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Batman is one of the coolest superheroes, there are no two ways about it. He’s dark,
he’s gritty, he’s intense, he’s fierce, he is all around awesome. And as is with anything
awesome he has had many movie incarnations. So today I’m going through the Batman films
and I’ll be deciding if they’re amazing works of cinema or the worst piles of garbage
ever to be called film. This’ll be fun. Let’s start.
Batman (1966). Although this may come as a surprise to some, I’m including the movie
based on the 60s TV show starring Adam West here because it is a Batman movie. And it’s
great. Well, kind of. When watching and reviewing this movie, you have to remember that this
came out in the 60s, when Batman was still finding his footing and superhero movies were
not remotely as popular or as bankable as they are today. Also, keep in mind that this
movie is spinning off from the equally goofy Batman TV show, in which, among other things,
Batman and Joker have a surfing competition. So look, while it is extremely dated and campy
and all that stuff, it’s fun to watch. Bat shark repellent, silly as it is, has become
a staple in pop culture. All the classic villains are there, and we get a very iconic Joker
from Caesar Romero. I might be looking at this movie through nostalgia tinted glasses,
because it was the first superhero movie I ever saw, and when I was a little kid it was
the greatest film ever made. But let’s be honest here, whenever anyone talks about this
movie or the tv show, who isn’t looking at it with nostalgia. Most Batman fans at
one point in their childhood experienced this movie. So overall, this is a great movie if
you’re just gonna have fun with it. It’s a good time, and as far as sitting down and
just having fun with a film, I’d give it a 7.8/10. It’s hard to review a movie like
this, but in the end, it is just a fun, nostalgic ride.
So then about 20 years later, DC was like, well Superman made money while it lasted,
so let’s do more Batman stuff. And so they did. Under the control of Tim Burton, Batman
came to be in 1989. Michael Keaton is a great Batman. He’s also all around one of the
most talented actors in Hollywood, and I’m so glad to see his big comeback. Keaton, especially
seemed a bit odd. But as a person whose name I cannot recall explained to me, comedic actors
always have a dark and serious side that they can pull from. And Keaton proved this. Another
brilliant casting choice was Jack Nicholson as the Joker. He’s creepy, he’s insane,
he’s all around a great villain. That scene where he fries a guy with his hand buzzer
was horrifying to me when I first watched this. This movie also took a risk that paid
off and had Batman already as an established character, something that I hope the upcoming
Dawn of Justice does as well. Sure, there are some things that aren’t perfect in this
movie. As far as I can remember, one of the Joker’s motivations besides you know being
insane was that he was in love with Vicki Vale, which was weird. Also, Batman isn’t
entirely comic accurate. I mean, he openly just murders people. He clocks a guy in the
head on this bell and then drops him to his doom. He also grappling hooks the Joker between
a gargoyle and a helicopter and gives him the choice of either getting his leg ripped
off or falling to his death. But you know what, this was a really good movie, especially
for it’s time. It has tons of iconic moments in it, like the “I’m Batman” scene.
And the fact that Tim Burton directed it added that Gothic twist on it that really worked
in the movie’s favor. So overall, I’m going to give Batman (1989) an 8.5 out of
10. So then because the first Batman made lots
of money, for the second one they let Tim Burton have a lot more creative control. Which
some can argue is better and some can argue is worse. Basically, in this movie, this weird
disfigured baby is dumped into like the sewers of Gotham and he grows up to become the Penguin.
Then when the Penguin emerges, this guy called Max Shrek wants to make the Penguin mayor,
but Batman doesn’t like that, so action ensues. Also, Max Shrek just flat out murders
his secretary but she comes back with nine lives as Catwoman. And then we have a movie.
First of all, this movie is the definitive proof that Tim Burton has never read a Batman
comic book. The Penguin, instead of being an evil, methodical, cigar smoking businessman
is a flat out insane human penguin hybrid. Hell, Penguin from the 60s was more comic
accurate. That being said, if you put aside the source material, this a pretty good Batman
villain. Danny DeVito is the perfect choice to play Penguin, and he does a great job with
what he’s given. He’s also a really creepy villain just in general. I mean, he’s just
biting people’s noses off right and left. Most everyone else is also great in the film,
Michael Keaton returns, Christopher Walken is good as an evil businessman, and Michelle
Pfeiffer is the best Catwoman we’ve seen on screen. Another thing to touch on is that
this is much more a Tim Burton movie than it is a Batman movie. And that means that
it’s very weird. There’s the Penguin and pretty much everything associated with him,
there are these weird circus goons, there’s Catwoman licking Batman’s nose, stuff like
that. In some parts, it’s also really goofy out of no where. Like this scene where the
Penguin is controlling the Batmobile and he gets in his own little arcade Batmobile. Stuff
that just doesn’t make any sense. The action once again is pretty good and it’s surprisingly
a lot of fun seeing how Batman just does not care about anyone in this movie and just kills
bad guys. Like, he burns this guy to death with the Batmobile, he sticks a bomb down
this guy’s pants, it’s just great. In the end, Batman Returns is a lot weirder than
the first Batman, but it’s still a really good movie, especially considering it came
out in 1992. I’ll give it an 8/10. So Tim Burton then said, “I’m out!”
and the Batman series was handed off to Joel Schumacher. Michael Keaton also didn’t want
anything to do with the franchise, so they got Val Kilmer. And I honestly think he makes
a pretty good Bruce Wayne. Note that I didn’t say Batman, because there is a difference.
He plays a pretty convincing billionaire playboy philanthropist. He does not play a pretty
convincing vigilante who strikes fear into the hearts of criminals. In this movie, they
also got Robin in. And Chris O’Donnell is a pretty good Robin except for the fact that
he’s pretty old to be Robin. He’s certainly no boy wonder, he looks like he’s about
23, which is what he was when the movie was made. The other performances are pretty bad,
Nicole Kidman is whatever, but Jim Carrey as the Riddler was basically just Jim Carrey.
And of course he was gonna get cast in this role because it was the 90s and he was Jim
Carrey. But he was just obnoxious for most of the time, and I realize that that is Jim
Carrey’s thing, but it just pretty much annoyed me. Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face was
so terrible. And the thing is, Tommy Lee Jones is an amazing choice for a methodical older
Two-Face, a bit like the one we saw in the Dark Knight. But nope, he just gets half his
face painted and then overacts and screams and laughs maniacally. That’s another thing
also to touch on, the costumes. Pretty much all of them are bad. The Riddler goes through
a couple but for the most part where’s skin tight pajamas, Two-Face is literally just
purple of one side of his face, and of course there are the Batman and Robin suits, famously
introducing batnipples. And look, everyone’s made fun of them at this point so I won’t
get too into it, but you have to think, at what point was Joel Schumacher like, you know
what that Batsuit is missing. Nipples. It’s just...why?
I also gotta say that this is a completely different universe than the Tim Burton films.
Those were dark and gothic and kind of mature and Nightmare before christmas like. Hear,
there are neon colors, bright spotlights, giant statues, it’s so not Batman. The Batmobile
is practically glow in the dark. You know what strikes fear into the hearts of criminals?
A disco ball in your car. It’s also a lot more cartoony and goofy than the last films,
like those had some cartoony moments, but this is a cartoon. It was made to sell toys
for the most part. As far as the positives, the film is pretty
entertaining. The dialogue is so cheesy, it’s so ridiculous, there are just really weird
out of place moments like Robin’s laundry montage, you will be entertained. It doesn’t
hit the so bad it’s good feeling that Batman and Robin does, but if you sit down and just
laugh at how dumb it is, it’s survivable. So all in all, this is a pretty bad movie.
I was surprised to find out that quite a lot of people like it, but it’s just not good
in my opinion. It was the beginning of the end for Batman and I’ll give it a 4/10.
If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and go on like that.
Batman and Robin. So here we finally are at the legendary Batman and Robin. This movie
is great. Terrible, but great. I need to explain something here real quick. There are two ways
to judge a movie, whether it’s a good movie and whether it’s entertaining. This is a
horrible movie, but it’s really entertaining. I’ll get to a bit later. First up, what
are the bad things about this movie. Besides all of it. I mean, we can just start from
the first scene of the film. It’s the weirdest closeup suit up montage and then just the
cheesiest lines of dialogue. I went back and checked, the first line of the movie is Robin
saying, “I want a car. Chicks dig the car.” Literally the first line. We see the Batmobile
which once again is basically a disco rave on wheels and then the movie really starts.
And by really starts, I mean you begin to realize how bad this film really is.
I just want to say, pretty much everything Batman has is so bad. The batsuit is terrible
again, Batman pretty much can’t move, his vehicles are terrible, his Batman voice is
literally just his normal voice. Listen to this. “Hi Freeze. I’m Batman.” What?
And this entire movie is just so goofy. There are just cartoon sound effects left and right,
Batman has a bat-credit card, and the puns oh my dear god the puns. Sure, the first couple
one-liners were amusing, but then they just got annoying. I usually don’t do this, but
I actively rolled my eyes every time Mr. Freeze said pretty much anything.
And on that note, the cast in this movie is pretty terrible. Actually, correction, the
cast in this movie is amazing, tons of a-list actors that have been amazing in other things.
They all just give such bad performances. You’ve got Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy, who
overacts so much she makes The Riddler look like Matthew McConaughey in Interstellar.
Then you’ve Arnold as Mr. Freeze, which I didn’t check, but I’m pretty sure that
at least 80% of all of his lines were terrible puns. Chris O’Donnell as Robin is a little
brat in the movie, but maybe that’s what he was supposed to be, so forgiven, I guess?
Alicia Silverstone was the definition of meh, but worst of all is George Clooney. And here’s
what I think. I’m pretty sure George Clooney came on set the first day and was like, “This
movie is going to be the worst.” So he played his part like he really didn’t want to be
there and so was able to escape with some of his dignity.
Another thing, all of the costumes are not good at all.I’ve actually made a video on
these so you can check that out if you want to hear more.
Also, there’s the whole Batgirl and Alfred dying subplot, and Alfred is conveniently
dying of the same thing as Mr. Freeze’s wife and whatever, but ultimately you just
don’t care and it wastes time. I also want to say, the laws of physics are literally
non-existent in this movie. Like, there’s no tension because every character can practically
fly and or float through the air when needed. Also, and this is completely random, but when
Robin is coming out of a pool of water or whatever and he comes up and then the footage
reverses and he goes back down. That is so...how is that even possible? That’s the kind of
trick that someone making a short film, and even then it ends up looking cheap. Why did
they have to do that in a multi million dollar picture? I don’t know, I just kind of find
it baffling. So in the end, I’m going to do a bit of
a cop out here and rate this movie two different ways: as a film, and as something that I can
be entertained by. As a film, acting, sets, dialogue, characters, all that stuff, it gets
a 2/10. But as something that I can watch, laugh at, and be entertained by, just by how
goofy and terrible it is, it gets a 8/10. It’s the only way I could think to rate
this thing. Batman Begins. So because of the colossal
failure of Batman and Robin, DC cast Batman aside for 8 years until they decided to completely
reimagine the character. Make him dark and serious, like Batman should be. And after
a Batman movie that was pretty bad and a Batman movie that was god awful, DC couldn’t afford
to have a new reboot of the character be bad. So they got an amazing director, an amazing
cast, an amazing script, and they hoped for the best. And what they got was the best.
Batman Begins is such a great film. I’m really not gonna spend that much time talking
about it here because there are just too many good things to say about it. I’ve always
wondered why Batman Begins never has gotten the same attention and love as the Dark Knight.
Sure people like it, but I’d consider them almost equal in terms of quality. I’m not
sure where to start here. Firstly, the performances. Christian Bale is the best Batman and Bruce
Wayne. I’ve said it before, he plays three characters in this movie: the Batman persona,
the vigilante that terrifies criminals, Bruce Wayne’s actual persona, a dark, disturbed,
brilliant guy out to protect his city, and Bruce Wayne’s false persona, a carefree
playboy billionaire, a persona he has to put on to make sure no one realizes that he’s
Batman. And each one he pulls off perfectly. Everyone else is great too, and of course
you’re gonna get amazing performances when you have a cast like this. Katie Holmes, Michael
Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson, and that annoying kid from
Game of Thrones. Everyone plays their character so well. But I have to give a special mention
to Liam Neeson as Ra’s al Ghul and Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow. Liam Neeson is one of
my favorites despite his...let’s just say poor decisions recently, and he pulls off
the plot twist that he’s actually Ra’s al Ghul perfectly. Cillian Murphy also plays
it psychologically terrifying, intelligent in that crazy way, and all around he’s a
great villain. Other things that are awesome about this movie: the action is spectacular.
The training montage, the one on one between Ra’s al Ghul and Batman, all of it is great.
Even though Batman totally murdered everyone in that ninja hideout. Hans Zimmer’s score
is iconic and fits in with the dark tone. All of the costumes, Batman and Scarecrow,
they feel grounded and realistic and serve their purpose. I could go on for longer, but
I got two other movies to talk about, so I’m going to wrap it up. Batman Begins is one
of the best superhero movies, and I’m honestly going to give it a 10/10. There’s nothing
I can think of that I didn’t like. The Dark Knight. So people liked that first
Batman movie, so Christopher Nolan went ahead and made a second one. And he basically did
everything as great in this movie as he did in the last. The acting and characters are
spot on again. They recast Katie Holmes with Maggie Gyllenhaal, and normally recasting
isn’t good at all but here it actually worked. There was also the addition of Aaron Eckhart
as Two-Face, which was great and finally the character was done justice. He was interesting
and obviously very conflicted. Of course the standout performance is Heath Ledger as the
Joker. I’ve already said what I think of his brilliant performance in other videos,
and so I’ll keep it brief. His performance transcended just a crazy guy in some makeup
with a knife. He was crazy, but he was cunning and mysterious and his performance is in my
opinion the best performance in any superhero film ever. He definitely earned that Oscar
and it’s a huge shame that he passed away. Everything else about this movie is incredible.
I will say that it is one of the most intense comic book films ever. Everything is so interesting,
there is not a single scene of this movie that you’re not interested in. The interrogation
scene is just two guys talking and it’s one of the most engaging scenes of the movie.
The opening scene is one of the best in all of film, as you see all of these clowns kill
each other until only the Joker is left, and he delivers this classic line: Whatever doesn’t
kill you simply makes you stranger I most likely will make a review for this
movie at some point because I definitely can’t do it justice in this video. If you haven’t
seen it, go out, find it, and watch it. You will most definitely love it. This movie also
gets a 10/10. The Dark Knight Rises. So Christopher Nolan
then had to cap off what had so far been one of the best superhero movie series of all
time. And is the Dark Knight Rises as great as Batman Begins or the Dark Knight. The short
answer: no, but it’s still pretty great. The long answer: well here we go. So most
people really love this movie, which honestly kind of surprised me. *clips* I really enjoyed
it, but I don’t think it’s as good as everyone says. What was great about it? Well,
Bane was an awesome villain. I think we can all agree that as far as superhero movie villains,
Batman easily has the best. He’s intimidating, he’s methodical, he’s...hard to understand.
Whatever, he was great. Anne Hathaway, she was pretty good as Catwoman. I have to say,
Alfred kind of wasn’t as great as he was in the other films, but maybe that’s just
me. There are also a lot of great moments in this, specifically Bane breaking Batman’s
back. That moment was awesome, and very reminiscent of the comic version. The action in this movie,
while there isn’t, you know, a ton of it, is really well done. The Bane Batman showdown
and the big epic final battle are excellent. The movie also continues to have that great
dark, gritty tone for Batman while also finding moments to add in humor to break it up a bit.
*this isn’t a car* Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a welcome new addition,
he plays this cop and then it turns out that he’s gonna be Robin or Nightwing? I thought
that was a little bit...I don’t know out of place? But anyway, for the most part, Joseph
Gordon Levitt was pretty great in this. Another thing to note is that Batman isn’t
in the movie a whole lot. It’s not a negative, but I’m just saying, in a 2 hour 45 minute
movie, Batman is in it for a little over half an hour. But that’s not really a negative
for me, because it’s all about the guy inside the suit. Iron Man isn’t in Iron Man 3 that
much. It’s mostly Tony Stark. Batman isn’t in the Dark Knight Rises that much. It’s
mostly Bruce Wayne. And that works because these are interesting people on their own
without the suits. So now for my negatives. And fair warning,
I’m just gonna get into spoilers at this point. Firstly, I didn’t really like the
ending. And I know that I’m gonna get flack for this, because immediately when you say
I didn’t like the ending of a Nolan film, especially when you’re a guy my age, people
just say, “Oh you didn’t get it.” And maybe that’s true, maybe I didn’t get
it, but that’s not the main reason I didn’t like it. So Batman has to dispose of this
nuke, so he gets in his plane and then either he goes out with the bomb and it blows up
which by the way, everyone in gotham would have nuclear radiation but whatever suspension
of disbelief. OR Batman got in his plane, flew for a little bit, then put it to auto
pilot and jumped out and somehow survived the nuclear explosion. Then Alfred either
goes to Italy and sees Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle there or he dreams of seeing Bruce and
Selina. Either way, it’s kind of anticlimactic. I’m leaning towards that Batman actually
did survive, because Alfred wouldn’t dream about seeing Bruce WITH Selina, would he?
So that means that Batman somehow escaped the Bat without anyone seeing and also survived
the nuke. Maybe I didn’t understand it, but it just didn’t do it for me. And my
main complaint is that I feel that the movie is kind of poorly paced. You’ve got a lot
of time at the beginning setting up characters with Batman just kind of stumbling around
with his beard, then he fights Bane, gets crippled, and spends most of the movie in
this pit. And I think there was too much of this movie spent inside this prison hole thing.
Maybe if they just cut it down a bit, it would have felt more smooth. Then Bruce gets out
and puts on the Batman costume and fights Bane and then the end. It just felt kind of
uneven for me. So overall, I enjoyed the movie, but it didn’t live up to all of my expectations.
However, before I rate this, I have to say, I saw this movie about 2 years ago and have
not seen it fully since. So I think there might be a chance that if I watched it again
now, I’d appreciate it on a whole different level and the score would increase. However,
at the time of this recording, my opinions is that this is an 8.5/10 movie. I can definitely
understand why a lot of people love this. Once I watch it again, I’ll make a whole
video about it. Probably. So those are my thoughts on all of the Batman
movies. Which is your favorite and least favorite. Or rank the movies from Best to Worst in the
comments. The best is definitely The Dark Knight, although Batman Begins isn’t too
far behind, and the worst is Batman and Robin, even though Batman Forever isn’t too far
behind. Anyway, hit the like button and subscribe for more videos like the one you just watched.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see ya next time.