The Favorites - 13 Favorite Batman Movies

Well, it’s 2022, and we have yet another live-action Batman film. Yeah, we had Ben Affleck in the previous DCEU movies, but this is the first solo film in about a decade. Not only are we getting Rob Pattisson in the role, Michael Keaton (along with Affleck) is supposed to be returning to the role in the Flash movie. By the way, why is this movie constantly pushed back? Maybe that slo-mo from the Snyder Cut carried over onto that movie’s production.

This did get me thinking about what my favorite Batman films are. I mean, the Dark Knight has had a crapton of films released in over the years, live-action and animated. He’s been on his own, hanging with teams, fighting Joker, flirting with Wonder Woman, teaming up with reptiles, fighting Superman, fighting Joker, sleeping with Batgirl, fighting Joker, in Victorian era Gotham, and last but not least, FIGHTING THE JOKER. I think I sense a bit of a pattern. So, here are my favorite Batman movies. Even though he has a lot, I’m stopping at 13-ish. I’m mainly including primarily solo Batman films here, but I do have a couple of exceptions. First, here are some honorable mentions:

• The Dark Knight Rises – Yeah, this didn’t make it to the main list, so take that, Nolanites! Now, this isn’t a bad movie, but I can’t throw it on the list. While it was the ending of Nolan’s trilogy and had good things with it, I couldn’t vibe with it. Heck, it took me almost eight years to see it again! I’ve seen the other two many more times than that! It just felt phoned in at times. Whatever spark those first two movies had wasn’t here. I also wasn’t a fan of some plot points and other things (those dang hilarious voices). Overall, it’s not bad, but it’s not that good.
• Batman and Robin – This one goes without saying. It was the first Batman film I saw in theaters. While I can find a lotta joy in Batman Forever, I can’t with this one. While I do like a little camp with Batman, this one took things too far for me. It’s not one of the worst movies ever though. It has a couple of good things like the subplot with Alfred. Also, Alicia Silverstone looked nice in that costume… hey, it’s true! As for everything else, meh. I can accept it as a comedy, but nothing more.
• Batman (1966) – I wanted to at least mention the original 1966 Adam West movie. It’s one that I honestly haven’t seen a lot of. I do need to see it in its entirety one day, but even if I did,  it would probably still be in the mentions.

Movie Talk - Batman: Ninja

If there’s one thing you can link to Batman, it can be martial arts. It seems like DC thinks that too since we’ve gotten quite a lot of stuff involving Batman going up against ninjas, monks, and everything in between. Heck, some throw Batman into the whole “World’s Greatest Fighter” title, and that’s just silly. He’s already the World’s Greatest Detective, and adding any more “Great” titles is just overcompensating. When the alien from another world is a bit more relatable than the human male who learned to do everything within a decade, you might be overdoing it. Anyway, why did I go down that tangent? I guess I wanted to hold off on talking about this movie. That’s not a good sign!

Batman: Ninja was released in 2018. Someone at DC had the interesting idea to let some anime creators get their hands on the Dark Knight again. This was done before with Batman: Gotham Nights from 2008. While that movie wasn’t the best of the bunch, seeing Batman (specifically the Nolan Batman) done in anime form was pretty cool. This time, Junpei Mizusaki was the director, Kamikaze Douga and YamatoWorks did the animation, and Takashi Okazaki (created Afro Samurai) designed the characters. When it got adapted for American audiences, Leo Chu and Eric Garcia rewrote the movie. It seems that folk are a bit split on this one. Heck, I didn’t even think about looking at this one till now since the animation wasn’t pulling me in. Still, was it worth it?

Five Pros/Five Cons - Chris Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy

Next up is something that I’ve been meaning to re-visit here. A few years ago, I briefly talked about the Nolan trilogy right when The Dark Knight Rises was being released. Now that we have had more live action Batmen come and go, I thought it was time to see how this momentous trilogy stacks up now.

I don’t remember when I first heard that new Batman movie was coming. I also didn’t know who Christian Bale was, but I knew he was that jackass racist from the 2000 Shaft movie. Anyway, Batman Begins was released in 2005 and I was really surprised. I even read the novelization and played that PS2 game. Then, The Dark Knight came three years later and set everything ablaze. After that, you knew a sequel had to come. It took four years, but The Dark Knight Rises made its way to theatres in 2012. I’ll have you know that I haven’t seen this movie since its release until now. I know, it’s kinda weird to say that especially since I’ve seen the first two plenty of times. Now that I’ve finished my re-watch, what are the 5 pros and 5 cons of the trilogy? Yeah, it’s got some problems… come at me, Nolanites!

Trade Tales! - Batman: The Long Halloween

Recently, I’ve been on a bit of a Batman kick. A few weeks ago, I found Batman: The Cult in the cheap bins, so I gave finally gave that a read. This led me to reading more Batman stories like most of Grant Morrison’s work. I also finally finished reading Paul Dini’s Vertigo book, Dark Knight: The True Batman Story. I also re-watched Batman Begins for the first time in years. Today’s subject was also a part of that Bat-Binge: The Long Halloween.

