First of all....greatest villain characters of all time.
5. The Scarecrow. Dr. Crane predates Freddy Kruegar (first written in the 1940's Batman comic strips) as a man who feeds off the fears of others. He is a secondary villain, no doubt, but he is without a doubt one of the more intriguing.
4. The Riddler. Pretty cool idea of a guy who speaks naught but riddles. An evil genius with a bit of a Jeopardy Complex. Cool green suit too.
3. Catwoman. A girl who actually has a lot of decent qualities...who, if you believe Batman Returns, has the hots for the Caped Crusader. A true paradox of emotions that leaves you kind of rooting for her.
2. Two Face...just a very interesting character. Seriously, a guy that once was good, turned bad by circumstance is good theatre. I also love the idea of deciding all of his actions by flipping a coin. Allowing fate to take a hand in all decisions. Unlike Catwoman, you never really find yourself rooting for this monster, but you do find yourself pitying him.
1. Joker. Okay, I never claimed to be totally unique, but this is an obvious choice. In fact, this is probably my favorite villain of all time. His comedic flair for evil, his super intelligence combined with a slightly higher than boyish mischievousness, plus...I think purple is cool.
Okay, the next five are best performances on the silver screen of these villains. Without a doubt, some are obvious, but what the hell, it's all for fun anyway.
5. Michelle Pfeiffer-Catwoman. Playing normal than playing over the top is tough. Plus, throw in a star crossed love affair with Bruce Wayne, really tough. She pulls it off.
4. Jim Carey-The Riddler. As an actor he has a very likeable personality. In this movie...I don't like him. He is his usual over the top persona...plus he's bad. I'm not sure why it works for me..but it does. It seems exactly what I expect with a twist.
3. Aaron Echart-Two Face. I really think this guy portrays what Two Face was supposed to be. Disillusioned...angry....and insane. He falls off the deep in in the Dark Knight so convincingly I wince. (Not just the half face makeup, which was exceptional.) He was totally overshadowed by Ledger's performance, but his was exceptional too.)
2. Jack Nicholson-Joker. Yep, this guy played that part better than I could've ever anticipated. He was dramatic, sadistic, and just a hare away from being over the top. Without a doubt he was what I thought the Joker should be for over a decade..well until last year.
1. Heath Ledger-Joker. He should get lots of honors for his final roll. I made a prediction before watching this that the critics would call his performance 'haunting.' I was right....the part I didn't expect is they were right. I honestly have never seen a better performance. If he doesn't win an Academy Award that will be a crime.
Why so serious?
Now, Top 5 worst performances.
5. Liam Neeson-Ra's al Ghul (Henri Ducard). I've seen the movie twice...and am not sure what the hell this guy does. The movie was pedestrian and so was his performance.
4. Danny Devito-The Penguin. Creepy...but that's about it. It was forced and choppy..the performance, not just Devito in the Penguin outfit.
3. Tommy Lee Jones-Two Face. I put this in the same category as Carey...I expected something interesting, instead I got...that. He's a great actor, he was just miscast. He played it too far over the top...that character needed to be more broody and somber. I blame Jones less than the casting agency on this.
2. Arnold Schwarzenegger-Mr. Freeze. Wow, could ya be more mechanical? I know, the point is the guy is frozen and damn near a machine...but Arnold was sub-bad. There's bad...and the guy dug deeper and found a new version of awful that I didn't no exist. (By the way, this from the one guy in the world that liked 'Last Action Hero.')
1. Uma Thurman-Poison Ivy. I'm not going to waste a lot of space here....it was terrible, dreadful, worst than warm hominy on a cold day with a good taste of week over due milk to wash it down.
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Next, Best Batman
5. George Clooney. He's Ocean...not Batman. If their were six people that played Batman, would've been six. So, he makes the list by default.
4. Adam West-Total cartoonish portrayal....for all honesty that is what was expected for that time. He did the job, no less and no more.
3. Christian Bale-My wife would have him worse than West, but she never even heard of Adam West. I liked Bale's performance in that he wasn't so bad that it ruined Ledger's and Echart's performances. It was good enough to make the first Batman (at least in that series) work, kind of. Plus, he is the Batman of my favorite movie of the series, the Dark Knight.
2. Val Kilmer-Just cool...he played the Batman like I would've loved to see it played ...if Keaton hadn't had nailed it first. He underplayed it well, especially as Jones and Carey overplayed their parts. His quiet portrayal worked.
1. Michael Keaton-He is Batman...unassuming...weirdly heroic...and with a great sense of humor regarding the situation. Keaton truly owned the part, everyone after it, just hasn't fit.
And lastly, First 5 Batman Movies
5. Batman Forever-Kilmer tries hard to save this one...almost does it. It's not horrible, (see Batman and Robin if you want horrible) but it's barely gets to decent.
4. Batman Returns-The good, Compelling story line with the Batman and Catwoman's dalliances. Keaton's performance is excellent...again. (By the way, I think he does better in this one than the first one. ) The bad, the Penguin is the main story line, which I found to fair at best. This would've been a better movie if they took the Penguin out, and had this the Catwoman, Batman, and the other baddy just be Max Shreck (played as Christopher Walken, the way Walken plays everything.)
3. Batman Begins-A new view of how to look at this story, makes this compelling. Bale doesn't suck as Batman, Neeson doesn't exist as the baddy, and the one real compelling villain, the Scarecrow, isn't more than a secondary plotline. All in all, could be worse. Not what your looking for in a series starter, but the other movies had set the bar so low, that this one works.
2. Batman-Story line is okay. Final moments of the movie probably were the best, which isn't that bad. Keaton is good, Nicholson is great, and this movie was the bar setter for literally two decades plus. Still even now, very watchable.
1. The Dark Knight-No matter what your looking for, this is a great movie. Fabulous performances everywhere, Ledger, Eckhart, and Maggie Gyllenhaal (geez, when she is tied to those barrels of gas, doesn't she tug at your emotions?) Plus, the rest of the assemble, Kaine, Freeman, and Oldman do very good to astounding jobs in their roles. This one rates probably very high in my all time favorite movies....which is a First 5 for another day.
I hope you enjoyed the lists and have a Happy New Years!!!
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