Christian Bale's Batman: Was The Voice Ridiculous?

NEW YORK — 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.

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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.

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On the Net:

http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com

Comments

[eXcommunicate]

Some of you guys have got to be kidding.... The voice was really THAT BAD, huh? I had no problem with it.

[Agentlady007]

Do you really think a 10 year old child cares if his voice is transformed or not? They would be disappointed if he did not have that super hero voice IMO. Darth vader had the voice box. Surely this is just a way of nit -picking this Batman character. Also, did he learn to fly from the Ninja's? What about the disappearing? They never showed the lessons in the first one, and I'd like to know that lesson. Wouldn't you?

[4johnny]

I think the Batman voice is noticeably annoying because the reasons behind the transformation to and from the dark Bat-persona is completely ignored in this movie, unlike in Batman Begins. One minute we have Bruce, the next we have Bat - no transition, no explanation.
Another problem is that the bat-cave, in fact, the whole movie is not "dark" enough. It's like a normal city, with normal buildings, with some bank robbers, and some guy running around kicking butt in a bat suit - with a weird voice - for no apparent reason. This movie could easily have played out as any other superhero kicking butt.
All in all, I like it though, mostly for the acting of the Joker, and Two-Face.

[japobere]

The voice was way over the top. In my humble opinion, Bale was the weakest actor (I also thought Eckhart's performance was very underrated). He was fine as Bruce Wayne but as soon as he put on that suit he transformed into Overact Man. It was one of the few shortcomings of the film. I understand that it's supposed to be altered and it's supposed to be scary but come on.

[IndependentTogether]

The voice is fitting. It's supposed to be frightening. Get over it.

[RobinL]

Pure cheese---but a lot of fun to mimic afterwards. Let's face it---one Batman franchise is very much like another. Christian Bale's great but so was Michael Keaton. Christian's just the new Batman for this generation of kids. Hammy voice and all, he fits the role to a T.

[Jeffin90019]

Complete ridiculous voice, over-the-top performances, pointless scenes, no romantic chemistry between the leads, and one of the biggest hits of all time. Go figure.

[Forester]

Four problems I had with Dark Knight:

1) Batman's "Dirty Harry" voice.
2) Two-face's over reaction (over acting) to the loss of his girlfriend.
3) Unnecessary and gratuitous "cell-phone-cyber-vision" sequence in the final fight scene.
4) Gary Oldman's in and out English accent.

Otherwise enjoyed it for what it was, and consider Ledger's work Oscar worthy. I read he studied paintings by Francis Bacon for his character - now that's some scary sh*t.

[hollyo]

The Joker and Batman's were unrecognizable to me...very distracting.

[scorebaby]

A different voice for Batman? Sure, why not. Why would Bruce Wayne use his own voice while wearing the Batman disguise? That would be a dead give-away.

Example: Batman (speaking like Bruce): I'm going after the Joker.
Commissioner Gordon: Bruce is that you? Is it Halloween already?

If you saw "Batman Begins" you'll remember that Bruce talks about how he wanted his alter-ego to tap into elemental fear. You can't do that by speaking in a normal voice. You have to sound the part. A low sinister growl fits the bill.

[dartagnan]

To answer the question: Yes. It sounded like he was channeling the Godfather by way of Buffalo Bill (the psychotic killer in "Silence of the Lambs").

Still an enjoyable movie, largely because of Heath Ledger's incredible performance as The Joker

[Asbeau]

In my opinion, Bale's voice was laughable and destroyed the atmosphere of an otherwise entertaining movie. I watched it with a group of people and we dissolved into laughter every time Bale spoke as Batman.

[Rendon76]

Hollywood sucks they always take good concepts and flush them down with their horrible formula. Transformers was a joke.

[Faxus]

The Dark Knight was a terrible movie. I could not stay interested, this is the worst Batman movie yet. Chicago is not Gotham City. Talk, talk, talk. Batman has never been so chatty and so pitiful and his women so ugly.. It's sheer dreck.

[kas70]

It was kind of distracting, but not enough to make me not love the film. People should quit complaining about it so much or Bale might not come back for the third and that would SUCK.