[Shrek Baby]

Every incarnation of Batman from Adam West to Michael Keaton to George Clooney to Christian Bale has refelcted more on the time the film was made. West's Batman reflected the nature of most 60's action programmes - camp, overacted and pantomime-like. All in all, a really enjoyable romp.

When Burton took the helm of the Batman franchise in the late 1980s, viewers were wanting more realistic storytelling in films. With a story like Batman (as unrealistic as it gets) it was necessary to cast someone like Michael Keaton to almost underplay the role of Bruce and his Batman slightly scary (to other characters but not the audience). Jack Nicholson's Joker meanwhile retained enough of the comic book style of the 60's Joker but with a touch of mental instability as opposed to downright insanity. Val Kilmer continued with Keaton's style of playing the title role and Jim Carey/Tommy Lee Jones pushed the overacting comic villains and almost took away any sense of danger about the roles of Riddler and Two Face respectively.

Then Joel Schumacher came along...
I have absolute respect for Schumacher as a film maker (The Number 23, Phantom of the Opera, Phonebooth). He knows how to make a good film. Batman forever was well made in terms of casting and effects and so on, but so much of the essence of what made Batman fantastic had been lost. However, it still reflected on the time it was made - in the mid 90s there were lots of big names flying around and the use of special effects was growing exponentially. Batman Forever had big names, bigger effects and even more over the top acting but it was clear that the franchise had lost it's way.

Nolan's revisioning of the franchise allowed him to get back to the bare bones of what Batman should be and respond to what audiences wanted in films (and still do). He made it darker, edgier, scarier and much more compelling. Audiences want more of this and Nolan delivered.