Batman Part 2
Welcome to part 2 of my comparison of the two Batman vs. Joker movies. Today we will focus on casting and character portrayals.
Let’s first adress the 200-pound gorilla in the room: Michael Keaton was better than Christian Bale as Batman. Let’s first focus on Bale’s performance. Bale, to his credit, does do a very intimidating Batman. He obviously has the physicality, and he does have an intimidating voice. But the voice sounds like he’s having EXPLOSIVE DIARREHA. Also, when he’s not doing the voice, Bale’s Wayne still acts exactly like Batman, and would be the first person anyone would suspect. For Keaton’s Batman, we’ll go same order. Keaton worked out just for the role, and manages to sell himself as Batman physically. His voice is a whisper as Batman, but the whisper somehow proves extremely intimidating. Also his Bruce Wayne is very different from his Batman. Bruce is playboy, Batman is hero. This makes a lot of sense, and no one would even suspect him as Batman. Both actors bring a certain psychological edge, but Keaton takes the cake.
Now let’s go for the Joker. Heath Ledger was great as the Joker, and so was Jack Nicholson. So instead of talking about performance, let’s talk about characterization. Ledger’s Joker is a sociopath, and kills all his accomplices in the very beginning. In a very real way he is a terrorist, and a force to be reckoned with. Nicholson’s Joker was also a force to be reckoned with, but in a different way. He is also a sociopath, but instead of being a terrorist at first, he works for a criminal syndicate. However, as soon as he is injured, he goes apes–t and becomes a terrorist, poisoning Gotham City, and attempting to kill hundreds. Also another plus to Nicholson’s Joker is that he and Batman are tied, while Ledger’s Joker and Batman just fight because they can. So all-in-all, I just have to go with Nicholson’s Joker.
The portrayals of Gordon are tied, so that’s sort of in Dark Knight’s favor, but something Batman has that The Dark Knight can’t make up for is Bob the Goon. “Nuff said. Stay tuned for part 3.
