K, I'm about to wax long-winded.
I am anticipating this flick. I like Tom Hardy's work, but he isn't remotely who I would've imagined playing that part; NOR is Bane the villain I necessarily would've liked to have seen in the final installment. But I'll reserve judgment.
First let me say that, I'm a HUGE fan of the Batman character. He's easily in my top three DC heroes list. Consequently, I have some very strong feelings about how he should look/behave. He should suspect everyone. He should show himself in daylight as little as possible. He should keep kryptonite on his person at all times. One of my favorite comic-book renditions of him is in:
Superman-Batman Vol 2. I also really like the character in Miller's:
All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder. When he confronts the Green Lantern in a room where they have painted every single surface yellow (to include himself), I was seriously ROFLing. Another good one is:
Batman: Hush.
I've seen all of the Batman films, & I actually think ALL of them have
some redeeming qualities, & I'll try to address them in order of film release. PERSONALLY, I NEVER "bought" Michael Keaton as Wayne/Batman. As mentioned earlier in the thread, Bruce Wayne is a billionaire playboy, not some quirky, five-foot-nothing, hundred-&-nothing, turtle-neck/glasses-wearing, balding guy who doesn't know how to talk to women (Kilmer was better suited for the role in that regard). I felt like casting Keaton in the role was Tim Burton's way of saying: "LOOK, ANYONE COULD BE BATMAN, EVEN MEEEEEE!!!!!1*fapfapfap*" Heck, in that: "YOU WANNA GET NUTS?!? COME ON!!!" scene, I thought Keaton had suddenly been possessed by Beetlejuice. I liked the Joker, HOWEVER, I didn't feel like I was watching the Joker, as much as I was watching Jack Nicholson (cuz let's face it, Nicholson has one character, it's just that it's a helluva character). Kim Basinger was awesome to look at, cuz, well, she IS. Mmmm, lips.
Next one, more quirky Keaton-Wayne, Christopher Walken is always fun for me (another "one character" actor, but hey...), Penguin was done (IMO) in one of the only ways he could have been done & not turn out laughably like the 'Burgess-Meredith-Monopoly-guy-WERRRRRRRRR-WERR-WERR-WERR-WERRRRR!!!' thing. Don't know why they had Billy Dee Williams in the film as Harvey Dent. They literally could have named that character anything & it wouldn't have affected the movie at all. NOW, Michelle Pfeiffer
made the film for me. I wasn't overly excited about the zombie aspect of the character (no offense Error <3), or the fact that they eliminated her whole cat burglar persona; but for what she had to work with, the costume, her acting style, & her PHENOMENAL whip-work that I can watch over-&-over, made her the bright spot of that film. AFTER-GRIPE: I heavily lolled at the scene where Batman tears off his cowl, & we're not supposed to notice that Keaton's eye-blacking paint suddenly disappeared from one second to the next. +1 LOL for giant rocket-shooting penguins.
Next, I liked Val Kilmer in both roles. I never liked the Robin character in ANY of these films. I did not like Jim Carrey as Riddler, because I felt like I was watching Ace Ventura play the part; which was frustrating because Carrey is actually a fine actor. He just put too much
comedian into it. I also REALLY love Tommy Lee Jones. He's one of my top five favorite male actors. I didn't like his character in this film though. It almost seemed like someone pointed at Jim Carrey & told Jones: "act just like HIM". AFTER-GRIPE: NEON-LIGHTED MACHINE GUNS??? :rolleyes
Next, I thought Clooney's Wayne was good, but NOT the Bat. I just didn't like the way he played it; too indecisive & talky. *shrugs* For Robin, see above. Silverstone looked hot-&-sassy in the costume. Mr. Freeze is my favorite Bat-universe villain. I actually liked how his "look" was visualized, but I got tired of Arnold & his <I-"cleverly"-interject-cold-associated-quips-in-EVERYTHING-I-say> shtick in about 4.7 seconds. Poison Ivy was 'meh' & Bane was stupid. AFTER-GRIPE: I'm supposed to find gang members & street thugs adorned in froot-loop (yes, I know how to spell fruit) neon clothes/make-up, MENACING & ZOMG SCARY DANGEROUS in some way? :rolleyes :rolleyes :rolleyes
Now then. I REALLY loved Batman Begins. LOVED, I says. Maybe not everything about it, but enough. I
like Christian Bale in the role. Bale is the first actor to play this part who had the physical conditioning that made me believe he could get dropped into a group of thugs & dispense a properly swift/brutal beat-down. I liked how he played Wayne as sort of spoiled/entitled at first, & more worldly/mature later on. I loved the origin stuff; the training scenes with Liam Neeson were EPIC, in both action & dialogue. Cillian Murphy was uber-creepifying as Crane/Scarecrow. I like Gary Oldman in ANYTHING. Freeman's Lucius Fox role was SOLID. Michael Caine was awesome as Alfred. Katie Holmes was - - - hot. I liked the Batman's costume/gadgets (& back-story of them). And being a fan of the Miller novels, I liked the Tumbler (I like the idea that Batman's vehicle has a pseudo-military design, & is fast & more importantly TOUGH). AFTER-THOUGHTS: the gravelly voice might be my closest thing to a complaint, but I understand the reasoning behind it. Wayne is a fairly public figure, & even as a child, I always wondered why no one ever said: "Anyone ever tell you you sound exactly like Bruce Wayne?"/ "Anyone ever tell you you sound exactly like Batman?" AND Finally, the musical score in this film is SO INEXPLICABLY great, it has become one of my top five favorites. Certain parts are so beautiful, it makes my eyes well-up with tears when I hear it.
Lastly, I have similar feelings about this one as I did the previous film. Again, I liked the actors that continued over from 'Begins'. I liked Eckhart's take on Harvey Dent/Two-Face; solid work, that. I've never been a huge fan of Maggie Gyllenhaal. She's not nearly as attractive as Holmes (IMO), but I thought she did a good job mimicking Holmes' acting quirks (sideways-squinty glances, sweeping her hair behind her ear, etc). Within two minutes of her appearing on screen, I thought: "that's a pretty great impression of Katie Holmes". Again, I like the Batman's new costume/gadgetry. As for the Joker [
& I'll state up front, that Ledger's untimely death has no bearing in anything I say], when I first saw glimpses (before the film release) of the character, I did NOTNOTNOT like it. But once I started watching, I was like: "That Joker is SCARILY AMAZING!"; the performance literally gives me goosebumps. AFTER-THOUGHTS: the closest thing I have to complaints for this installment are: 1) they went overboard with the Bat-growling (but I've taken the stance that maybe Batman's new costume contains some sort of audio system that digitally alters his voice to help with villain-menacing/identity protection), 2) Bale lost some of the muscle-mass he was carrying so successfully in the last film, 3) Maggie Gyllenhaal, 4) killing off Two-face after only being on-screen for a few minutes, 5) that madness-inducing, high-pitched whine they played in the background every time Joker was speaking on-screen (although I've come to appreciate WHY they did it), & finally 5) I'd have preferred a different outcome than the Batman-is-now-the-bad-guy plotline.
And in closing, I will add on my usual disclaimer of: Not interested in debating any of ^this^ stuff, & not calling differing opinions 'wrong'. (But be aware that I'm
thinking it!

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