HTownCowboysFan;1532365 said:
Adam West was excellent for how the role was portrayed -- it was a spoof of comic books.
Bale is the best -- just nailed the part...both of them. Keaton was good. I think Keaton gets a lot of props because he was the first "serious" live-action Batman. Do you all remember the outrage when Keaton was cast back in '88! It was nuts!
I don't know if it was really a spoof on comic books as much as it was just a spoof on life at the time. Ronald Reagan was then governor of California during the Adam West days. They had a bad guy that developed a weapon called the Ronnie Ray Gun.
That was some funny stuff in Cracked. The best line is "O'Donnell's an actor, in short, who makes one long for the playful, layered nuance of a Keanu Reeves performance." Ouch.
Joel Schumacher as director and whomever were the writers just did horrible jobs with Batman. It would not have mattered who was acting the part of Batman. Kilmer just seemed bored with the part and brought nothing to the character. Clooney does not pull off any type of tormented character. He just seems too happy. I bought Keaton as Bruce Wayne, but I did not see him as much of a Batman. Bale just seems to nail both characters.
I am impressed with Bale as an actor. Well, at least his dedication to his craft. This is from IMDB:
"Due to his part in Maquinista, El (2004) (aka The Machinist), Christian Bale was vastly underweight (about 120 pounds on his 6 foot+ frame) when he was under consideration for the part. After being cast, he was told to become as "big as you could be" by Christopher Nolan. Bale underwent a dietary and exercise regimen and ending up weighing about 220 pounds (about 40 pounds above his normal weight). It was decided that Bale had became too large (friends of his on the film's crew dubbed him "Fatman") and he quickly shed about 20 pounds to have leaner, more muscular frame."
