A Comparison of those who played Batman in movies.

Rating: 6/10 (24 August 2008)

Four Actors: Bale, Kilmer, Keaton, Clooney
BALE: He's leaps and bounds ahead and best among them all. No need for comparison. No need to explain.
KILMER VS. KEATON: The real Issue. Kilmer had everything correct about him except one: he was in a Bad Movie. One simply canNOT refer to Bad scenes in a Badly scripted Bad Movie by a Bad Director to explain why the actor was not good to play his character. I understand, Kilmer could have never replaced Bale, but he would have easily replaced Keaton (who even though was a good Batman, WAS a wimp Wayne). Even if we forget that Keaton was the least good looking and had the least physicality required for an ideal Wayne/Batman respectively, we still cannot forget that he never had the ideal Wayne magnetic personality to attract females. He was a plain idiotic wimp as Wayne. Whereas while Kilmer was definitely muscular/handsome of the two, his was unfortunately limited by the Bad Movie itself that he worked in, that did no justice to the character of any roles in it, least of all Batman. Also, we can't forget that Kilmer did play a very good playboy-Wayne of whatever the script allowed him to. That is what is important (where Keaton failed). Because once you're inside the caped costume, it does not matter who is inside it, because nobody's going to recognise you anyway. So the character that must be given more priority is of 'Wayne' where one cannot hide behind a costume.
Remember, Kilmer was a good Wayne/UNDERUSED Batman in a bad movie by a bad director. Keaton was a good Batman/wimp Wayne even in an overall OK movie by a very good director. Even worse was that, unlike Keaton who got two opportunities as Batman under the very good director to prove himself as Wayne and yet failed on all points as Wayne, Kilmer never got a second chance to prove himself as Batman even though he had proved himself as Wayne, no... not even under the same hellish director.
MY POINT: If the physically strong, play-boyish Kilmer was that good as Wayne under the hellish Schumacher, imagine how great he could have been in costume (Batman) under the very good Burton.
CLOONEY: As for 'Batman & Robin', every thing was wrong about it and so was Clooney who only played 'himself' both as Batman/ Wayne. And he will always be remembered for that. Anyway, except when the movies are called 'Syriana', 'Ocean's Eleven' and 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind', Clooney is all 'himself' everywhere. No Surprises here. I seriously hope they destroy all records/sources of that B&R-crap.
My Ranking: 1. Bale 2. Kilmer 3. Keaton.
Clooney? Who Clooney?
AS for this movie, I don't understand why people call this movie 'Dark'. This movie is Bad because it is TOO dark. Totally unwatchable / unenjoyable for children. On the contrary, the Penguin here, would give the innocent children, traumas for life. Don't ever show this movie to your children. Penguin is a seriously (pun intended) a horror crap here. Too Hideous, No Fun. And what's the use of the movie being Dark when you have No Character Development here. Penguin is a ridiculous villain and they have not shown even a single glimpse of his childhood, that is how the Penguins nurture him which is utterly impossible even in comics/fantasy, especially if they portray the movie and the Penguin as 'serious' and 'dark'. But yes, De Vito has been a good obedient actor here and did what he was told to do efficiently.
(P.S.: As for the Comparison between those 'Batmen': Believe me, as the tag-line of 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day' goes - 'It's Nothing Personal.' None of these four actors is my personal favourite. I love Denzel Washington.)