Batman has been hitting screens off and on since the 1940s. So, as a project, I hunted down all the Batman movies and watched them all. And now, here they are, in a completely arbitrary ranking of the worst to the best with some justification for you to argue over until The Dark Knight Rises officially hits screens tomorrow (OK, 12:01 am Friday, but close enough to Thursday for us).
Yes, there was a Batman and Robin before the Batman and Robin we all know and loathe. And it deserves our hate far, far more.
Even by the standards of serials, this is egregiously stupid and cheap. It's so inept it's not even campy; it's just annoying. Why audiences didn't burn Columbia to the ground over this remains a mystery. The preceding serial isn't much better, but at least the costume isn't godawful.
This serial actually introduced the concept of the Batcave. And since it was made in 1943, unfortunately it's got lots of racism towards the Japanese intentional and unintentional, right down to "Dr. Daka" being played by a white guy. Beyond that, you've barely heard of this and brother, there's a reason. It emphasizes that Batman and Robin may be bad, but a well-funded bad movie is at least more entertaining to watch that this relentlessly talky racist antique. It's narrowly better than the other Batman serial, but that's like saying being kicked in the left testicle is better than the right testicle, really.
Every now and then, I'll think, "Man, I used to love Batman Returns as a kid! I should watch it!" Then I watch it and remember how stupid kids generally are when it comes to choosing entertainment.
The parts of this movie just did not fit at the time and overall it just hasn't aged well. The cast all think they're in wildly different movies; Burton's production design is totally wrong for the character; the plot is shockingly stupid with big chunks of the script aimed squarely at generating toy revenue (like that stupid effing duck); and the blackly comedic tone Burton is shooting for tends to be hit or miss at best.
I rank it so low because it really did have the potential to be a great movie on par with its predecessor, and that was squandered. Instead it set the tone for the rest of the franchise. And that's a much worse sin than being doomed to be crappy from the get-go.
I've softened a lot about this movie over time, especially as it became clear what ruined it was not Joel Schumacher. Schumacher has actually been very gracious and clear-eyed about the movie, accepting blame where it was due and pointing out problems that restricted him. One thing that rapidly becomes clear is that this movie was doomed to turkeydom before a foot of film was shot.
That said, it is still awful; why Warners thought we needed a bloated throwback to the 1966 movie is a mystery for the ages. Still, it's not as bad as the serials.
After seeing a lot of accidentally bad movies, it's kind of fun to see a deliberately bad one.
The thing about this movie is that it chooses a tone, goofy, and sticks with it. The scene with Batman running down the street holding a gigantic bomb is infamous, but when you see it, it's actually really funny. Similarly, Adam West's winking portrayal of the staggeringly naive Bruce Wayne/Batman actually works; West plays it straight enough that he gets the jokes right.
It's not a great movie, but it's a funny one and it's surprisingly engaging.
Batman Begins is by no means a bad movie, but it's a compromised one. This is the Batman movie Warner Brothers thought it wanted.
The big offender here is David Goyer. Goyer has proven repeatedly that he's a clumsy screenwriter at best and his attempts to smash together Batman: Year One and Nolan's ideas while pleasing his studio masters are cringe inducing. There's a reason Goyer hasn't been allowed near the Nolan movies since.
Similarly, Nolan didn't know what he wanted out of the series. This is a paycheck job, a stepping stone, marking time until he got some creative control. It's watchable, but seeing it and The Dark Knight back to back really emphasizes just how much better the latter actually is on just about every level.
Yeah, I know, I know, Jim Carrey, Chris O'Donnell, Joel Schumacher, "holy rusted metal, Batman!"
This edges Batman Begins for me because it teeters right on the edge of self-parody but is saved by Val Kilmer, who seems enormously amused by just about everything. In its own way, it's the 1966 Batman movie all over again, but with a bigger budget, a better director, and a more charismatic cast. One wonders what would have happened if Joel Schumacher, a director who is at his best when he's fully engaged, could have done if he'd just be able to get out from under the marketing department and actually make the movie he wanted.
It's been a fad to beat on this movie ever since The Dark Knight came along, something I doubt Nolan enjoys.
But the truth is, without this, we don't just miss The Dark Knight, but Spider-Man and The Avengers. Before this movie, comic book adaptations were defined by the Superman series, which had coughed its last a few years before.
If you weren't around or weren't paying attention at the time, this was the movie that showed Hollywood you could make a serious comic book adaptation and people would not only like it, they'd show up in droves. It became one of the most successful movies ever made and, for better and for worse, defined the Hollywood blockbuster.
