West Vs Bale Vs Keaton Vs Kilmer Vs Clooney!

[Earth 2 Chris]

Who cares if he has a lisp? Some say Christopher Reeve's voice was too weak for Superman. Toby Maguire's voice cracks like a 14 year-old boy in puberty, but he's Spider-Man. But yet both are considered, overall, perfect for the roles they play. If you aren't a voice actor (like Gary Owens) you probably don't have a perfect voice without some kind of "defect". Singling Bale out over something like this getting far too nitpicky I think.

As for the growly Batman voice, I don't really consider it much different than Kevin Conroy's treatment. Esp. early on. Go back and watch the first few BTAS episodes. Conroy's Batman voice is much huskier than it eventually evolved into. He probably figured out he couldn't keep it up like that for 100 plus episodes and toned it down.

Chris

[Raydeen1]

Must be. Because there is no lisp.

He absolutely has a lisp.

2 of my coworkers who went the see DK said the same thing Dark Lord said about him straining the growlly voice. Just putting that out there as I haven't seen the movie so I can't make any comment on it myself. But he most definitely has a lisp.

[twilitezoner]

Just re the discussion about Mr Bale's voice and the whole Lisp thing. I can't speak for myself. . .as I am not seeing TDK for another 12 hours. . .but our current equivelant of Letterman/Leno (Rove), is doing a bit they keep playing on the ads about Bale speaking with a Lisp when he is being Batman.

Seeing it tomorrow. . .so I will know one way or the other, but Darklord pointed this out, and others claimed they didn't notice. . .but since it is a comedy routine, I guess it is out there for folks to take notice of.

Must be. Because there is no lisp.

[huedell]

Lisp, schmisp, I think he sounds cool.

To me, that voice is what Batman sounds like.

And Wayne, being the perfectionist that he is...well, I can see why he'd
go for the most throat ripping voice---not just to "instill fear"---but to
also disguise his regular voice in as extreme a way as he could.

[Vortigern99]

Lisp, schmisp, I think he sounds cool.

When I was a teenager I used to read comics outloud, providing the voices, tonalities and accents that I felt were appropriate to the characters. Even before the 1989 Batman was released, I used to read Batman with a harsh growl that came up out of me naturally; I did not really intellectualize this process, it simply happened. I thought it worked really well -- surprisingly so, considering no one had ever read the character this way. I was only moderately disappointed to find that Keaton employed a soft whisper rather than the vicious snarl I preferred. (It tore my throat up to do it, but it was so much fun, and seemed so right, that I could not refrain whenever I read a Batman comic and was not around other people!) Thus, when I first heard Bale employ a strikingly similar voice in BB, I was immediately made a fan of the approach, especially since I feel I originated it in 1987 or so. (Not that he could have heard me do it, of course, but I still feel somewhat proprietary about it!) He and I both came to that voice independently, and I will praise and defend its use for as long as people criticise it. To me, that voice is what Batman sounds like.

[AUSSIE-Rebooted-AMM]

Just re the discussion about Mr Bale's voice and the whole Lisp thing. I can't speak for myself. . .as I am not seeing TDK for another 12 hours. . .but our current equivelant of Letterman/Leno (Rove), is doing a bit they keep playing on the ads about Bale speaking with a Lisp when he is being Batman.

Seeing it tomorrow. . .so I will know one way or the other, but Darklord pointed this out, and others claimed they didn't notice. . .but since it is a comedy routine, I guess it is out there for folks to take notice of.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Nice post there filmation fan. Right on.

Chris

[filmation batman fan]

This is a nice, broad category.

For what I call, "Batman Lite". Adam West all the way. He was the true custodian of the light hearted, daytime working, campy, public figure Batman who works well with Robin and Batgirl. Adam West owned the role from 1966 to 1968. Then he added to the legacy when he voiced over Batman, first for Filmation on the New Adventures of Batman in 1977 and then on the last two seasons of the SuperFriends: What I call the Super Powers Era during the time with Firestorm, Cyborg, and Darkseid on the shows. Voice Over Olan Soule had his place on the SuperFriends, but Adam West wins that contest hands down.

In terms of the Dark Knight Batman, Two Men own that title with no contest whatsoever!! In live action: Christian Bale all the way. He has the look and the skill it takes to portray both Batman and Bruce Wayne all the way. To this day, I feel Batman Begins and the Dark Knight are the best BatMovies to this day.
Michael Keaton was not bad. He was all right. My biggest gripes are with Val Kilmer and George Clooney. They were good with one side of the role and not with the other. Kilmer made a fine Batman, but as Bruce Wayne, I was not convinced this blonde haired guy was Bruce. I go by comic book accuracy, and Kilmer looked more like Azrael than he did Bruce Wayne. Clooney was the opposite. In addition to playing a camped up Batman, Clooney was more effective as Bruce Wayne, but was lousy as Batman.
Bale beats everybody!!
In terms of Dark Knight voice over, Kevin Conroy bar none!! He has become to Batman what Bud Collyer was to Superman for many years. While
Rino Romano and Jeremy Sisto have taken cracks at it, Conroy rules! Especially since he returned to the role in Batman: Gotham Knight. Kevin Conroy is the definitive voice.
BATMAN LITE:
LIVE ACTION: Adam West
ANIMATION: Adam West

DARK KNIGHT BATMAN: LIVE ACTION: Christian Bale
ANIMATION: Kevin Conroy
Cheers.

