10 Famous Acting Performances That Got Worse As Their Franchise Went On

2. Batman (Christian Bale) - The Dark Knight Trilogy

Much like James Bond, the question of "who is the best Batman?" is wildly divisive, with the most common answers nevertheless being Michael Keaton and Christian Bale. In Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, everything was a breath of fresh air, from the gritty, serious narrative, to the gorgeous cinematography, haunting score, and of course, the fantastic cast. Bale helped present a Bruce Wayne-Batman dichotomy like we'd never seen before, more psychologically complex and at times completely terrifying. The Dark Knight built on this with the help of Heath Ledger's Joker and Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent, though it also introduced one of the most commonly-criticised elements of Nolan's Batman: the Bat-voice. Given the gritty nature of these movies, it makes sense that Batman would disguise his voice somehow, but Bale's deep growl is ultimately unintentionally funny, and results in some horrible deliveries when Bale has to read long monologues in the voice, stopping every so often to catch his breath. Despite the vocal criticism, the voice didn't just persist in The Dark Knight Rises, but seemingly got worse, as Batman screams at Bane, "Where is the triggurrrrrrgh!?!? Where is it!?!?", which accidentally elicited laughs from many audiences rather than terror. Why Bale didn't just stick with the Batman Begins voice is anyone's guess, but Nolan really should have directed Bale towards something that wasn't quite as silly.