Why hasn't Bale been praised for Batman role in TDK?

[Voorhees27]

I agree with Riko here, Bale did an exceptional job but nothing worthy of an award. He IS Batman to me but Batman isn't required to play the role in which it demands method acting.

Ledger MADE the film and hense is why he should be littered with awards and rightfully so. If you think otherwise you are wrong.

 

[DinoLast]

I feel Ledger's performance was a tour de force and truly deserves the Oscar. Yes, Bale was overlooked this time around, but he did receive a lot of praise in Batman Begins. I guess he just got taken for granted in the TDK. Micheal Cain and Gary Oldman are also overlooked for there amazing portrayals in both movies, and Araon Eckhart was tremendously overlooked also, I found his Harvey Dent was on par with Ledger's Joker.

 

[Wolf873]

well said. I almost thought he overdid the role with the raspy voice, felt a little awkward. No where near the performance of Ledger. Was Bale acceptable, Yes. Does he deserve praise, No.


Deleted Dark Knight Bale outtake
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Lol thank you for that video.

 

[Jack Ups]

I agree with Riko here, Bale did an exceptional job but nothing worthy of an award. He IS Batman to me but Batman isn't required to play the role in which it demands method acting.

Ledger MADE the film and hense is why he should be littered with awards and rightfully so. If you think otherwise you are wrong.

Tbh i thinks that abit harsh saying that, while the majority might agree, its all personal taste at the end of the day, I feel Ledger derserves awards, but he isnt any better than Bale in the film, Bale has a hard role in gettin the audience to feel and care for the character which was accomplished very well.

While Ledger was great, he dident make the movie, infact im glad there werent any more Joker scenes because after awhile the character gets boring, being so random.
But for me what made the movie as a long term Bat fan was the combined efforts of Bale and Oldman.....im a sucker for year 1 period stories.

lol and people really need to stop on about the voice, i havent met anyone in person that had trouble understanding him, and if one of them does say somthing about the voice, i just explain about the fact that if you wanted to jump out at criminal and scare them....thats the voice to have, not to mention Wayne is on tv quite alot using that voice there no way anyone is going to recognize it

I feel that the role would not be as good in this context if he used a softer voice, its effective and thats what works for the film.(He uses a softer one in Begins when talking to rachel in Begins,which could of been used more) and mesa you do realize that it was not Bale overall fault due to the audio on his voice being edited and changed to get that sound, as Nolan confirmed on the BD live viewing.

 

[Azrael23]

Tbh i thinks that abit harsh saying that, while the majority might agree, its all personal taste at the end of the day, I feel Ledger derserves awards, but he isnt any better than Bale in the film, Bale has a hard role in gettin the audience to feel and care for the character which was accomplished very well.

While Ledger was great, he dident make the movie, infact im glad there werent any more Joker scenes because after awhile the character gets boring, being so random.
But for me what made the movie as a long term Bat fan was the combined efforts of Bale and Oldman.....im a sucker for year 1 period stories.

lol and people really need to stop on about the voice, i havent met anyone in person that had trouble understanding him, and if one of them does say somthing about the voice, i just explain about the fact that if you wanted to jump out at criminal and scare them....thats the voice to have, not to mention Wayne is on tv quite alot using that voice there no way anyone is going to recognize it

I feel that the role would not be as good in this context if he used a softer voice, its effective and thats what works for the film.(He uses a softer one in Begins when talking to rachel in Begins,which could of been used more) and mesa you do realize that it was not Bale overall fault due to the audio on his voice being edited and changed to get that sound, as Nolan confirmed on the BD live viewing.

My sentiments exactly. Ledger did a phenomenal job with his depiction
of Joker and Bale did likewise with Batman, the chemistry between these
two as arch-nemesis is what really made TDK so great. IMO I feel as if
each of these actors really played their characters off one another superbly.

IMO Bale's performance is truly underrated, I also noticed how fashionable
its become with many people critiquing Bale's Batman voice even though I
never recalled this with any other actors that have played Batman in the
past, so it could be those that just want to jump on the bandwagon. The
same can be said about how high Ledger has been elevated and I'm sure
that a good portion of this stems from his untimely passing. In reality
Ledger alone didn't make the film, and neither did Bale, but a combination of actors did and as
one poster stated earlier Oldman and Eckhart are grossly overlooked as well.


I believe both men deserve equal credit for bringing the rivalry of these
two iconic characters to the big screen in such a great way. I also think that
the cast in general warrants praise.

 

[70thSith]

I agree, Christian Bale is being overly ignored on his performance, it's Heath/Joker this and that. I can understand part of it might be because of his (Mr. Ledger's) untimely demise and that Joker was his last character which he pulled off surprisingly well. But still, focus of the movie was Batman/Bruce.

Mr. Bale, though nothing ground breaking as the Joker, but he still portrayed a better Batman than Mr. Kilmer and Clooney. Also, he portrayed a better Bruce Wayne than Mr. Keaton if I might add, but Keaton performed Batman very well and made up for it, imo. As someone already said, Joker is the type one can freely try to portray if given the right direction under a competent director, Nolan certainly is. But Batman/Bruce is hard to pull off. As far as I have seen, Mr. Bale has always been a terrific actor e.g. American Psycho, Equilibrium, Prestige, 3:10 to Yuma, and now Batman. He does his characters really well and I think deserves some recognition. He's part of the reason I like the new Batman movies, because he's doing heck of a good job. That voice he does, which some find weird or so, is understandable because it's always been my gripe about super-heroes that no one can recognize them with their voices, at least with Batman the reason is there.

Well said!

I really believe if there was a role-switch, if Ledger was playing Batman and Bale was playing the Joker, Ledger will be criticized and Bale will be praised. Is it because batfans are more protective and demanding of the Batman role than the Joker?

 

[Voorhees27]

I agree with Riko here, Bale did an exceptional job but nothing worthy of an award. He IS Batman to me but Batman isn't required to play the role in which it demands method acting.

Ledger MADE the film and hense is why he should be littered with awards and rightfully so. If you think otherwise you are wrong.

Its funny I could have sworn I mentioned a commendation on Bale performance. So what are you guys ^^^^^ing about? Do you feel bad that Bale has recieved no attention for his performance?

Actors get overshadowed all the time, its part of the business get over it. There have been like a few posts making fun of his voice, some of you guys take things out of content, the fact of the matter still is, no Ledger = 200-225 million max at the box office!

I am a BIG fan of Christian Bale and he IS Batman and Bruce Wayne to me no matter what but he doe NOT deserve an award for his performance.

You want to hear praise to Bale? He was fraken awesome in 310 to Yuma, American Pcycho and Empire of the Sun!

He is a great actor.

 

[Riko]

While Ledger was great, he dident make the movie, infact im glad there werent any more Joker scenes because after awhile the character gets boring, being so random.
But for me what made the movie as a long term Bat fan was the combined efforts of Bale and Oldman.....im a sucker for year 1 period stories.

a cliché: taste is personal BUT ledger DID make this movie
Don't get me wrong, it's not like I say without Ledger the movie would suck, not at all, it had a whole lot of other interesesting aspects (story, action, emotion, Bale...etc) but Ledger sure made his mark in this movie.
That is why he has so many nominations, that is why he will win a lot of his nominations, and that is why Bale has in comparison with Ledger much less nominations.
I repeat, Bale was good, solid and Bad-ass, but not price-worthy.
Why do some always have to exagurate a certain performance?

the oscars haven't been given to Ledger yet, and some already whine about "Bale's underrated performance", wtf.
first things first, give credit to who it comes LEDGER



ps: I loved the voice don't understand the whining about it, it fitted, batman is hard, batman is badass, batman is all about placing fear in the onces that pray on the fearfull, so a raspy voice is a nice element of the whole purpose imo.

 

[Azrael23]

Its funny I could have sworn I mentioned a commendation on Bale performance. So what are you guys ^^^^^ing about? Do you feel bad that Bale has recieved no attention for his performance?

Actors get overshadowed all the time, its part of the business get over it. There have been like a few posts making fun of his voice, some of you guys take things out of content, the fact of the matter still is, no Ledger = 200-225 million max at the box office!

I am a BIG fan of Christian Bale and he IS Batman and Bruce Wayne to me no matter what but he doe NOT deserve an award for his performance.

You want to hear praise to Bale? He was fraken awesome in 310 to Yuma, American Pcycho and Empire of the Sun!

He is a great actor.

Question, why did you instantly get so defensive as if anyone was singling
you out? Believe it or not, there are people that don't believe that Ledger
and only Ledger made the film. You're also making it seem as if
Ledger before his death was a huge box office draw when he wasn't, as a
matter of fact when Nolan casted him it had many fans in an uproar. We
honestly don't know how successful the TDK would have been had Ledger not passed,
but we do know it would have still been successful and still made money
because of its predecessor. To some Ledger may have made the film, but for
others, and people that don't easily buy into hype, many realize it was a joint
effort by many, not just one person.

 

[Voorhees27]

Defensive? Who is being defensive exactly? People ^^^^^ing about poor Bale or ..................... well I don't know exactly what else.

Enlighten me, please.

 

[Riko]

Bale is probably one of the more underrated actors working right now.

underrated? seriously...every movie-lovin film-goer loves Bale. He is definately not underrated.
(almost) Every movie of his has good review, and even his performance are well acclaimed.