All that said, on its own merits it's also pretty damn good. Just watch the opening sequence of Batman expertly terrifying two muggers and try to argue this isn't a great Batman movie. Michael Keaton makes a great casting choice because he so perfectly sells what a rich jerk Wayne comes off as to the outside world. The black comedy here that doesn't work in Batman Returns is hilarious here. Anton Furst's production design evokes the Gothic without Burton's whimsy, something that was needed for the movie to work.
And Nicholson's Joker is great. Is Heath Ledger's better? Absolutely. But Heath Ledger was in grade school when this movie was made. Nicholson was the best possible choice, and especially for the time, he nails the character.
Another touch is that the characters are adults, something the series summarily dropped in later entries. Batman has a semi-drunken hookup in this movie, and Wayne's emotional damage is actually important to the script.
In all, it's surprising how good this movie still is. If you haven't seen it in a while, watch it: it's worth it.
If Warner Brothers hadn't screwed this one up, we might still be seeing movies from this series.
Batman: The Animated Series is probably one of the best versions of the character in any medium and giving the team involved license to go nuts was the best idea Warners ever had. Unfortunately it was paired with the worst: they had to turn around a full-length theatrical film in eight months. That's hard to do in live-action, and a nightmare in animation.
Nonetheless, they pulled it off, only to be greeted with the one-two punch of no marketing for the film and a release date, Christmas 1993, that put it up against several other heavily marketed movies.
It's a great movie, though, second only to one Batman movie.
If there's one movie that sums up and defines the first eight years of the twenty-first century for Americans, it's this one.
There have been plenty of asinine political arguments about this movie, all of which miss the point. The Joker is not Osama Bin Laden and Batman is not George W. Bush. This movie is more elegant than that.
It's not about politics, not directly. It's a movie about how terrorism scares us and the response to terrorism tends not to make us feel safe, but just scare us in another way entirely. And frankly it does a better and more thrilling job of addressing it than any of the protest movies Hollywood turned out post 9/11.
The Dark Knight is a great movie because it shows the flexibility of superheroes, how they naturally lend themselves to metaphors. This was what the critics angry over a guy in long johns making so much money didn't get. The movie struck a nerve because it was able to step away from angry political arguments and explore how the overall situation made us feel.
Well, that's my ranking. What's yours? And where do you think The Dark Knight Rises will fit in?
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this looks not so much arbitrary as it does correct. nice work bat bro.
You are an Idiot. Tim Burton’s Batman needs to be number one. Jack Nicholson is better than Ledger, clearly. And people will argue that he played it with more camp, blah blah… watch the movie. He still murders 50 people on screen. The Joker killing with camp is part of what makes him the joker. It’s a joke to him. Of course Batman kills a bunch of people too… but whatever. Jack Nicholson!
See, I’d argue that they’re both great Batman movies, but I like the thematic weight of The Dark Knight. Burton’s Batman isn’t about much, but it’s a hell of a ride.
I’m with Dan here. Solid list, w/ Mask of the Phantasm at number 2 being spot on and seems to be overlooked by a LOT of people when they put together their batman lists. TDK at one seems obvious. I’ve rewatched most of these over the last few weeks to gear up for DKRises and as good as Nicholson and Keaton were in Batman, Bale and Ledger were that much better in the Dark Knight. They do have the benefit of knowing what worked and what didn’t work in all preceding movies though, that helps.
Come to think of it, it probably should be a “1A, 1B, 1C” situation with how good those top 3 really are.
Because calling someone an idiot for sharing their opinion has always been a good idea. Way to embrace the Troll lifestyle. I don’t agree with this list for the most part, but I’m not going to call Dan an idiot. At least he gets paid to make lists I can’t identify with.
Yeah but it was “Idiot” with a capital “I,” so there was at least a hint of some begrudging respect.
Wait, I could be wrong.
“wait’ll they get a load of me”
The most amazing thing about Batman as a character is just that he can effectively be used as a protagonist in both the ’66 and ’08 movie.
Because he’s the Goddamn Batman.
Pretty spot on list – just my opinion but if you’re going to include animation then another WB animated film that would merit discussion was the Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Considering what it addressed (torture, brainwashing, death, etc.) and that initially it was edited to tone down what was a pretty graphic depiction of The Joker.
I went with just what was released to theaters as a limit. Besides the less said about some of the later DCAU movies the better.
Return of the Joker is pretty great though, especially the flashback and the end sequence where Terry fights Joker:
“I thought you always wanted to make Batman laugh.”
