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Ha, yea, that is a pretty bad ass turn. I'll start answering people with that turn if they ask a question and my back is turned to them.

To me, a classic image is Batman staggering along with basically just his suit holding him together and somehow pulling an ass-kicking out of his hat for anybody stupid enough to cross him on his way to whatever he's doing

That sums it up quite nicely.

Now what I can say that I enjoy from the Schumacher films is the scene in Forever where Batman crashes that party through the ceiling window, I think it's a ceiling window or a glass statue, and starts kicking ass, no questions asked.  Then it was very Batman like when he leaped from the top of the building to catch Two-Face and they show his decent. The comics always have scenes like that where we see Batman leaping from buildings, cape fully extended in the air. The Burton films did not have a scene quite like that one.

If there is one reason to like Batman and Robin it is because of this link.

I was a disbeliever before, always not liking the fact that his cowl restricted head movement, but many of the comments posted here have changed my mind. Now, I agree with the cowl and about the movements being more animalistic due to the cowl.  That's got to be frightening, if instead of just turning his head towards you he turns his whole body, giving the total frightening silhouette of a giant bat and with those huge ears. And another thing when the whole body is turned towards you he is ready to give you an ass beating because every limb is at his use and they are in front of your face.  The movie did a great job making him frightening and Keaton made it work extremely well, plus his eyes are the eyes of a determined, pissed, somewhat psycho, not afraid of anything guy. Keaton's got those eyes. I would not want to look in those eyes.

Hey Batnar, are you talking about that turn he does when Joker says, "Shall we dance?"

In fact, I have seen some of your Comic Con pics, they're quite awesome, plus you kinda of resemble Keaton in the suit. I'm wondering by any chance if you bolted the cowl to your chest?

nah, I'm just kidding man, or am I? No, I'm pretty sure I'm kidding, the dvd is enough for me, I could watch it over and over, besides I think it'd be very pricy for a suit.

Well agreed on all points offered, in fact from an article I heard here, Keaton could not hear out of the headpiece, but it was for better because it immersed him more into role.  And despite how limited movement was he made movement extremely fluid with what he was given. In the given action scenes you really would not have thought that head movement was impossible because the whole movement is so fluid even though we know the cowl is bolted to his chest.

And yes it does give a more dominating movement, and Burton was going for the look, which worked, and thanks to camera angles, once again, you really can't tell that neck movement is that hindered. There are a few more articles on this site that mention the costume so I'm going look into those further. But I just want everyone to think about or look at the scene when Batman first opens the small entrance to the cathedral, in those brief seconds we all get to see the most neck movement possible by the Keaton Batman.

ral, that's amazing, how are you able to get a hold of Dave Lea? I'm new here, so I don't know much about the regulars or the founders of the site. Are you some sort of freelance journalist for batman topics, or just a really awesome fan, or just a journalist? It's really sweet that you are able to do this. Ask him for a Batman 89 costume for me.

Here's something I really want to talk that's bothered me for years, despite how cool both films are. Keaton cannot turn his head, it's ridiculous, and not very Batmanesque. I mean Batman was trained as a ninja, it is probably natural for someone like Batman to keep his head on a swivel, ever alert to any danger. But this is not the case for Keaton's Batman, it's quite amusing if you look at the scenes in Batman (1989) where there should be head movement, but his whole body has to move (I'm thinking about the cathedral scene). I read an article here where I believe Keaton is quoted as saying it feels like his head is in a vise.

So, what's your opinion with regards to this issue. I know I'll be posting much more here.

Definitely 89, its my favorite. Although I haven't seen Returns in years.

I know this is off topic from Schumacher's films, but this also brings up the Dark Knight, when after saving those two ferries and defeating the Joker and then defeating Two-Face, Batman is greatly humanized at then end when you see him completely tired and out of breath. I sure as hell know that I would be tired if I was shot, stabbed, beaten with a metal bar, bitten by vicious dogs, nearly ripped my arm from its socket trying to save a mad man, defeated a whole swat team unit, stopped an insane district attorney, saved a police commissioner's family, fell about 6 stories and landed on my back, plus then to still have the stamina to get up and run from the cops. Yeah, I think that could be very tiring for any human which is what Batman is, a human.

This also brings up why I like Burton's Batman because after saving Gotham, he survived a plane crash, a pretty nasty plane crash, climbed a sh*t load of stairs, dealt with two of the Joker's goons, one of which was some sort of ninja, got his ass handed to him by a strong and big ass black guy probably hopped up on cocaine and steroids, and then beat him, beat the Joker's ass pretty thoroughly, and then saved the girl.