Best Batman Movie

[Mr. Smith]

Probably should've put this up before asking who the best Movie Batman was, but better late than never.

Anyway of the Batman movies out there, which one is the best?

For the more obscure ones here's the quick summary

Batman: The Movie: Pretty much the big movie for the '60's series in which Batman and Robin have to stop Catwoman, The Joker (Cesar Romero), The Riddler (Frank Gorshin), and The Penguin (Burgess Meredith) from taking over the world...shark repellent and huge bombs included.

Batman Returns: The Penguin (Danny DeVito) [but not really] returns from the sewers of Gotham to kidnap all the babies with a clown posse, oh and Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) is on the lose trying to get revenge on Christopher Walken. Oh and Batman (Michael Keaton) roasts a guy alive.

Batman Forever: The Joker Two Face teams up with Jim Carrey to take over Gotham via a brainwashing box. Oh and I think Batman (Val Kilmer) and Robin (Chris O'Donnell) are sometimes in it.

Batman Begins: Upon not managing to avenge his parents murder, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) gets his butt handed to him by a crime-boss and decides from then on to not have his butt handed to him. This involves getting locked up in prison on purpose, training in mountains with Liam Neeson, and deciding to become Batman

So which shall it be?

[Antonio the Sixth]

The Dark Knight

Batman 1989 comes close, but TDK just has the most compelling plot. Such a shame it was followed by that utter mess that was TDKR.

[Mr. Smith]

Well let's see:

The Nolan films are just too preachy and slow-paced at times, which causes an overwhelming bleakness to permeate...even The Joker, who has to keep whining about chaos isn't completely unaffected by this need. Begins I found to be the least offensive since origin stories inherently have to philosophize a little more just to get a sense of the hero. (And yes it's my second favorite and I had considered pity voting it)

And Returns is a little too far on the creepy side to make it. That and the plot is all over the place.

That pretty much leaves it '89.

[OSR stands with Israel]

1. TDK
2.TDKR
3. Batman 1989
4. Batman begins
5. Batman returns
6. Batman vs superman
7. Batman and robin
8. Batman forever


Not seen Adam west

[RI]

TDKR

[Antonio the Sixth]

TDKR

Hahaha, what?

[YaBoyNY]

I'm CIA.

[dead0man]

TDK

[Slow Learner]

Batman Returns.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Tier 1 a.k.a. the good ones:

1. The Dark Knight: No elaboration necessary (but I'll provide a little anyway because I can't help myself ).  This was basically a perfect movie and is easily the best comic book superhero film that has ever been made.  The only reason I don't say it was Christopher Nolan's magnum opus is that we're talking about the man who made Memento (arguments could be made for either film being his best, but they're so different it's hard to really compare them).  This movie also features the definitive film versions of the Joker, Harvey Dent/Two-Face, and James Gordon.  It's also nice to see a well-made (sorry Watchmen, I love you, but you were a very flawed film at best ) superhero movie that 1) didn't have an unambiguously happy ending and 2) had a villain who actually beats the hero sometimes in fights that actually matter. I'd argue this movie should've won Best Picture, Best Actor (Ledger was a co-lead imo), Best Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, and *Cinematography, as well as nominations for Best Director and Best Editing.  

*I understand the argument for giving that one to Anthony Dod Mantle instead of Wally Pfister even though I disagree with it.  Mantle did an excellent job as DP for Slumdog Millionaire and was still a more than deserving winner in his own right.

2. Batman Begins: Easily the best version comic book superhero's origin story ever depicted on film or television.  Christopher Nolan brought a dark, gritty realism to the proceedings that Batman films had been sorely lacking.  Christopher Nolan directed the hell out of this (just like he did with the other two films in his Batman trilogy) and it had a solid screenplay (albeit one that occasionally slipped into tacky comic book territory).  Plus the acting by everyone except Katie Holmes (bad performance in general) and Ken Watanabe (basically a walking stereotype/cliche in this movie) was decent with Tom Wilkinson being a particular standout.

