5. A Consistent Batman
When Burton was replaced by Schumacher, at first previous Batman Michael Keaton had agreed to stay onboard and was looking forward to playing the Dark Knight once more. But shortly after, he turned down what would have been his highest salary for playing Batman because he didnt like the direction the movie was going in. At that point, he was replaced by Val Kilmer. Kilmer is a good actor, but his performance was hampered. A big part of that is probably because he accepted the role before reading the script, so he probably thought he was in store for a completely different movie, and ended up having numerous problems with Schumacher and the crew. Batman co-creator Bob Kane, however, felt that Kilmer gave the best interpretation of Batman ever (by that point). But this movie really hampered Batman. Hes just all over the place. Hes fixated on the death of his parents, but he meets Chase Meridian and suddenly hes all, Im shutting it down, Alfred? More than that, hes shutting it all down when he knows two villains are out there terrorizing the city? His one-liners were mentioned earlier. The decision to take Batman away from feeling no qualms about killing criminals was definitely appropriate and far more in line with the Batman of the comics, but without any sort of development of that, it felt totally hypocritical when compared to the last movie. Bruces speech to Dick about how if he kills Two-Face, his pain will only grow and hell go out to find another face and then another until revenge becomes his whole life was one of Kilmers shining moments in the movie. Unfortunately, when compared to Batman Returns, theres no real explanation for that character change. Im actually of a mixed mind whether or not Id keep Kilmer. On the one hand, Keaton was far superior and seeing him in a third outing would have been great. On the other hand, I believe Kilmer had it in him to be a great Batman if not for the problems. And it should go without saying, but just as another reminder: no bat-nipples. Seriously, Joel. What the hell?