Best Batman (live action) film?

My brief take : -

1 ) Batman (Adam West one). Only saw it once. Shark repellent - ka-pow - brilliant (if very 1960s).

2 ) Batman (1989). Jack Nicholson may have driven a hard bargain - top billing, big wage, other perks), but he was worth it. Dominates the film and contrasts with Anton Furst's amazing gothic sets.

3 ) Batman Returns. A masterpiece. Perfect casting, sets, direction - a gothic modern tragedy. Arguably the character's finest hour.

4 ) Batman Forever. Camp, busy nonsense, but grown on me slightly. Jim Carrey is the most entertaining thing in it by a mile - Tommy Lee Jones is like a shit Joker on speed. Val Kilmer does alright.

5 ) Batman & Robin. Yeurgh - the only bits I like are the mad Professor who creates Poison Ivy and Michael Gough's understated performance as the ailing Alfred.

6 ) Batman Begins. Perhaps the best of the Nolan trilogy - Bale's best performance. Liam Neeson is a fantastic, er, mentor too. Also Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow might just be the most underrated villain.

7 ) The Dark Knight. Slightly overbalanced by Ledger's amazing Joker. Too many plotholes around Two Face late on (but he's done 100 times better than in Forever).

8 ) The Dark Knight Returns. Pacing problems, overly grand sets and a plummy-voiced Bane challenging Batman for silly voices. Not a disastrous conclusion, but slightly lame - though Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a brilliant 'Robin'.

Any thoughts (I haven't seen the recent spinoffs but I did like the cartoon movies made around the 1990s when I got them on DVD recently)?

Forever is the one that gets it right for me. It has a nice balance between the serious stuff and the comedy stuff. It also focuses a lot more on Batman and his inner conflict. Tommy Lee Jones is indeed terrible, but a lot of interesting moments involving him were cut from the final film for some reason.

I really enjoy Batman & Robin as well. I would definitely buy a large canvas of that shot of Alicia Silverstone's bum and hang it proudly on my wall. Imagine waking up to that every morning!

I haven't seen the Burton films for years but they're getting gradually nearer to the top of my to watch pile, which is pretty Who dominated at the moment, after not really watching much for a few years.
But from memory, I like Batman Returns best, by some margin.
However, I tend to prefer the Dark Knight trilogy, particularly Batman Begins.
The old Adam West film is good for a laugh, in the same way that an episode of The Banana Splits was.

Agree with Maxil that Alicia's rear end is mighty fine in Batman & Robin. More effective than the curves on that film's batmobile!

One thing that stands out from Forever is Nygma's obsession with Batman completely consuming him to the point he's driven mad and thinks he himself is the Bat. Underneath all the japery it's a chilling snapshot of psychotic fixation - perhaps?