3. Batman (the Tim Burton one): While it seems really campy and dated now, at the time it was considered the first "serious"/"dark" film take on a comic book superhero, IIRC.  Additionally, while I'm not a big fan of it personally, I still have to admit that it was pretty good for the type of movie it was trying to be.  Plus, Jack Nicholson probably seemed like a pretty good Joker at the time.  That being said, this film has aged horribly and feels incredibly dated.  What might've once seemed edgy (for this type of film) now feels cartoonish and over-the-top.  Additionally, pretty much every subsequent Joker has been infinitely better than Nicholson's (as the honest trailer for this movie noted, even Jared Leto's Joker from the Suicide Squad trailer tops Nicholson's entire performance with like two lines of dialogue even though Suicide Squad looks awful).  Plus, after Heath Ledger's Joker, any other movie with the Joker as a villain is gonna feel pretty meh at best.  The Vicki Vale character was really annoying and the person playing her took a poorly written role and managed to make it even worse.  Basically, this was good in the context of it's time and that definitely counts for something, but it was hardly a classic (although the superhero genre has really only produced one true classic: The Dark Knight).  
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Tier 2 a.k.a. the meh ones:

4. The Dark Knight Rises: On the one hand, it was well directed and featured decent performances by Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Ben Mendelsohn, and Christian Bale along with one of the best villains of any superhero film in Bane (Tom Hardy really hit that out of the park with his performance and basically stole the show, second only to Ledger's Joker in terms of comic book movie villains.  I once would've said Fassbender's Magneto from X-Men: First Class was better than Hardy's Bane as well, but X-Men: Days of Future Past kinda ruined that version of the character).  It also proved that easter egg cameos can actually improve a movie if used sparingly and done right (the Scarecrow's brief scene was hilarious).  On the other hand, the screenplay/story was a mess, the whole Selina Kyle character was completely pointless and the movie would've literally lost nothing if that subplot been completely cut, the ending had a tacky comic book feel (in a bad way) that felt out of place in the Nolan trilogy, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character was a waste of screentime.

5. Batman Returns: I don't know why I'm so apathetic about this movie.  On paper, it should be lower on the list since it doubled-down on everything I don't like about the first Tim Burton Batman movie and the "plot" was a complete mess (I'm not convinced anyone involved knew what was supposed to be going on beyond "Batman fights the Penguin and Catwoman is in this movie too, I guess").  For some reason, I don't dislike it so much as I just don't care about it one way or another.  This is about as "meh" as it gets.

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Tier 3 a.k.a. the terrible ones:

6. Adam West Batman Movie: I haven't seen this movie, but at least all the Adam West Batman stuff had no illusions about what it was.  

7. Batman v Superman: I'm confident the movie doesn't deserve a higher ranking, but I haven't seen it and don't intend to so I can't really evaluate just how bad it is beyond that.  

8. Batman Forever: I've only seen part of it, but what I did see was awful.  
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Batman and Robin is it's own tier of pure suck.  No further commentary is necessary (and don't bother trying to troll by saying it was better than the Nolan films, Armond White already beat you to it and given that he basically makes his living by arguing that Transformers 2 proved that Michael Bay was "a real visionary...makes [Ridley] Scott look like cavemen," calling 12 Years a Slave "embarrassing...torture porn," etc, I'm pretty sure he did a better job trolling than anyone on the forum can ).  That said, one good thing did come out of Batman and Robin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pNY2Krf3Rw

[Antonio the Sixth]

Totally agree with X on The Dark Knight. It's the gold standard on which to judge any superhero movie.

I wouldn't be so severe on the 1989 (I think there's nothing wrong with a little camp when it doesn't undermine the story), but I see your point.

And yeah, if you're anything like me, you'll hate Batman v. Superman.

[Mr. Smith]

Alright, since everyone else is doing lists, I guess I'll give a little more depth.



The Absolute Best

1. Batman 1989  (Easily the best of them, it's the only one to earnestly tell a story about Batman, in Gotham, fighting crime, and keep himself in check: without any pretenses of "realism" or tongue-in-cheek moments. The look of Gotham is still the best one yet. Sure there are some limitations now that appear [such as Batman not being able to turn his head], but they are minor. Sure it's simplistic, but it makes up for it in subtlety. It's dark, gothic, and haunting, but it remembers to not take itself too seriously. Also I like still like Nicholson's performance which simply was anarchy without the damn need to preach about it. It kinda ruins Ledger for me)

2. Batman Begins (This one was my favorite until I saw Batman '89, I think Malcolm X summed up my thoughts on it well. The only problem I have with it is the precedent it gave the whole genre, and how the rest of the trilogy, while thought-provoking had a way of getting lost in that and forgetting to remain fun and riveting and forgetting to have believable characters...Rachel Dawes was the worst offender, not helped by Katie Holmes performance, and she somehow got worse as a role.)