[darklord1967]

Amen!

[Vortigern99]

Weirdos? Maybe! Batfans? Definitely!!

[toys2cool]

^^weirdos!!

[darklord1967]

Read and understood. Let's bury the hatchet and get on with our lives.

Whew! Sounds good to me, buddy. Hatchet buried.

[Vortigern99]

Read and understood. Let's bury the hatchet and get on with our lives.

[darklord1967]

Okay. We've both made our cases and stated our opinions and observations. I understand your objections, and the reasoning and personal experiences that led you to those objections. And yet I continue (predictably) to disagree.

Yes, well no surprise there.

YOU:That Bale laughed when he first put on the suit indicates he's not right for the role.

That's not what I said. I questioned the wisdom of the decision to cast him based on the fact that he initially found himself "silly looking" in the character's garb.

I further pointed out that his initial humored outlook on physically becoming the character may very well have contributed to his over-compensating with an animalistic voice that (in my view) was un-necessary in more than a few places.

ME: Clearly he is right for the role, as you yourself have agreed, so I fail to see the relevance of this fact. I used to laugh every time I put the Frank garb on, but I still took the role seriously when it came time to perform.

I agreed to no such thing. I stated the opinion that no other actor has portrayed the role as well as Bale has. That doesn't mean that I think he is right for the role. My saying that his portrayal of The Batman was the best one yet doesn't really say much considering the boo-boos who played a "serious" version of the character previously.

Furthermore YOU may have laughed at yourself upon initially seeing yourself in Frankenfurter's transvestite garb, but I already said that (in my view) that type of humorous reaction is completely understandable given the COMICAL NATURE AND APPEARENCE of a goofy character like that.

Neither The Batman's nature NOR appearence are "comical", especially if you understand the character.

ME: But the material your canine unit worked with is a different material. You've never worked with this specific material, nor observed its properties.

The Batman's movie uniform is described as "bullet resistant kevlar" in the films. In my experience in law-enforcement I WAS exposed to bullet-resistant kevlar and it's properties CONSTANTLY. I have worn it myself. I can tell you un-equivocally that a simple dog bite / slashing/ rending cannot penetrate it.

In addition (as i stated before) the far weaker and far less dense canine training material cannot be penetrated by a dog's bite... therefore the far stronger Kevlar is definitely not suseptible.

This is a logical, common-sensical observation, AND a real-life personal experience observation.

Also, regarding the flame retardent properties of Nomex, that's a fair point, but you're overlooking the fact that Scarecrow had just sprayed Batman with his fear gas. Batman's reaction to the flame was one of terror; at the end of the scene we see his cape has been burned but his (Nomex-coated)armor was still intact.

Good point.

ME: Look, no one I know who has complained of constipation sounded like Bale doing his Batman growl. I've had it, my wife has had it, I remember my mother having it when I was a kid -- and none of us talked Bale's growl.

Well, to answer your earlier (overly intrusive) question from the other day: I definitely know of people who have suffered from very bad, painful stomach cramps due to gastro-intestinal difficulties including (but not limited to) constipation.

The pain and strain they were under occasionally caused their voices to sound "labored" and "gutteral" whenever they spoke.

The whole thing is just ridiculous, including your getting upset about me pointing out that it's ridiculous.

Undoubtedly it's ridiculous. But what I took issue with was NOT you pointing out its ridiculousness. After all, I was the first to say that my metaphor was written somewhat tongue-in cheek.

No, what irritated me was your assertion that since YOU didn't agree with my semi-comical use of the term, that somehow it must be "vulgar" and that is was nothing more than some kind of debate tactic to further my own point... implying that I somehow don't believe my OWN viewpoint on this.

With Maggie, we were talking about her sex appeal, which is to a certain extent quantified by her capacity for inspiring male erections.

Right. And the mention of her erection-inspiring sex appeal could NEVER be seen as offensive or vulgar, right? ... especially when compared to my gruesome mention of how strained a human voice might sound coming from a constipated individual suffering from painful cramps.

Why don't we ask the several female members of this message board if reducing an attractive woman's sex appeal to the erections she can inspire from men might not be precieved as "vulgar" , offensive, or even downright sexist?

With Bale the crux of the matter is not whether his stool is solid and his bowlels immotile.

I never suggested that they were, or that this was the "crux" of the matter. And you know that.

Please stop acting offended and insulted; it's getting us nowhere

You're the one who took offense to my "constipated" metaphor evidenced by your labeling it "vulgar". But you're right about one thing: It isn't geting us anywhere.

The whole thing is based on the fact that you're evidently incapable of apologizing for misspeaking.

Well, seeing as I do NOT believe I mis spoke, I have nothing to apologize for. My opinion (complete with tongue in cheek metaphor) stands.

[Hector]

Wow...Vortiggen and Darklord...you are both typing machines, lol.

Keep 'em comin'!