With a new Batman on screen played by Robert Pattinson, the old question about which is the best movie of the hero is once again the center of debate. especially when batmana film by Matt Reeves, brings the character to a new generation from an entirely new perspective.
It is also much more controversial. Reeves’ perspective of a young, inexperienced Batman reclusive of obsession has surprised — and annoyed — fans. While one part celebrates the tribute to several of the most adult comics in the saga, another compares with the previous ones. The result is a lengthy discussion about which of all batman movies is the most faithful. Or at least, the one that most intelligently grasps her strange duality.
Recently, Rotten Tomatoes dedicated to explore the strengths and weaknesses of several of the films in the saga. The selection chose Batman: The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan as the best film in the franchise. At the other extreme, batman and robin of Joel Schumacher as the worst. But the question continues without a clear answer. What is the film that provides a better history of the character?
Let’s review Batman’s journey through the seventh art, with the benefits and virtues of its different incarnations. Is there a definitive movie about the history, personality and complex nature of the DC anti-hero? From the best to the worst, this is our selection.
Batman: The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan
Considered the highest point of the so-called Nolanverse, it is also an adult film that carefully analyzes the character’s moral graduations. After a bumpy start with Batman Begins (2005), Nolan decided to fully delve into the complexity of the antihero. And he did it with an unusual combination of factors.
On the one hand, the script underlined the moral tension of Bruce Wayne and returned to the idea of evil. Nolan’s Batman was never the most complex, painfully splintered and strained by his moral responsibility. At the other extreme, the director found in Heath Ledger a formidable Joker who held a complex speech about falling into darkness.
The result was a movie that cuts through all the dark and bright regions of the character. And as if that weren’t enough, he shows the best version of his traditional enemy.
Tim Burton’s Batman
The return to pop culture of Batman was preceded by years of silence, complex production scenarios and insistent debates about its relevance. Finally, Tim Burton was able to provide a complicated vision of the character, which included gothic touches and a sinister perception of the ambiguous nature of the character.
With Michael Keaton wearing the mask, the film was a journey through a whole new mythology and context. From an original version of Gotham, to a creepy perception about its essential darkness. The film shines on all the important points. To that should be added the interpretation of a formidable Jack Nicholson as the Joker. Taken together, the film is a triumphant return to Batman’s high points.
Batman Returns, also by Tim Burton
The movie could be a horror story. Burton uses the codes of the genre to add complexity to the story, but in reality, it’s a solid and well built plot around Batman. With a mature character and a broader context, the film is a celebration of not only the character’s personality. Also, of several of his emblematic characters.
The Danny DeVito incarnation of The Penguin surprised by his terrifying and uncomfortable air. But it was the version of Catwoman with the face of Michelle Pfeiffer that ended up giving the film an unusual energy. In addition, Gotham is once again the scene of a hell of corruption and a strange version of corrupted ideals. A curious little gem in the middle of an irregular saga.
The Batman, by Matt Reeves
With its gothic, sinister and fearsome air, Reeves’s reinvention of the caped crusader is a tribute to the dark origin of the antihero. With more lines in common with a horror movie than a superhero movie, batman travels unusual spaces in theme and tone. From the dirty photograph of him, which carefully shows a dark and corrupted world, to his character, broken by trauma. The film is the closest to a Bruce Wayne torn apart by guilt and the need for revenge. Played by Robert Pattinson, the character gains emotional weight and complexity.
There’s also room for a quartet of awesome villains. Colin Farrell’s Penguin perfectly embodies Gotham’s underworld of crime. The same as John Turturro’s Carmine Falcone. Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman has an urban and realistic air that dazzles. But it is undoubtedly Paul Dano’s Enigma that takes the credit for its embodiment of contemporary evil. All in all, it’s a mature film for a sophisticated audience.
Christopher Nolan’s Batman: Begins
After a critical and box office disaster such as Joel Schumacher’s duology, It took a lot of effort for Batman to return to the cinema. And he did it in the hands of a director who gave the film a unique realistic air. He also endowed Batman with an exhausted and regretful dignity that resizes the character. Batman Begins it was the starting point for the so-called Nolanverse, which rebuilt the character from the ground up.
As if that weren’t enough, he achieved an adult and neat reflection on the personality of a Batman crushed by responsibility and pain. A thoughtful and strange work, which despite some ups and downs, is one of the high points of the saga.
Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, by Christopher Nolan
The closing of the Nolan trilogy was a little more eventful than might be supposed and more irregular than desirable. With a plot that showed inconsistencies, the farewell of the Batman played by Christian Bale was strangely unsatisfying. Still, it was an epic journey to a dramatic and poignant conclusion from a powerful figure.
With Bane and Catwoman as the faces of evil, the film moves through awkward settings. But in the end, It is a celebration of the mythology of the antihero. Gotham becomes a huge explosion of ambiguities and moral questions, while its fall is inevitable. It is then that Batman shows the best traits of him and the most powerful points of him. This despite the already famous death of Thalia (Marion Cotillard).
Batman vs. Zack Snyder’s Superman
Although it is not a solo Batman movie, it is the presentation of a new incarnation of the character. Ben Affleck’s Batman is the embodiment of a savage vigilante force. and although the movie ends up getting lost in several script twists without much sense, it was the opportunity to show a new facet.
This Batman, who lost Robin and considers himself a natural enemy of Superman, is an uncontrollable creepy and fearsome creature. Years later, Affleck would try to direct and take the character to a solo story that never got to advance in production. But according to Matt Reeves himself, it was a powerful adventure. At the height of the version of the antihero that we could see in the film.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
After several years of back-and-forth between the studio, Zack Snyder, and cast members, the full cut of the film was finalized. HBOMax. It was a more compact, solid and well-built version.da of which came to the screen in 2017. And in it a Batman could be seen cold, cerebral, brilliant and strategic, much closer to the comic than one might suppose.
Again played by Ben Affleck, Batman is a powerful presence who offers leadership as well as a clever vision of evil. Snyder provided him with an opportunity to look at a possible future. But once the director’s vision is discarded, the experience is incomplete.
LEGO Batman: The Movie by Chris McKay
Oddly enough, this plot and visual eccentricity has one of the best Batman in history. With twisted humor and the voice of Will Arnett, he is the quintessence of the character’s duality, as well as his strange conception of justice. Of course, this is a humorous tour that could be underestimated for its simplicity.
But really, it’s also a brilliant interpretation of a pop icon. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s got a killer Joker: that fountain of twisted, clever sense of humor like Zach Galifianakis.
Batman Forever, by Joel Schumacher
With a new director and actor behind the mask, fans didn’t know what to expect from this new take on the character. After all, Tim Burton had set the bar very high. And perhaps for that reason, the surprise was great when they found a multicolored fantasy full of neon lights.
Batman, this time played by Val Kilmer, had a more earthy dimension than Keaton’s brooding vision. Also much less depth and layers of analysis on the complicated psychology of him. It didn’t help much that Enigma (Jim Carrey) and “Two-Face” Harvey Dent (Tommy Lee Jones) were caricatures of more complex works. In the end, the film turned out to be a rare take on the character and the weakest story to date.
Batman and Robin by Joel Schumacher
It is often said, and not without reason, that the film destroyed the Batman franchise and nearly sent it into oblivion. With a nonsensical script, shallow characters, and a new Batman reluctantly played by George Clooney, the film was a colossal disaster.
From the suit with nipplesArnold Schwarzenegger’s Mister Freeze (an ode to the absurd) and even Uma Thurman’s confusing Poison Ivy.
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The film is a banal nonsense that buried Batman in the dangerous area of unprofitable projects and its director into oblivion. By the last scene, it was apparent that Schumacher’s ironic camp vision was a critical mockery of a beloved superhero. And that is not easily forgotten.