Second Tier

3. Batman Returns (The story is a mess no doubt especially regarding The Penguin, some of the imagery and dialogue is a bit creepy. But the performances are all around engaging, the direction is fantastic and make what should've been a disaster instead a lot of fun. It still has the proper darkness expected of Batman, and the musical score by Elfman continues to impress.)

4. Batman: The Movie (Sure it ain't dark, but everyone is clearly having a lot of fun. The jokes are excellent, the performances are brilliant. It's not ideal, but better to have natural camp than forced "darkness". Also the Batman/Catwoman chemistry is still good as ever.)


5. The Dark Knight  (Besides Heath Ledger's Joker and Harvey Dent, it's ridiculously hard to stay invested in what actually goes on in this movie. The story just utterly plods along a right-leaning preachy path without 'em. It also literally could've stopped at Dent becoming Two-Face, but it didn't. The characters [and this is a problem with Nolan's films in general] have a way of ceasing to be believable characters and turn into mouthpieces for what Nolan is trying to say [Man of Steel was only produced by Nolan, but that problem was there]. The action is great, the first act is marvelous, and there are excellent performances scattered around...but it just wallows too much in the "grittiness", and Batman's voice is somehow worse.)

6. The Dark Knight Rises (It's pointlessly preachy and humorless most of the time, and without Bane, the movie would be a forgettable "so edgy and realistic I cut myself" mess. I appreciate that Nolan finally wrote a decent woman, and I appreciate that the movie took more cues from Batman Begins than The Dark Knight. But there's no getting around the egregious third act or the ironic lack of chemistry between Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne. There are some good performances once again, but they are just overshadowed by the plot holes that take away from the so-called "realism")

I Actually Hate These Movies

7. Batman Forever (The problem isn't the camp itself, the problem is that the movie is an utter mess that ultimately is forgettable. The parts of the story actually focused on Batman and Robin are actually pretty good, but it clashes awfully with the utterly forced campy elements such as the garish scenery, the silver Batsuit, or the villains themselves. It's literally two-faced)

8. Batman and Robin (No explanation needed)

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Voted for the Dark Knight, but would recommend Mask of the Phantasm.

[Dancing with Myself]

My all time favorite is Batman Returns. What made it so good was how dark and sad it utterly is. Like someone on You Tube said and I agree with "What makes Batman Returns so good is that despite all it's crazyness it's so close to real life especially in regards to how it ends. Everyone either dies or ends up with nothing besides Wayne who gets a cat." It's also a story of victims. Penguin is deformed due to either a freak of nature or his parents doing and Selina was abused and driven nuts then you have Batman. Burton went overboard on a couple of things but minus that it was perfect. Devito, Walken, and especially Pffefier delivered and kicked serious butt. If anything I felt she deserved her own film and so did Devito. Part 2 should have been about Catwoman and Schreck and Part 3 would have been Penguin. Catwoman and Schreck could have carried Returns by theirselves no problem.  Michael and Michelle were so good together it could have made the movie right there.


Anyways 2nd place is Forever. Always though Kilmer was underrated and did a solid job and I enjoyed O'Donell and Carrey. This film albeit some weird parts is close to a perfect mix of a moderate Batman. Take out TLJ's Two Face it would have been a lot better. Action wise it's the best out of all of them and goes by fast; a little too fast for me. I wish they included those deleted scenes it would have made it a little better and slower.


3rd is TDK largely due to Ledger. The movie around him wasn't as good as I remember but it still works due to him mostly. Two Face kind of ruins it as Harvey wasn't that rootable or likeable which ruins the ending for me. Maggie G was an improvement from Holmes and actually looked pretty good.


4th is Begins. Both halves are good but in the grand scale it's never really excited me as the 1st two on the list. Scarecrow was wasted imo and the mob stuff was meh. The training scenes are great though. Holmes wasn't the best but she looked good at least.


