Movie Buzz: Bale's Batman voice too much?

[nelll]

Biggest 'Dark Knight' gripe

Though "The Dark Knight" is a huge success, many moviegoers share one complaint. » Batman's flaw

Though "The Dark Knight" has been a bona fide cultural event, boasting rave reviews and boffo box office, it hasn't been immune to criticism. Some have quibbled with its political undercurrents, and others have criticized a muddled theme.

But here's the critique most widely held: Why does Batman talk like the offspring of Clint Eastwood and a grizzly bear?
Donning the costume for the second time, Christian Bale has delved deeper into the lower registers. As Bruce Wayne, his voice is as smooth as his finely pressed suits. But once he puts the cape on, the transformation of his vocal chords is just as dramatic as his costume change.

Particularly when his rage boils over, Bale's Batman growls in an almost beastly fashion, reflecting how close he teeters between do-gooder and vengeance-crazed crusader.


"The Dark Knight" hauled in $43.8 million to rank as Hollywood's top movie for the third straight weekend, fending off "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" which opened a close second with $42.5 million. It has earned $394.9 million in just 17 days, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Though much of the voice effect is Bale's own doing, under the guidance of director Christopher Nolan and supervising sound editor Richard King, the frequency of his Batman voice was modulated to exaggerate the effect.

Critics and fans have noticed.

"His Batman rasps his lines in a voice that's deeper and hammier than ever," said NPR's David Edelstein.
The New Yorker's David Denby praised the urgency of Bale's Batman, but lamented that he "delivers his lines in a hoarse voice with an unvarying inflection."

Reviewing the film for MSNBC, Alonso Duralde wrote that Bale's Batman in "Batman Begins" "sounded absurdly deep, like a 10-year-old putting on an `adult' voice to make prank phone calls. This time, Bale affects an eerie rasp, somewhat akin to Brenda Vaccaro doing a Miles Davis impression."
Before the similes run too far afield, it's worth considering where the concept of a throaty Batman comes from.

In his portrayal on the `60s "Batman" TV series, Adam West didn't alter his voice between Bruce Wayne and Batman. Decades later when Tim Burton brought "Batman" to the big screen in a much darker incarnation, Michael Keaton's inflection was notably but not considerably different from one to the other.

But it was a lesser-known actor who, a few years after Burton's film, made perhaps the most distinct imprint on Batman's voice. Kevin Conroy, as the voice of the animated Batman in various projects from 1992's "Batman: The Animated Series" right up until this year's "Batman: Gotham Knight," brought a darker, raspier vocalization to Batman.

Conroy has inhabit the role longer than anyone else and though animated voice-over work doesn't have the same cachet as feature film acting, there are quarters where Conroy is viewed as the best Batman of them all certainly superior to Val Kilmer or George Clooney.

The animated series are notable because they drew on the DC Comics of Batman as envisioned by Frank Miller, whose work heavily informs "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight." (Bale and Nolan were unavailable to comment for this story.)
As Batman has gotten darker, his voice has gotten deeper. As some critics suggest, Bale and "The Dark Knight" may have reached a threshold, at least audibly.

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/ap/2...779624000.html

[balpho]

yea his voicework was laughable when i 1st heard it in the movie. it's a great flick and a bit into the movie you don't notice it as much, but initially it's jarring

[Liqwid]

I think it's a good think he's doing it. Batman is getting darker and darker. He's beginning to come out of his shell a bit and become more engulfed in his work. He sounds more tense. And this is how Batman should sound.

[BambooLounge]

The ultra-deep voice sounds comical to me. They should take care of it once and for all and just have Lucius construct him some sort of voice changer thingambob so we don't have to deal with his "fake" real voice. It is pretty jarring and wildly inconsistient, even in Begins I took notice and had a real "WTF?" moment, but at least then it made more sense since he was so new to the super hero game and all.

[BAzylikHD]

Why people blame Bale for that? It's not like Nolan directed it in silent mode and than let actors do the voiceovers. Batman's voice sometimes does sound weird but I know that I wouldn't want to hear Bruce's voice in Bat's suit.

[CaptainCanuck]

Bale's voice was never suited to Batman but they didn't have to go overboard like that.

[Maxx_75]

Yeah it was too much. It kept reminding me of Austin Powers..... " How does that feel baby" LOL

[Onslaught X]

I didn't like it the first time and have generally warmed up to it until the last few scenes of the movie. He sounded like he was out of breath.

[Cymbol]

I was glad to see these stories. I thought it was just me that was wondering what happened to his voice. I liked it in the first film - they went overboard on this one.

As for the, "Batman is darker and so is his voice" - that's just non-sense. The went overkill on the voice and it shows.

I will say though, it's really only at the beginning and the end that it really stood out and was jarring. During the action scenes, I forgot all about it.

[cheez avenger]

Originally Posted by Onslaught X

I didn't like it the first time and have generally warmed up to it until the last few scenes of the movie. He sounded like he was out of breath.

He was out of breath, and he'd just gotten stabbed!

[cheez avenger]

I think it's cool, because if it's in the "real world", you WOULD have to disguise your voice.



The obvious camp of the earlier Batman films/tv shows played on the fact that he's talking in his normal voice, and no one can guess it's Bruce Wayne!

[MrE]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2yv8...eature=related

[tibbydriver]

Originally Posted by MrE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2yv8...eature=related

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[GamerGuyX]

Originally Posted by MrE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2yv8...eature=related

Hey I posted that on this forum (in another thread) first! Not fair.

[MrE]

Originally Posted by GamerGuyX

Hey I posted that on this forum (in another thread) first! Not fair.

Sorry. I wasn't trying to take any credit for it. Just wanted to share it with others here since this thread is specifically about Bale's Batman voice.

Credit goes to you!