“You’re not BATMAN!”
@Dan By later DCAU movies…do you mean Under the Red Hood? That whole move seemed like a childhood crushing troll.
@Dan Seitz: I’m probably overly tainted with youth/nerd nostalgia though. It was the first movie I remember seeing in the theater. And I swear every friend I had took friends to see it for their birthdays. I must had seen it 15 times that summer, and I literally wore out the VHS. I can still quote it verbatim much to the annoyance of anyone I watch it with.
I wildly disagree with this list, but I’m not an idiot, so no death threats will be made (*prepares death threats for guy who cut me off on the highway*)…
I go back and forth with Batman Begins. At first I thought it was amazing like everyone else, then I watched it and thought Katie Holmes was awful (she is, or is at best mediocre) and the villain’s scheme was kind of hokey. And now I recently watched it again and think I was too hard on it. The Dark Knight is far better though, and I agree it’s #1
Thank you. Batman Begins sucks all sorts of dick.
Dark Knight is the shit though. Heath Ledger was incredible in this. Not saying Jack wasnt great in the original… but Heath hit a fn grand slam
So I’m just putting this out there but… I much prefer BB to TDK. TDK was bloated, dog.
The 1940′s Batman serials were cheap as fuck. They make any Ed Wood film look like Lawrence of Arabia. But they were really nothing more than Pro-American, Anti-Japanese propaganda, using Batman as a delivery system. It’s funny, and somewhat shocking how blatant the racism is in those things. All around, a shameful artifact of this nations history.
Oh, Jesus, I saw the Japanese villain and braced myself for incoming Yellow Peril but this stuff make that Superman cartoon “The Japeuteurs” look like a sensitive and careful treatment of race.
Plus, Bruce Wayne is an absolute dick. “Sorry there, tits! Just got up around 1:00 PM and figgered I’d head on over here to harass the hell out of you? Why am I not killing Nazis right now? 4F, toots! Wink Wink!” Hilarious stuff.
I always heard that “OMG batman returns is the best ever! Catwoman!” but yeah it really did kinda suck hard. i like penguin as a character but i agree with you. it’s not as good as everyone believed it to be. also i don’t think any movie will be better thatn the dark knight. it was just too perfect from top to bottom. but i think TDKR will be up there in the top 3.
Still… could be worse. My nose could be gushing blood
Pretty good, although I think putting Batman Returns below Batman & Robin is unfair. I would only switch those most likely.
My reasoning is this: “Batman and Robin” was doomed. There are some great post-mortems online and essentially it boils down to nobody involved was allowed to be creative. Warners dictated everything and selling toys was the first and last priority.
“Batman Returns” could have been good. It could even have been great. Instead they screwed up. That’s a bit less forgiveable…but only marginally.
To me, a shit product is a shit product. I’m not giving a laughable movie like Batman and Robin props over Batman Returns just because of the excuse of “oh well they WANTED to make a better movie.” It’s like talking about a drug-addict guy you knew in high school and saying, “the guy WANTED to be a lawyer but got mixed up with the wrong people.” I hate factoring in anything but the finished product (expectations, what the movie is trying to accomplish, etc. mean nothing)
Having said that, getting drunk and watching Batman and Robin = amazing. So if you were going with that thinking, +1 to you, Mr. Seitz
I can’t even ironically watch Batman & Robin anymore. I just can’t. I need a bottle of Fightin’ Cock just to make it past the opening sequence.
Also, I just want to throw some support behind Batman Forever as being awesome. They should have never cut out the dark opening though.
Haven’t seen Mask of the Phantasm but I’m gonna take your worth for it because I agree with most of the list.
By the way every time someone talks about Batman Forever I talk about that there is a much better version of this movie called Batman Forever: Red Book Edition, Google it if you have the time its worth it.
Batman Returns that far down on the list? Heresy.
Batman Forever above Batman Begins? The movie that changed origin films? Val Kilmer? VAL KILMER?! I want to shoot a urine pistol at this list.
Batman begins is way too low. Also i don’t think you can include mask of the phantasm on this list if you aren’t including any of the other animated films. Unless you meant theatrical releases. (which you probably did)
And Goyer worked on the stories with Chris Nolan on The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, but Chris and Johnathan Nolan write the actual screenplays.
Dan’s dad Steve chiming in. I took Dan to the Burton original when he was in grade school in Virginia.
