![]() Thank heavens the Batcave contains a Super Molecular Dust Separator. Facing off against The Joker, The Penguin, The Riddler and Catwoman, West's bright knight and Burt Ward's unfeasibly enthusiastic Robin fail to prevent the kidnapping of the United World Organization's Security Council (a thinly disguised United Nations), who all get turned to dust. Erm, hello? The Batphone is ringing! Adam West has been there, done that, and thwarted a shark with Shark Repellent Bat Spray while he was at it. There's been a lot of talk of how Matt Reeves finally gave us a screen Batman who does detective work. (Admittedly, the opening sequence of Bruce Wayne running through the rubble of Man Of Steel's controversially destructive finale is nicely done.) Ultimately, the Joker himself said it best: why so serious? Read the Empire review. From his branding of criminals, to his dismissal of the no-kill rule, this Batman isn't well-served by the material – fighting for space in a film desperately trying to establish a Justice League movie, flailing in an underwhelming and under-written beef with Superman. But beyond the visual representation, everything else suffers – Snyder's grimdark instincts and violent excesses result in a distinctly un-Batman take on the character. With a smattering of shots directly inspired by that comic's panels, and an older, wearier Batman played with passive-aggressive grit by Ben Affleck, there are moments of Dawn Of Justice that work. In his superhero smackdown sequel to Man Of Steel, Zack Snyder made a valiant attempt to bring some of the flavour of Frank Miller's iconic comic The Dark Knight Returns to the screen. Our favourite: "What killed the dinosaurs? The ice age!" Read the Empire review. Freeze, delivering an endless stream of terrible ice-based one-liners. But viewed from the current era of Very Serious Bats, it is still possible to extract some campy joy out of Joel Schumacher's lurid directorial vision, ironically or not - and revel in (top-billed) Arnold Schwarzenegger, as Mr. Its perception as a total flop (it was a critical failure, though commercially profitable) almost killed the franchise dead Batman would not appear on the big screen again for nearly a decade. "It's a bad film." It's true that there are very few filmmaking choices here that could be considered defensible - from the misuse of great characters like Poison Ivy and Batgirl, to the shonky production values, to the baffling repeated close-ups of leather codpieces and the much-maligned Bat-nipples. "I was bad in it," Clooney told Empire bluntly in 2020. Today considered more of a punchline than an actual movie, Batman & Robin is widely agreed to be the worst of the cinematic Batmen by all who have seen it - most loudly and enthusiastically by the film's Bruce Wayne himself, George Clooney. From all-out masterpieces, to flawed favourites, to so-bad-it’s-brilliant cheese-fests, read through the best of the Bat – and find out where The Batman sits on the list. Everyone from Adam West, to Christian Bale, to George Clooney has donned the iconic cowl in that time – and the latest to join them is Robert Pattinson, suiting up in Matt Reeves’ reinvention of the mythology, The Batman.Īs Reeves’ film dominates the box office, Empire presents an updated edition of our definitive Batman movie ranking – totting up the very best of Bruce Wayne on the big screen, as voted for by members of Team Empire. DC’s crime-fighting vigilante-detective has been a big-screen mainstay for over 50 years, with varying incarnations of billionaire orphan Bruce Wayne and his nocturnal alter-ego reflecting the respective eras of their creation – psychedelic ‘60s silliness, gaudy ‘90s quip-fests, and super-serious contemporary blockbusters. Whether he’s beginning, returning, or – god forbid – and Robin-ing, Hollywood can’t get enough of Batman.
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