10 Reasons Tim Burton's Batman Movies Are Still The Best
2. The Villains
The tricky thing about the realistic vision of Batman that Nolan put forth is that most of the rogues gallery are decidedly not realistic. So that limited his choices right away. Its hard to imagine a realistic take on Mr. Freeze or Killer Croc, and his version of Two-Face pushed plausibility right to breaking point. Its doubtful a man with half his face melted off would be able to do much more than scream in agony all day. But as Burtons movies took place in a heightened fantasy land, he could have as many penguin man hybrids and chemically blenched nutcases as he liked. And theres rarely been a case of an actor being better suited to a role than Jack Nicholson as The Joker. Everything from the manic eyes to the evil smile made it a no brainer. His Joker might be pure evil, but hes also having a lot of fun. Danny DeVito reinvented The Penguin from a dapper businessman to a hunchbacked, web fingered freak. Hes a creepy, ugly creation and though hes not much use in a fight he still poses a credible threat. And Michelle Pfeiffer has never been cooler (or foxier) as Catwoman, who turns from a meek secretary into a spiteful avenger in a stitched together leather outfit. Even Christopher Walken brought his unique brand of creepiness to the world's first villainous department store owner. All of the Burton villains have become iconic in their own right, going on to inspire future versions of the characters, from the comics to the videogames. Nolan's on the other hand were a mixed bag. Of course Heath Ledger was masterful as The Joker, but Cillian Murphy's weedy Scarecrow, Tom Hardy's unintelligible Bane and Liam Neeson's "master ninja" Ra's al Ghul? Not so much.
