For me, the only pre-nolan Batman film that I really rate is Batman Returns. The second Burton film really seemed to be finding its feet after the first (which I thought was a mess). Would have quite liked to see him go on to do a third
The Schumacher ones were just terrible. He clearly had no idea what the character was about
…and while we’re at it, Burton’s batmobile was definitely the best
I agree. I always thought Michael Keaton was underrated as an actor due to his mostly comic roles. I thought he captured Bruce Wayne the best. I dislike the Nolan/Bale movies, but they aren’t as bad as the Kilmer/Clooney messes.
While Burton’s Batman (1989) was interesting, it’s actually pretty hacky. The movie does entertain and gets across the overarching themes, but it’s also laying out the start of a heck of a lot of nasty problems which would come back in the sequel. It was dark, but also a little too ridiculous; even beyond the Joker the villains were silly. The Joker was really well done, however. it wasn’t what you expected, but certainly funny and scary. He was a little more like your weird bachelor uncle, except also a psycho killer. He did lack the physicality of the Joker character should ideally have; it’s not just random that he would principally use weird but very straightforward gadgets. Contra what some said, Keaton was extreley effective in both Wayne and Batman roles. As Wayne, he brought a lot fo the sense of uncertainty; he doesn’t know why he has to do it. He knows why he started doing it, what drives him, and why he’s needed. He can’t tell you why him, though. And he’s incredibly intimidating, even through the horrible Batsuit.
The sequel went utterly insane. Monster Penguin, dominatrix barbie Catwoman, Batman being more freaky than intimidating, and all-around everything went so goofy it just failed. As a kid I could enjoy the movie, but I didn’t really love it or anything. Many parents were understandably freaked out; they might have been prepared for some violence, but the level of inneundo was definitely more than they expected. Additionally, while the movie did well enough in theaters, it was pretty obvious that another Burton film would sink the franchise and likely attract a lot smaller audience.
Batman Forever was definitely a good come back. Kilmer was a great Wayne, although he just didn’t have the intimidation factor to handle Batman quite as well as Keaton. Still, he did pretty well all around and the movie had a great character arc in him; Keaton’s Batman really sells the idea that he no longer needs to be Batman, but that he still chooses to be a hero because people need him. The less said about Two-Face, the better.* Riddler works very well, because he’s a ridiculous but believable villain inside the cartoon world the movie presents. Robin is good if not fantastic, but a good entry point. In fact, it’s overall a really fun movie. Not too deep or anything, but it has more weight than most people give it credit for in Wayne’s character arc. And ultimately, they needed a fun movie people would want to come see if they were to continue with the films, and this was a good homage to the 60’s tv show in that sense.
*I’ll say it anyway. I don’t blame Tommy Lee Jones. He definitely likes to go over the top in his acting, but he’s not the cause here. You can’t possibly get a performance like that without the director absolutely pushing it forward. And there are some relatively quiter scenes where he plays very well. Had he been the more serious, scary contrast to Riddler, it would have been a far greater success and Jones certainly can play those kinds of roles. This can’t be laid at the feet of anybody but Schumacher, because the dialogie itself would probably work with a more subdued and focused - but intense - performance. Given what Schumacher did with batman and RObin, it’s pretty clear he wanted to have two over-the-top villains. ANd that’s not going to work. It’s also utterly shameful that they didn’t use Billy Dee Williams. He’s a good actor who wanted and planned to play the Two-Face character, and who never had as many great roles as he deserved.
Batman and Robin was just bad.
However, while people make fun of Schwarzenegger in this movie, he was actually the one guy trying to do it justice, after a fashion. He’s been in this kind of B-movie trying lamely to punch above its best before, and he actually put some humor and energy into a role he definitely he was a joke. He’s basically the only actor who really seemed to ride the humor and wink at the audience through it all, which made him one of the highlights of the film for me. The hate that gets thrown his way in the context of the movie is plain unfair and mean-spirited, because people are making fun of him for a role which was always going to suck, but which he manages to make funny by embracing cliche in every sense. I kinda see others trying to do the same, but it just comes across as awkward posturing, whereas he really seems to having fun with a blatantly bad role.
Nice analysis, smiling bandit.
I’ve never found a thread here where I could express this, so here it goes: the inexplicable Billy Dee Williams-as-Harvey Dent teaser at the end of the first movie that never materialized until the TLJ fiasco In Batman Forever haunts me as much as the Russian disappearing into the Pine Barrens and never being heard from again on The Sopranos. Whew. I feel better now.
Chipman over at the Escapist had a very good rundown of the series.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/5973-Batman-Revisited-Part-1
And check for parts 2-4 also.
Note that (A) I don’t agree with him about everything even here, and (B), He’s an insufferable self-important jackass and his prejudgment of some films is unprofessional and moronic, (C) he thinks he’s a lot more intelligent than he is and seems to see subtext and complexity which I really disagree with in some films to justify his liking of crappy movies.
The Nostalgia Critic had a hilarious skewering of Batman and Robin here:
(BAT CREDIT CARD!)
And followed up with a comparison of Batman Begins and Batman (1989) here:
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/7184-batmanvsdk
And to cap it off, Film Brain and Bennet the Sage went over Batman Returns: