Before I start it should be noted I did not watch any of these (except one we’ll get to) for this so I am going by memory mostly. This is really based on one thing-how much do I like re-watching these movies? Since I want to make it ten I am leaving off the serials, the JLA movie, and the Lego movie. I am sure that one is fine and maybe I’ll see it someday. And it goes without saying but no direct to DVD movies. I can’t stress that this just opinion feel free to disagree. Oh and I am just giving quick thoughts on these most of these have been covered at length elsewhere.
#10.Batman & Robin
During the big final battle between Batman and Freeze, we see two scientists getting stuck in the action and making silly comments as the place falls apart around them. This was the point where I realized how goofy this movie is. Nothing has any weight to it, and it’s VERY forgettable. The one thing I did like was Uma Thurman who seemed to be having a little fun. She is the only one, including the audience.
#9.Batman vs Superman:Dawn of Justice
Wow, talk about the complete opposite. If Batman and Robin is to silly then this is way to dark. I don’t blame Affleck. Actually it’s an interesting dichotomy, I feel the same way I did about Henry Cavill as Superman. They’re fine both fine in their roles and do what they can but man the material is awful. This Batman is way to violent and nasty. By the time he lightens up toward the end we’re past caring. Yes he was better in Justice League.
#8.Batman (1966)
Oh how I wish kids today could understand what it was like in comics back during the Silver Age. If they did, they’d understand that this old Adam West TV show was the perfect representation of Batman at the time. Has it aged well? Oh heck no. But the show, and this movie, kicked started the Batman craze that we still enjoy today. So why is it so high then? Because honestly the movie is not that good. It feels stretched to thin and the plot is kind of all over the place. And while it’s great to see our four villains together it seems that they don’t get enough equal time in my book.
#7.Batman Returns
Michelle Pfeiffer is absolutely amazing in this. And that’s about all I have to say about it. This movie is to dark and weird. Danny Devito’s Penguin is awful and Batman isn’t even in it enough, and the plot sure isn’t about him anyway. This one, is just not for me.
#6.Batman Begins
Oh man, what can I say here? This movie was a great movie that happened to have Batman in it. Yeah, that’s how I feel about it anyway. While I respect this one because it was well made it just didn’t grab me as a Batman movie. I remember thinking Bale looked idiotic in the costume. And sounded even lamer. It was a good movie, a great movie…but a Batman movie? It was good to see the origin developed and I like that took hat Burton had started and expanded on it. But man, it was kinda boring. And that final action scene was almost cliche.
#5.The Dark Knight Rises
It’s become pretty clear to me in my old age that making the third movie in a trilogy good is damn near impossible. There is just so much attention to being made and the pressure to make it work has to be heavy. At least, that’s my reasoning for why Christopher Nolan shot himself in the foot with this one. There is just so many silly plot holes and stupid moments that the movie is just, well, not good. It started out pretty good right up until Bane breaks Batman’s back. After that…not so much. So why a slot above the better movie then? Batman Begins just doesn’t have anything in it to make me want to keep coming back. This one, while not perfect, I did like enough to come back to several times now.
#4.Batman Forever
Yeah I know people are going to be screaming sacrilege at this choice. But Batman Forever has always been a guilty pleasure for me. Its got flaws…big flaws…but I still think it’s a pretty solid movie if you don’t mind the silly tone. Or Tommy Lee Jone’s idiotic performance. I loved this movie when I saw it the first time and have seen it a million times since. True it hasn’t aged well, but that’s enough for me. And to be honest the reason it’s higher than RISES is because Batman Forever was lucky enough to come out a few decades earlier. They’re both the same caliber of movie, not awful but very flawed. Gee, where’s the good stuff?
#3.The Dark Knight
Ah! Some call this the perfect Batman movie. I say, yeah it’s pretty close. It’s dark but not to dark. It’s got focus on our hero but not so much he hogs the movie. It advances the plot of the first movie and does it a hundred times better.I loved what they did with Two Face and do I even need to mention Heath Ledger? This movie I have seen several times. The one big problem I have is that the movie is a little to, for lack of a better word, real at times. Nolan gets a little heavy handed with his social commentary and psychoanalysis here and that is the one thing that drags the movie down a bit. Batman does need to exist to some degree in a comic book world and here it’s so “real” he almost doesn’t fit in. I feel a lot like I did about BEGINS, it could have been any cop movie it just has Batman in it. This one added a few elements that elevates it enough so that it isn’t in the realm of forgettable and boring like BEGINS was. It’s a classic.
#2.Mask of the Phantasm
So I decided after twenty-five years, it was time to watch this movie. I remember the ads when the film came out, and have certainly heard all of the hype. It has been said to be the best Batman film ever. So what did I think? It didn’t grab me right away, I’ll be honest. A love story just isn’t what I wanted to see. And I think that it could have been bigger in areas. Yeah the action is pretty epic but I wish we had more of those emotional scenes. We only really get one. There was a really good idea here that could have been even better. It feels like what it is, a made for DVD movie stretched to full length. So why is it #2 then? Well because as I watched I had one thought throughout…this feels like a comic book come to life (animated, but you get my point). This isn’t the over dramatic Batman, the goofy Batman, or a movie so bogged down in social commentary you forget Batman is in it. This feels like a classic Batman story, with a good solid mystery and great action while also focusing on the turmoil of Batman being what he is. Perfect? Maybe not but damn close.
#1.Batman (1989)
For me this is still the best, though I will admit it’s getting harder and harder for it to keep that title. What is it that I like so much about it? It could Michael Keaton knocking it out of the park as Batman. It could Jack Nicholson equally knocking it out of the park as The Joker. It could be the cool stunts and action. But what I think it is, is the legacy. Until this movie came out when the average person thought of Batman the first thing that came into their minds was Adam West. This is the movie that changed that. True, Frank Miller was a few years ahead of this in the comics but for the average person who didn’t read comics this is the movie that made people realize what Batman was supposed to be. Gone were the silly days, now Batman was taken seriously. Granted it would take twenty odd years for this to be perfected (thanks to Schumacher sending the franchise backward) but THIS is the movie that got it all started. And for that, it gets my respect.
So my friends comment below and let me knoe how you would rank these movies. As always this was just for fun.
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