Michael Keaton Batman: What's the big deal?

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i don't get it. i just really don't like HIS version of batman. of course, he is better than george clooney, and possibly val kilmer, but his performance is very weak, and thus is inferior to christian bale and especially kevin conroy, IMHO

if you disagree, or even agree, let me hear it. give your opinions on this

I remember seeing that movie at a midnight showing when it first came out. Lots of hype and the general feeling was that Jack Nicholson stole the show. Different times though, the choice of the actor playing Batman probably came down to popularity and sex appeal. Weenie men were in demand I guess. Someone with muscles was inherently not intellectual for some reason. Maybe had something to do with the suit? I think he did an alright job. However, the movie Mr. Mom is a classic with Michael Keaton.

I believe that part of the reasoning was that they needed someone who looked like they needed a batsuit to scare the crap out of criminals. Not to mention that Tim Burton saw that Michael Keaton had a haunted quality to him.

Other than the allure of being the "first" batman in the movies, I think Keaton was a smart choice.

Most alter-egos should NOT look like the superhero version. Later versions of Batman involved a Bruce Wayne who looked like Batman without the suit. Keaton looked nothing like Batman...making the transformation even more remarkable.

I rather like Christian Bale playing Bruce Wayne like a drunken playboy, a la the Scarlet Pimpernel and Zorro...

The most impressive thing I found about Michael Keaton's Batman was that I thought of him as Mr Mom and Beetlejuice and just couldn't picture him as anyone remotely heroic. He can even do Shakespeare (in a comic role) but a hero? But he managed alright. I thought the rest of the movie was kinda tiresome. Tim Burton has a knack for taking his Tim Burtonness to the point where you say, "He's not unique and off-kilter, come on, this dude's just trying to be weird..." Except Jack. He was best before the make-up... uh, I mean, deformation, though.

"You look fine."
"I didn't ask."

Keaton was great for his time. But Bale is da man! Plus, Bale wears a suit in which he can move his neck.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc_encIvqQ8[/youtube]

i think bale pulls it off better. also, awesome headbutt

i mean seriouysly, he KILLS people

I enjoyed Keaton. I think he did as good of a job as he could for being in a batsuit that was almost all in one piece and allowed for almost no movement.

I think Keaton really had the psychological aspects of Bruce Wayne/Batman nailed, but Batman was supposed to have been someone who trained his body as well as his mind; Keaton failed there, despite getting trained in kickboxing (I think his trainer for the Batman movies was Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, but I could be mistaken).

Having said that, I think Bale has been the best actor for the role so far. His characterization of both Bruce Wayne and Batman was excellent. I just wish they could've done something a little different with the Batman voice changer; it didn't really sound that intimidating to me. It made me want to give him a throat lozenge.

FYI, I remember reading that Burton's first choice for Batman was Bill Murray, not Michael Keaton. He said he wanted someone for the role that was atypical.