2. Christian Bale As Batman - The Dark Knight Trilogy
Fans can quibble all day long over which live-action Batman is their favorite. When it comes to performance, however, it's hard not to give Christian Bale the edge if for no other reason than he was given so much more to do with the role than Michael Keaton or Adam West. Christian Bale was afforded the opportunity to touch on every major aspect of the Bruce Wayne/Batman character over the course of three films and he undoubtedly made the most of it. Many have complained about the bat-voice, of which some blame should be shifted to decisions Christopher Nolan made in post-production, but it was still a bold choice by Bale and made sense for a guy dressing up like a bat with the intent to be terrifying. Take the voice out of the equation and it's the eyes with which Bale communicated to clearly. Just watch the interrogation scene in The Dark Knight as his rage heats up moment-by-moment until it finally boils over. It's masterful. In the end, Batman is Batman and not the hardest part of the role to play. It is Bale's Bruce Wayne that puts his performance on a higher level. In public, he was the aloof playboy who could never be a costumed vigilante despite being the most obvious suspect. Bruce Wayne is Batman? Pfft. No way. Within the walls of Wayne Manor, the Batcave, or the Bat-bunker, Bruce Wayne was the tortured soul whose method of dealing with emotional anguish was to literally fight against those who dished out similar pain to other innocents. He was a strong, but flawed man to whom we would love to have been able to relate, but knew we never could. The hope is that we can process our grief better than Bruce Wayne ever did, but the greater goal is that we can do half as good of a job of turning our moments of adversity into lasting positive change. Christopher Nolan was the architect of Bruce Wayne's complete cinematic journey as Batman, but it was Christian Bale who made that journey feel as real and emotionally satisfying as it ever could.