5th is Batman 89. Never really cared for this one. Ledger just outdoes Nicholson to the point where I can't watch this. Bassinger sucked too which made grating along with the prince music. Everything else is great and Keaton did a great job but age hurts this one.

6th is B&R. It's bad but it's a good form of bad. It's a fun movie in the least and goes by really fast. Clooney was a waste as Batman but he was a good Bruce. His shining moment was with Arnold at the end of the movie; that was well done. Arnold was Arnold at his best. The worst actor was Thurman she helped ruin the movie whenever she was on.

It's bad but not it's the worst movie ever made. It could have been decent if they changed a few things.


7th TDKR. The first half ruins this movie. It takes forever to get going and by the end it was a bore. The climax was good but the movie shouldn't be carried by the climax. Ending was perfect to the series though. Hardy was good but Hatthaway was lame as Catwoman.


8th Batman 66.

[swky_0rn]

I voted for batrman the movie.

[Mr. Smith]

Now that I've seen the new one, I place it at 7th for being half-baked, and being somehow even drabbier than The Dark Knight and Dark Knight Rises. It's better than Schumacher's two since it has a consistent tone and the leads clearly put effort into it.

But it really had too many little things going on with little connection to make it work for me.

[Gass3268]

The Dark Knight is the only correct answer. It's a top-10, possibly top-5 movie of the new millennium. It is a perfect superhero movie. It is really unfair to compare any others to it.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The Dark Knight is the only correct answer. It's a top-10, possibly top-5 movie of the new millennium. It is a perfect superhero movie. It is really unfair to compare any others to it.

I mean, I understand why some might prefer the 1989 one in terms of tone and look, at least when it comes to judging it specifically as a Batman movie. But yeah, I also think TDK is the absolute best.

[Gass3268]

The Dark Knight is the only correct answer. It's a top-10, possibly top-5 movie of the new millennium. It is a perfect superhero movie. It is really unfair to compare any others to it.

I mean, I understand why some might prefer the 1989 one in terms of tone and look, at least when it comes to judging it specifically as a Batman movie. But yeah, I also think TDK is the absolute best.

The 2 Burton films are very good superhero movies and were very important on shifting the tone away from the camp of the 60's TV series. Much better than the two that followed or Batman vs Superman. But they can't compare to the Nolan Trilogy.

[Gass3268]

1. The Dark Knight
2. Batman Begins
3. The Dark Night Rises
4. Batman Returns
5. Batman 89
6. The Lego Batman (This is 100% based on the two teaser trailers alone)
7. Batman vs. Superman
8. Batman 66
9. Batman Forever
10. Batman & Robin

[Mr. Smith]

Nolan's trilogy is like Citizen Kane, in both the good ways and bad ways, and I am not that big a fan of Citizen Kane at all.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The Dark Knight is the only correct answer. It's a top-10, possibly top-5 movie of the new millennium. It is a perfect superhero movie. It is really unfair to compare any others to it.

I mean, I understand why some might prefer the 1989 one in terms of tone and look, at least when it comes to judging it specifically as a Batman movie. But yeah, I also think TDK is the absolute best.

The 2 Burton films are very good superhero movies and were very important on shifting the tone away from the camp of the 60's TV series. Much better than the two that followed or Batman vs Superman. But they can't compare to the Nolan Trilogy.

TDKR was a confused, pretentious and unengaging mess, tough. It brings down the average by a lot.

[RI]

TDK was an overly-episodic exercise in freshmen-level philosophical masturbation. At least TDKR had an intimidating villain, real stakes, and some actual characterization. Batman deciding whether he should "break his (stupid) one rule" is not a real stake.

[CatoMinor]

The Dark Knight is the best film, but Batfleck is the best Batman

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

1. Batman '89 for being the first to bring it to a modern audience, plus nostalgia as it was the first grown-up film I saw in a cinema and made me a massive Batman fan.

2. The Dark Knight

3. Batman Returns

4. Batman Begins

5. Batman Forever

6. The Dark Knight Rises (for being a massive disappointment)

7. Any Lego Batman film

8. Batman '66

9. Any Batman porn parody

1048101. Batman and Robin