What’s The Deal with Batman’s Voice?
August 4, 2008 – 3:22 pm by CoreyIs it just me does Christian Bale go a little overboard in his Batman voice?
I know we already talked about Dark Knight a few weeks ago, but something has been bugging me about the new Batman movie a bit… What’s the deal with his voice?
Don’t get me wrong, I think the movie was amazing. Well acted, dire
cted, and written…a major accomplishment on all fronts. All the special effects looked great. Heath Ledger gives an electrifying performance. I think they did a great job of keeping the last third of the movie out of the commercials. Harvey Dent/Two Face looked amazing. The positives are countless in what will probably be the first Superhero movie that gets so real attention at the Oscars.Still, what’s the deal with that voice? Why does he get all hoarse sounding and even worse add a lisp. There’s a confrontation between The Joker and Batman towards the end of the movie in which he really, really goes for this extreme underbite, lispy I’m scary I’m “The Batman” voice that I just can’t get on board with. I suppose with all the craziness of the Joker, Harvey Dent and the special effects, Christian Bale kind of plays the straight man so maybe he needed to kick it up a notch?
In a review for MSNBC, Alonso Duralde wrote in “Batman Begins” Bale “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.” I think this review is a little highfalutin for a Batman movie…especially for those of us who have no idea who Brenda Vaccaro is.
It could have been been based on Kevin Conroy and his respected version of Batman’s voice. Apparently the director and sound editor had something to do with the voice sounding weird, but for the most part its just pure Bale.
Batman has a long history of talking ridiculously serious…
So, the Dark Knight…great movie…terrible voice.
One more thing, is it just me or was Maggie Gyllenhaal not really hot enough to be the only girl in the movie?
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8 Responses to “What’s The Deal with Batman’s Voice?”
Wait a minute, isn’t Bale just showing he’s done his research?
I mean, isn’t it part of Batman “lore” that Bruce Wayne would make his voice raspy when he was Batman so as to aid in disguising himself?
Are you a complete moron? Do you KNOW what a secret identity is supposed to be for? Do you GET that he’s trying to disguise who he is? Is this the FIRST superhero movie you’ve ever been exposed to?
Go back to watching movies like “Mama Mia” and “The Traveling Pants”. Those are more on your intellectual level.
Concealing your identify is one thing. But sounding like Neil from Family Guy…is just bad.
At least the voice is not as annoying as the Brett Favre BS drama.
The first movie clearly shows that his suit has a device on the throat that electronically modulates his voice, in order to disguise it.
I knew I’d strike a nerve with this post. I love Batman and I think this was the greatest superhero movie ever. Also, I’ll be rooting for it come Oscar time. But, I know I’m not alone in thinking that when he speaks as Batman, especially as the movie goes along, he sounds silly. Its like someone telling a scary story around a campfire and holding a flashlight up to their face as they do it. So, I’m sorry if KapedKrusader232 has a problem with my post and feels the need to vent from Mom’s basement (just kidding).
I agree the movie was awesome, the voice was dumb.
Apparently Bale played it straight and the director changed it in post-production…. son of a bitch!