My only real quarrel with these is with “Batman Returns.” I think it borders on art. The interpersonal dynamics among the lead characters is fascinating, and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman is compelling in her emotional instability. Burton managed to bring in some of the madness of the 1940s comics without going overboard, and Christopher Walken is a much better villain here than he was in “A View to a Kill,” Roger Moore’s sad exit from the Bond franchise. (Although I don’t hold Sir Roger responsible for those awful scripts, and neither should you.) And, no intrusion from Prince.
Oh, one more thing: “Batman and Robin” has the huge asset of Alicia Silverstone in skin-tight black rubber. Too bad they added sound.
“One wonders what would have happened if Joel Schumacher, a director who is at his best when he’s fully engaged, could have done if he’d just be able to get out from under the marketing department and actually make the movie he wanted.”
I don’t think you would have to wonder too much.
Batman would have been one giant, latex nipple.
I don’t think it would have been a classic, but it would have at least been more interesting.
Joking aside, hasn’t Schumaker actually made good films when he (a) tries to and/or (b) studios let him?
I wish Mark Hammil was more menacing in real life. I would have absolutely loved to see him play the Joker on the big screen.
I second this, and add the same thing with “Kevin Conroy” and “Batman” in place of “Mark Hamill” and “Joker”.
You’re way to hard on Begins, man. It’s top 3, easily, and I grew up loving the animated series.
Now, hear me out on this. While TDK is an overall better (and stellar on its own) film, Begins is a better Batman movie. TDK is a vehicle for Ledger’s performance, but if you watch it again and focus on Bats, the titular character wasn’t done justice. In Begins, I saw everything I love about the character and the origin story pulled off in an cool, effective fashion. I don’t know… I’m a guy who actually gets choked up over a great Batman graphic novel, and BB had the same emotional impact on me. TDK didn’t. I hope TDKR will marry attention on Batman himself with the smart, high-octane hijinks we can rely on Nolan for. Them’s my two cents.
*too.
Can’t justify being a grammar nazi if I don’t call myself out as well.
I thought Under the Red Hood was pretty good.
Dan, you truly have the best job in the entire world.
Do people hate on Jim Carrey in that movie? I actually think he’s the best part about it. If anything, I hate the way Two Face is portrayed WAY more.
I’m surprised to see Mask of the Phantasm so high. I never saw it, but I read the comic book adaptation, and thought it stunk, so I never bothered to seek it out. Maybe I’ll try to find it now.
And I’m with you on Batman Begins. When I walk out of most comic book movies (or at least a good one), I always feel all pumped up, like a little kid who wants to be that character when I grow up. I didn’t get that rush from Begins. It was a perfectly fine movie and all, it just missed a few points for me.
Are you serious? The Riddler is supposed to be incredibly intelligent and calculating….not “Jim Carey after a garbage bag of coke” hyper. The constant mugging and nut-hugger green spandex didn’t help.
Great list; I appreciate the respect for Batman Forever and Mask of the Phantasm. But while I agree with what you say about Batman Returns, I still heart that movie. Catwoman, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Christopher Walken, and Michael Keaton continuing to rule. The Penguin stuff was pretty awful, although his henchmen were kinda fun.
Anyway, the inclusion of Phantasm is great, because I love that movie (more than TDK, honestly), but also kind of weird, because there have been several animated Batman movies, and although I haven’t seen all of them, the ones I’ve seen I think are all better than Batman & Robin, and probably better than those old, pre-sixties flicks. But I guess a theatrical release is required to be eligible for this list?
You forgot this one:
[en.wikipedia.org]
Harumph, harumph. Pretty sure Jaws set the standard for the Hollywood blockbuster as it was the first movie to make over 100 million.
I’m inclined to not love Batman (1989) so much either. One of the first thing Bats does is get shot and fall down,
I usually loathe rankings of artistic works, but I enjoyed this one, as the explanations were clear and well-reasoned. I especially liked your interpretation of Dark Knight.
Batman ’89 definitely doesn’t get enough credit. The cinematography, score, atmosphere, and Keaton’s Batman are all top-notch, even in light of The Dark Knight.
Flawless list, Mask of The Phantasm is one of the hugest overlooked gems in animated features, ever. As for the Joker debate, in my opinion, every movie Joker since the 60′s was correct for their time: Cesar Romero was a smiling, technicolor splashed buffoon not intended to really scare anyone, Jack Nicholson was just the right balance of twisted evil and conscience-free reckless abandon, and Heath Ledger was… I can’t define it, but it was spot-on. Mark Hamill’s still my personal fave, tho.