Batman & Robin...Comic Book...Influences??

[thecolorsblend]

I thought Clooney was a great Batman for what he had to work with. Had he been given the right material to work with (a dark, gritty Batman), he might have been the best up there with Keaton.

I've never thought that. Clooney is great at playing Clooney. I've seen exactly nothing to convince me he would've been a good Batman in any other context.

[The Dark Knight]

I thought Clooney was a great Batman for what he had to work with. Had he been given the right material to work with (a dark, gritty Batman), he might have been the best up there with Keaton.

I've never thought that. Clooney is great at playing Clooney. I've seen exactly nothing to convince me he would've been a good Batman in any other context.

Agreed. I am starting to think though, that if Clooney played his Wayne exactly how it is in the movie - but transformed into a stoic Batman, it could've been very interesting. This big difference between the two personas. Although I'm not convinced Clooney could've pulled that off in a way I would've liked.

[thecolorsblend]

Agreed. I am starting to think though, that if Clooney played his Wayne exactly how it is in the movie - but transformed into a stoic Batman, it could've been very interesting. This big difference between the two personas. Although I'm not convinced Clooney could've pulled that off in a way I would've liked.

Not to demean Clooney's talents but I've always found it very telling that Burton held the camera on Keaton when he said "I'm Batman", Nolan held the camera on Bale when he said "I'm Batman" but Schumacher cut away when Clooney said "I'm Batman".

Look, the dude's got good, witty timing and he's a GREAT leading man but Clooney occasionally lapses into being Clooney. It's one reason why I think the Ocean movies served him so well. He could play a laid back ne'er do well who always has a fast quip. Material like that suits him. He makes it seem effortless. But if he had to bring across the kind of darkness that Batman is known for... okay, remember that bit at the beginning of BR where Bruce is sitting by himself in the library and the bat signal flashes in on him? His body language and other things suggest so much. I can't picture Clooney making that much out of that little. Just. Can't.

Or here's one. Most of you know I'm not big on Nolan's Batman movies but even I can recognize when they did something very well. There's a moment in Batman Begins right after Bruce gets roughed up. Falcone smack-talks Bruce's dad begging for mercy and Bale gives him a look of such impotent rage. You can see the darkness building behind his eyes but at the same time it has no outlet. Bruce has no ability to answer that insult... but don't think he didn't want to pound Falcone's face into the table. It's not just wanting to beat some ass, it's have the capacity to do it and in that moment it may well have been the first time Bruce realizes he has it. There's just no outlet, no training, nothing.

Bale, being a good actor, brings it all across in a very quick cut. It's there and it's gone. It takes long to describe it than it does to see the shot.

Anyway, I'm rambling...

[gotham22]

When I watch B:TAS I compare it's Bruce Wayne/Batman to Clooney's. There is no Batman voice ulike what Kilmer and Bale did and Bruce is in the public eye unlike Keaton's Bruce Wayne.

[Batman88]

I might have gotten carried away when writing that, but I definitely believe he was great at playing that kind of warm and family-oriented Bruce Wayne. Sure the material he was working with was bad for the most part, but who knows what could have been had B&R been a serious, dark Batman film.

[The Dark Knight]

I am going to be watching the Schumacher flicks tomorrow, and I'm going in with the following mentality.

The films are what they are. No matter how hard it may be, don't look at them and want something else.

Clooney plays Clooney in the batsuit. I'm not a fan of such an approach. But in this film's universe, that is the norm and accepted by everybody as 'Batman'. He didn't have to portray an angry, dark person because the film was not that.

I'll see how I go.

[thecolorsblend]

I am going to be watching the Schumacher flicks tomorrow, and I'm going in with the following mentality.

The films are what they are. No matter how hard it may be, don't look at them and want something else.

Clooney plays Clooney in the batsuit. I'm not a fan of such an approach. But in this film's universe, that is the norm and accepted by everybody as 'Batman'. He didn't have to portray an angry, dark person because the film was not that.

I'll see how I go.

One thing that helped me was listening to Schumacher's commentaries. There are may be directors who give better ones than he does but what struck me was his core concept behind each movie- "make something that entertains audiences".

On that basis... well, I enjoy them.

[Batman88]

I am going to be watching the Schumacher flicks tomorrow, and I'm going in with the following mentality.

The films are what they are. No matter how hard it may be, don't look at them and want something else.

Clooney plays Clooney in the batsuit. I'm not a fan of such an approach. But in this film's universe, that is the norm and accepted by everybody as 'Batman'. He didn't have to portray an angry, dark person because the film was not that.

I'll see how I go.

That's the right approach towards Schumacher's Batmans, especially B&R. I find Clooney playing Wayne more appealing than Kilmer.

[The Dark Knight]

Mr Freeze is stronger than the Schumacher-verse and Nolan-verse Banes.

I mean, he sends a guard *flying* across the room, smashing into a glass display case.  He then proceeds to throw a guy straight up in a perfect vertical line to dislodge his freeze gun.

Impossible or not, these feats are repeated nowhere else in the movies. 

[Batman88]

Mr Freeze is stronger than the Schumacher-verse and Nolan-verse Banes.

I mean, he sends a guard *flying* across the room, smashing into a glass display case.  He then proceeds to throw a guy straight up in a perfect vertical line to dislodge his freeze gun.

Impossible or not, these feats are repeated nowhere else in the movies. 

Yeah, I've always thought those were funny feats  . I remember back in early 1997 (April or May) I got a VHS that contained all of the trailers for the big movies that were coming out that summer (The Lost World and others I can't remember) and B&R was among them. I found myself watching the trailer over and over again and anticipating the film like no other thing. What I distinctly remember about the trailer is that it featured a longer interaction between Batman and Mr. Freeze in the museum after Batman comes flying and kicks Freeze in the chest then gets up holding Freeze's gun and says something to him.

I remember loving that piece of dialogue (I was 9  ), thought it was cool, but then when I went to see the film at the theater I remember being disappointed that that scene had been shortened.

Anybody remember this too, or is memory playing tricks on me ?