Batvoice, the Heat references and it's minor flaws (The Hong Kong trip, the boat scene, more of a crime drama blah blah blah) i still love it. Ledger steals the whole show as the Joker, he gets under the skin and stays with you for weeks. Aaron Eckhart is a believable Harvey Dent, at least he doesn't cackle like TLJ used to do. Maggie Gyllenhall was a better Rachel Dawes than Katie Holmes IMO, and it instantly erases Schumacher's abomination 4th entry from your minds.

Well both Begins and TDK were not as good as I would expecting them to be. Really not the best bat films i have ever seen.

So why was Batman and Robin such a terrible insult of a film? I don't understand?

1) A clunking, pun-laden Mr Freeze which looked like a Robocop reject. They should of watched the B:TAS episode "Heart of Ice", that had a PROPER character who was more of a tragic villian fueled by vengeance against the company that ruined his life.

2) Uma Thurman's plain awful turn as Poison Ivy, she looked like a cross between a drag queen and Jessica Rabbit. Even her fight scene with Batgirl was terrible.

3) Bane - what the FECK happened to the man who broke Batman's back in Knightfall? Here, he's reduced to a grunting, brainless ret*d of a sidekick.

4) Cringeworthy and homoerotic close-ups of B and R's buttocks and crotches, along with Batgirl's backside and breasts.

5) Nipples on the fecking Batsuit.

6) Neon and day-glo overload.

7) Sloppy and shoddy CGI on Mr Freeze's icebeams, they looked cartoony!

Crap dialogue

9) A lacklustre cameo from Elle Macpherson - really, what was her role again?

10) A ridiculous plot that verges on a Saturday morning cartoon.

11) That stupid ice-skate fight.

12) Poison Ivy's unsexy gorilla strip.

13) That bank card that said "Forever" - since when does Batman have a bankcard?!?!

14) The bike race scene - just a filler scene that made no sense.

15) Robin skysurfing and yelling cowabunga - Ninja Turtles want their copyright back!

16) Since when does Batman use a Batbomb?

17) George Clooney making Batman wooden than ever.

18) Alicia Silverstone's career effectively dies as she ruins the Batgirl character.

19) An open-top Batmobile - it's not the 60's anymore!

20) R Kelly's dire end credits song.

In short, Batman Begins and Dark Knight p*ss all over it from a great height.

One thing would've helped Batman & Robin a little bit: I stand by my belief that Patrick Stewart should've portrayed Mr. Freeze, not the Governator.

And Jamesy, if you really want a fully detailed explanation about why the movie was so incredibly bad, I think the Nostalgia Critic can explain it as plain as day for you:

Nostalgia Critic reviews Batman & Robin

Last night I put my tv on cinama mode turned up the volume really loud and watched the Dark Knight. Again I tried to enjoy it but I just found myself drifting off 15 mintues into the film and honestly I swear that movie puts you too sleep becasue the plot is complex combine that with not very good dialouge in some parts of the film. Watching the Dark Knight in some parts was like watcing an office meeting.

Your just repeating yourself because you don't like me insulting your boyfriend director Joel Schumacher's 4th abomination. And i watched about 15 minutes from the end of TDK last night and i still like it. However, watching Batman and Robin is like going to a gay bar with Louie Spence.

TDK is overrated though. TDK is like going to an office meeting.

Are you going to stop repeating yourself? That's the 3rd time you've mentioned "office meeting" on this thread, Jamesy.

how many times have you mentioned camp and neon?

I know what your thinking, your thinking how many times did i say the words "camp" and "neon". Did i say it 4 times, or did i say it 5 times. But to tell you the truth, in the all this excitement i kind of lost track myself.

Guys I am done with the flame war and haven't participated in a while so I don't even know what's going on. But please refrain from being homophobic. Thank you.

It's hardly a flame war, i just find Jamesy's recurring habit of repeating himself extremely annoying. His constant need for changing the subject is getting incredibly tedious, whenever i try to be civil, he simply repeats himself over and over again like a broken record.

And besides, im far from homophobic.