1. The Dark Knight (2008)
Bales Character: The God Damn Worn-Out Looking Batman. Uh oh, get your controversy meter at the ready; this final pick is probably going to piss more than a few people off. Firstly let me reiterate that Im not saying The Dark Knight is a bad movie. Without it, wed have never got to witness Heath Ledgers un-effing-believable turn as the Clown Prince of Crime, wed never have been given another opportunity to sample Nolans incredible take on the Batman universe and wed have missed out completely on Nathan Crowleys off-the-scale production design. No, Im not saying The Dark Knight was a bad movie; in fact Ill go on record as saying that its superb. Im saying that Christian Bale was bad in it. After the breath of dark, fresh air that was Batman Begins, Bale seemed to approach his reprise of the role with much less energy. In fact there are sections of the film in which he looks positively exhausted, like his head just isnt in the game. Of course the allegations of violence and on-set meltdowns came shortly after and its possible that Bale was suffering through some dark times of his own that hindered his ability. Understandable. Hes awesome, but hes only human. Add to that the dreaded voice, which admittedly was an attribute of the character in Batman Begins but seemed to be so much more restrained than it is in the sequel. In fact in The Dark Knight, Bales Batman sounds half the time like hes trying to swallow a brillo pad thats been dipped in glue and sprinkled with lead shavings. And Im not the only one who thinks so: http://youtu.be/w2yv8aT0UFc It's an unfortunate performance in this writer's opinion, from a performer that has proven on many, many occasions that he's capable of so much more. Well, there you have our top 5 mind blowing Christian Bale performances, counterbalanced by 5 that are wholly more mind-numbing. Its a testament to Bales ability as an actor though that the former section was so easy to compile, the latter so difficult and hey, with a career as packed full of movies as his, the odd dud is easily forgivable. Lets hope that his meteoric success continues for many years to come. But if the Dark Knight Rises is even a third as good as the early reviews indicate theres little worry about on that front. Have we missed any? Annoyed you with our picks? Do let us know wont you.