Comments

• • pickledelephant

    Aug 7th 2012, 10:54

    Hell no! No way that in Batmen trilogy his acting was the best. I agree, they were the most successful money-wise, but, in my opinion, an actor must be judged by the quality of his acting. American Psycho or The Machinist should be at the top.

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  • ash333

    Aug 7th 2012, 11:07

    If you have to put a Batman film in there it should be 'Begins'. You cannot seriously expect me to believe that 'Rises' is Christian Bale's finest work!!? Eventually it's going to be universally accepted that 'Rises' is simple not very good and as far as Bale's acting and Batman goes it should be Batman Begins that gets the No' 1 spot (even though it should be American Psycho) as this is where we see Bale create the character that will carry us through the next two films. Open you eye's Total Film. Re-watch 'Rises' with your eyes open and realise that you're sacrificing your journalistic integrity by describing an over-long, badly scripted shadow of parts 1 & 2 as "nearly perfect".

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  • Jareth64

    Aug 7th 2012, 11:50

    The Dark Knight Rises is far from "perfect". It's certainly enjoyable but TotalFilm's 5/5 rating is way over the top. Like TotalFilm often are. And, frankly, I'd say his best performances were in Hard Times and Empire of the Sun. Batman's Bale on autopilot, really, it's hardly trying stuff.

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  • nikolettpinter

    Aug 7th 2012, 12:33

    American Psycho is one of the best movies of Chris... and Equilibrium and The Machinist!!

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  • ChrisWootton

    Aug 7th 2012, 12:42

    Totally agree.. I thought he looked bored in places of RIse, and the view that it's near perfection baffles me. Still, definitive list if nothing else.

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  • SiMan

    Aug 7th 2012, 12:49

    I have a soft spot for Equilibrium (gun-Kata is the way of the future), but i can't believe i'd forgotten about Reign of Fire. One thing you do have to say is that he is always watchable no matter what he is in. I wonder which role he himself thinks is his best.

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  • oshman4

    Aug 7th 2012, 12:52

    My top 3 Bale performances are American Psycho ,Batman Begins and the Machinist. Then TDKR. To say his performance in the dark Knight is better than Batman Begins is laughable.

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  • wonderwarren

    Aug 7th 2012, 13:27

    I agree, I think that Batman Begins should have taken a higher spot the TDKR. I personally think that American Psycho, Empire of the Sun and The Fighter should have been in the top spots here. Also Bale was not the lead in Mio in the Land of Faraway, it was Nicholas Pickard.

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  • McSerious

    Aug 7th 2012, 13:32

    I agree that his performance in Rises was better than TDK, if only because there was a greater range of emotions and situations for him to deal with. For me American Psycho and Harsh Times show Bale at his absolute best though.

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  • CaptainCrazy

    Aug 7th 2012, 14:45

    The whole "is The Dark Knight Rises" and "all the new Batman movies are over-rated" is getting tiresome. When is the last time anyone remembers a successful trilogy of films being pulled off with more than moderate success than Nolan’s series this side of LOTR. The fact that they are based on a comic book is even more than impressive. Whether it was a five star film or not is irrelevant – the important thing is that the star and director treated it more than a shameless cash-in which so many modern films are guilty of. Or maybe, just maybe, the Transformer series is what we deserve.

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  • franciscomoraga

    Aug 7th 2012, 14:55

    he played jesus? man, he has done anything then!

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  • franciscomoraga

    Aug 7th 2012, 14:55

    I meant "everything"

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  • BobbyTwoTimes

    Aug 7th 2012, 15:35

    F*ck me Bale has done some sh*t.....

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  • marc96

    Aug 7th 2012, 16:01

    i loved dark knight rises but for me his best performances were american psycho & the fighter

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  • bencobra

    Aug 7th 2012, 16:26

    Bale is a great Batman. However, those films greatness is due to all the performers. There is only one real stand alone performance and that comes from Ledger. The Fighter is by far his greatest performance. I think his performances in American Psycho, Rescue Dawn and The Prestige eclipse his portrayal of Batman. @BobbyTwoTimes I concur. He has definitely been in some garbage over the years.

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  • StevePotter

    Aug 7th 2012, 17:51

    "Intensity? In a Disney movie?"- Umm, yes. Tony Jay as Frollo? Jeremy Irons as Scar? James Earl Jones as Mufasa? TONY JAY AS FROLLO?! Come now. If you had just said, "Intensity? When he's playing a little kid?" it would have been fine. A little wordy, though. STILL

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  • StevePotter

    Aug 7th 2012, 17:54

    Also, dazzling action scenes in Equilibrium?

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  • Hadouken76

    Aug 7th 2012, 18:10

    So the film where he won an Oscar, isn't his best performance?

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  • theinsanerobin

    Aug 7th 2012, 18:44

    The 1992 Disney musical was called "Newsies" not "The News Boys."

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  • bobbypalmer

    Aug 7th 2012, 23:42

    Was it really necessary to say 'intensity' eleven times...?

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  • BobbyTwoTimes

    Aug 8th 2012, 9:48

    Was it really necessary to count how many times the word 'intensity' was used in that article?

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  • Ali1748

    Aug 8th 2012, 18:05

    American Psycho was by far Bales best performance.

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  • MoodyMonkey

    Aug 9th 2012, 15:25

    @CaptainCrazy - totally agree. its like so many people just made their minds up before seeing the film. way too many cant enjoy a Bat-film if the Joker is not in it. And American Psycho is deinitely his best performance (DKR being 2nd for me).

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  • fm84DK

    Dec 8th 2012, 3:48

    My Top 10 1 Batman The Dark Knight 2 American Psycho 3 The Prestige 4 Batman The Dark Knight Returns 5 The Machinist 6 Batman Begins 7 The Fighter 8 3:10 To Yuma 9 Rescue Dawn 10 Terminator 4 (Surprise!)

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