He stars in the biggest franchises around: first Batman, now the Terminator franchise.
Next movie is with Johny Depp in a Michael Mann film, that is gonna rock hard: PUBLIC ENEMIES
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000288/

underrated? I think not, in the contrary, he is hollywoods new and brightest rising star

 

[Azrael23]

Defensive? Who is being defensive exactly? People ^^^^^ing about poor Bale or ..................... well I don't know exactly what else.

Enlighten me, please.

You just proved my point. Because if you actually read into what people
were saying, you would see no one is saying poor poor Bale, not to mention
look how belligerent you became to those giving props to Bale, you then
had to condescending just to get your point across.

 

[Riko]

But his Batman voice combined with the goofyness of the TDK costume kinda ruins it for me.

Seriously, the costume is no more goofy then Burton's suit...or any other Batman suit ever made.....

Yeah I agree, that is a strange statement to make about....a guy dressed up like a bat. Let's face it, that would be ridiculusin real life...
but imo, it was the most realistic approach for a 'man dressed up like a bat' you could ever have. You might even believe that this suit might work in real life. So I find the costume in the context far from gooffy.

 

[Voorhees27]

You just proved my point. Because if you actually read into what people
were saying, you would see no one is saying poor poor Bale, not to mention
look how belligerent you became to those giving props to Bale, you then
had to condescending just to get your point across.

I'm glad I helped you "prove your point"

 

[Riko]

Sure, a rubber Bat costume is going to look silly no matter what. But the 1989 and Begins suits had a classic comic book sensibility to them. The new suit was way too cluttered, overdone, and looks like it was over-designed just to push more toys; plus, the chipmunk cheeks made Bale look funny and even cute (!) in certain scenes. The cowl and voice pretty much made the interrogation scene that much more funny, though Ledger saved it.

Thankfully, the movie was so dark most of the time, I could ignore it.

come on , the mask was intimidating enough, in some angles more than in others. Hardly funny or cute.

I especially liked Bale shouting it out and the close up on Bale's mask in the interrogation scene.
You could feeeeel his anger, and the mask helped alot. Actually Bale saved it for me in that part of the scene.

 

[Azrael23]

I'm glad I helped you "prove your point"

You know what that sort of response means? it means you have nothing
to backup that patronizing attitude of yours.

It means that you think that Ledger was already a huge box office draw before his death when he wasn't, although he no doubt was rising and would have eventually reached it.

 

[Riko]

I took enough acting lessons when I was a kid to know that I was AWFUL. Bale is anything but.....he makes it look easy

that is the whole point....it wasn't easy to bring a tormented rich guy with a trauma like the death of his parents, wich he uses in a symbol to fight crime, to the screen.

Look at the sarcastic Bruce Wayne when he talks to Dent in the restaurent, or the scene in his penthouse were he gives the speech. Bale is thé Bruce Wayne alright and has a natural talent of bringing a kind of sympathic arrogance on the screen you couldn't bring in a million years of actionlessons dude.

 

[Azrael23]

that is the whole point....it wasn't easy to bring a tormented rich guy with a trauma like the death of his parents, wich he uses in a symbol to fight crime, to the screen.

Look at the sarcastic Bruce Wayne when he talks to Dent in the restaurent, or the scene in his penthouse were he gives the speech. Bale is thé Bruce Wayne alright and has a natural talent of bringing a kind of sympathic arrogance on the screen you couldn't bring in a million years of actionlessons dude.

I agree. But we also should consider that when he's Batman there is not
much a person really can bring in terms of emotions, I don't think the
character leaves much room for it. Now when he's Wayne, you can definitely see it.

 

[Riko]

because and he's kind of a stale (all his rolls are the same) actor anyway.

Do I like him as the Bat?? Hell Yeah! I think he's the best.. but the character it's self doesn't give way to acting.

I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that...would you mind repeating?

Patrick Bateman
Alfred Borden
Bruce Wayne/Bats
Trevor Reznik

The same?

He may eat the same ham rolls every lunchtime, I don't know, but his roles are certainly varied.

indeed,
look at role in Harsh Times (a better and harder version of Training Day in my eyes)
Bale steals the show and proves he is a accomplished actor.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433387/

He isn't stall at all in harsh times
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX0RwYlLVSk&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH27ADccaew&feature=related

 

[IrishJedi]

There are certain moments in TDK where I think Bale is pretty bad actually (well, at least the Bat-voice). Examples:

"This city... just showed you... that it's full. Of people. Ready to believe in gooooooood!"

and

"Evem someone as good as you. Can fall! So point it. At the people. Responsible!"



Conversely, when he's not over-doing it (like in those two examples) and he's almost whispering his voice sounds much, much better and cooler. IMHO, the best Batvoice he's ever done is when Joker has Rachel ("Drop the gun." & "Let her go.") and at the end with Gordon ("But the Joker cannot win.") It's the over-done Batvoice that brings the guffaws. When I saw it in the theater people were actually snickering and laughing during the interrogation scene.