2. Clooney Can Do Subtly Tormented
Have you watched The Thin Red Line--long movie, but it's worth watching at least once--or O Brother, Where Art Thou? Both films feature George Clooney dealing with psychological anguish. Clooney in both films knows exactly how much he needs to emote at any given point. It's like a symphony. He hits every note just right. That is a prerequisite to playing Batman. This is Bale's strong suit. Keaton is good at subtle, but his Batman isn't pushed necessarily to the limits like Bale. Nolanverse's Batman is tough, the playboy attempts to be fun, but when all is sad and done, Bruce Wayne is broken. The moments when he's just talking to Alfred or Rachael or Selina Kyle or Ra's al Ghul are powerful. Clooney has done the same thing, only, unlike Bale, he can do it without really transitioning from one state of mind to the other. With Bale, you can visibly see when he's fake Bruce, real Bruce, and Batman. He acts totally different as all three. With Clooney, he can overlap. (With Bale that has also to do with Nolan's direction, and you can make the argument that this divide is intentional. However, very often, in the original comics, it's hard to tell when Bruce is himself. There's overlap.) That is where I once again bring up Keaton. Keaton's Bruce Wayne and Batman, while clearly separate, were also pretty similar to one another. They had the same sensibilities, and Keaton's Bruce, while aloof and light-hearted, restrained himself from getting too involved with others. There's that beautiful, subtle scene where he puts flowers on the street his parents died that really captures everything about Keaton's Batman in one little scene, but he's playing Bruce Wayne when he does it. A really great juxtaposition. Again, Clooney can do that, as seen in the previously mentioned films. Clooney plays a soldier in The Thin Red Line, but he also plays a human being, and manages to balance these two sides of himself perfectly. In the end, though, and most important of them all...