Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Whatâs Up With Batmanâs Voice in âThe Dark Knightâ? Isnât It Obvious?
Three weeks after its release, is there anything left to be said about The Dark Knight? Probably not, but as the filmâs box-office races past $400 million, we suppose we canât blame the AP for trying. âWhatâs with Batmanâs voice in Dark Knight?â they ask today, noting that the weird, growling voice Christian Bale gives Batman â âthe offspring of Clint Eastwood and a grizzly bearâ has been called out as a distraction (a writer for MSNBC says itâs something akin to âBrenda Vaccaro doing a Miles Davis impression).
Okay, that Vaccaro-Davis line is pretty good, and not to be all âLeave Bruce Wayne alone!â but hereâs the thing: Heâs Bruce Wayne and heâs famous! Heâs a millionaire playboy, heâs a man about town, and probably quite a number of people are in a position to recognize him. He has to disguise his voice! What are his other options? Affect a British accent, like Madonna? Hold up signs? That would make it pretty hard to toss off witty remarks while holding people in headlocks, wouldnât it?
Furthermore, the allegedly goofy voice distracts from what? The otherwise unassuming appearance and manner of the guy with the cape, the horned hood, and the zillion-dollar mini-vehicle with the on-board rocket launchers? Is the sound you hear coming from behind his RUBBER MASK not adequately Average Joeâish? Not consistent with the dark, mysterious, caped do-gooders from your town? What brand of realism are we supposed to be attempting here? Donât these criticisms amount to âhe talks like a cartoon characterâ? Is he not, in fact, a cartoon character? Also, how come nobody ever heard Supermanâs non-raspy voice and realized that he was really Clark Kent? âLinda Holmes