Batman: The Long Halloween was a 13-part maxiseries that was released between 1996 and 1997. Editor Archie Goodwin (nice first name) asked writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale if they wanted to work on another Batman story. They had already done some Batman stories in Legends of the Dark Knight. Those stories were eventually put in a trade called Batman: Haunted Knight. The two creators once again took a swing at the Dark Knight and decided to set this story during Batman’s early days. In a way, you could consider this as a sequel to Frank Miller’s story, Batman: Year One It involves our major characters (Batman and Gordon) going up against Falcone and Catwoman’s involved.

I didn’t hear about this story until sometime in college. I knew that it pretty much what Christopher Nolan used for 2008’s The Dark Knight. I know I got this from Pulaski’s public library, but I don’t remember the year. I later found this at McKay’s and bought it. I just wish I flipped through it since something was spilled on the early pages of the trade. At least it’s just those few pages. Some have called this one of Batman’s best stories. Is it true? Find out after this quick synopsis of a 13-issue mini!

Batman: The Long Halloween

Writer: Jeph Loeb

Artist: Tim Sale

Colors: Gregory Wright

Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft

"It's a Video Game!" - Batman: Arkham Knight

Well, as most superheroes state in their movies/comics/TV shows, “This ends tonight!” Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham series is probably one of my favorite video game franchises. So much was done in order to get Batman and his world right in pixels. Even though Batman: Arkham Origins wasn’t a Rocksteady game, WB Montreal took a lot of cues from Rocksteady. Rocksteady wasn’t done and they churned out possibly one final game to finish off their trilogy. Batman: Arkham Knight was released in 2015 to much acclaim and criticism. The game didn’t translate well to PC and there were some problems there. This was the first game I decided to play on my PS4. By the way, it’s been pretty fun so far. Right now, I'm replaying Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Batman: Arkham Knight takes place a year after the events of Arkham City. Stuff had kind of cooled down since those events but Batman is still dealing with the fallout. Suddenly, calamity strikes as the Scarecrow (voiced by John Noble) returns and unleashes terror across the city. Citizens flee most of Gotham as crime and all-out douchbaggery takes over. Luckily, Batman is still leading the fight against evil with a new suit, some allies, and new gadgets. Things get worse when Scarecrow reveals a new partner in his plans: The Arkham Knight. Not only does Batman have to contend with the Knight who is well-versed in his ways, he starts to really crack under the pressure after he’s exposed to some of Scarecrow’s gas.

PROS

While I can't say this is the best game of the three, this is still a nice game to end Rocksteady's run with. By the way, I'll spoil some of this but not all of it. It's been out for two years and Wikipedia spoils it all anyway. Everything about this game works for the most part. Rocksteady took a lot of what worked in Arkham City and applied it here. The graphics and designs are top-notch. You get to operate in Gotham City itself. There are three big sections of the city and they all are pretty massive in scope.This is possibly the ultimate Batman experience. You got the moves, the gadgets, and the lumbering, black weapon of mass awesomeness called the Batmobile.

The combat is still the same since Arkham City pretty much set it in stone. You have the stealth approach as well as the "beat 'em down" approach. There are some adjustments like tag-teaming with your allies. On certain missions, you can team up with Robin, Nightwing, or Catwoman. As for the driving aspect of the game, it was cool for the most part. It did take a while to get used to using it in battle, but when I got the hang of it, it was awesome. Unfortunately, the Batmobile sections have their problems and I'll touch on them later..

This was fun. I kind of wish we got more of this.

The story is pretty good for the most part. You get the idea that Rocksteady is trying to end this all in one big bang. Pretty much all of Batman  allies and villains (living and not so living) are back in a way that works. It was nice to see one the Scarecrow be the top villain. The missions are all diverse in some way. There were even a few twists that I didn't see coming. There was one that I and most fans saw coming from about 50 miles away. I'll get to that later. Of course, The Joker does make a reappearance since you apparently have to throw in the clown. I will say that his place in the story was actually pretty interesting and ties into the series as a whole. It even references one of my favorite Batman animated movies with how he's used.

CONS

Me When Doing This Stage: $$$$ %%%%$$$ ####$$ **^^%$%$##!!!

While the game is really good, it does have some flaws. First , there's the Batmobile. Now, I liked the Batmobile for the most part, but I was shocked at how much it gets used here. I'd probably say that the game is possibly 40% Batmobile action and there are many times where you have no choice but to use it. I mostly kept to the skies since that was more fun. The Riddler sections were probably some of the most grating parts. You have to do some race courses and the final one may make you want to throw your controller. I didn't do that but a few pigeons were thrown at the TV.

Sorry... man/ma'am, but you're not doing it for me.

There were also some lackluster boss battles which is a shock. You'd think Rocksteady would have went all-out for this last one. Some of them involved the Batmobile and really only a couple of those were cool. The final "fight" with the Arkham Knight was pretty cool though. Then, there's the subject of the Arkham Knight. I won't spoil the identity here but I wasn't a fan of how this character was handled here. It's especially a letdown since other media has treated the character better than this. Let's just say that he/she played a major role in another Batman animated movie. Yes, the Arkham Knight is...  Lois Lane! Other than those major things and some small quibbles, this game was pretty good.

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Overall, it's a good game to check out if you haven't done so. While I had my quibbles, it's still Batman being done by Rocksteady. You can't go wrong with that. I can't say it's the best of the trilogy though. All of the games have been really good, so choosing the best would be hard. I can choose my favorite though and that would have to be Arkham City. Anyway, I'm out. Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there in Gotham City.