You know time has a funny effect.. I remember as a kid being enthralled by Michael Keaton punching his way through Jokers minions in the run down VHS and cracking his way through the red triangle circus gang on the snowy streets of Gotham. As I am older and have trained in various arts I can see the limitations the rubber suit put on Keaton during his scenes.
Its a shame really Keaton did a great job as the dark knight in Burtons gothic twist on the caped crusader. It turns out he had a great deal of help from Dave Lea a man trained in Wing Chun, Hapikdo and Eskrima (Yes that eskrima I always talk about on here.) He worked with the legendary Guro Dan Inosanto. The dude is very skilled and flexible you can see its really the suits problem. Kathy Long who is a world class kick-boxer worked with Michelle Pfifer to prep for fights and even performed the stunts as well.
Batman and Robin the suit and movement got better as the stunt double was none other than Chris Cassamassa aka Scorpion from Mortal Kooooooooooooooooooombat! I couldn't believe it. Regardless of the plot or pace of the movie he did a great job with the fight scenes.
I looked up the fight directors for Batman Forever but it came up empty. Ill keep looking as me and Baby Jay binge on the Burtonverse on Netflix.
Its fun to see the evolution of the visuals and costume designers s they try to figure out how to make the suit more mobile for fluid fight scenes. it would take Chris Nolans dark knight and Snyders Batman v Superman to get the fight scenes just right.
I might as well talk about them. Batman Begins has a lot of close up shakey cam, the suit is still a little bit clunky and Bruce is still an unrefined brawler. The Dark Knight has a more fluid and fast Batman, the nightclub scene is very amazing the way he dispatches Maronis men. The director even has a scene talk about how Bruce trade armor for speed.
The Dawn of Justice Batman is very close to the comics, which depending on the artist and writer is some kind of Kevlar fabric cloth that allows batman to be athletic and acrobatic. Batfleck lifts mofos in the air and slams them. The suit and the cape enver gets in the air as the visual effects team used a CGI cape which looks amazing. Richard Cetrone did an damn good job using Jeet Kune Do and Silat on the KGBeasts minions, I can watch it again and again.
OK kids, now we move on from live action to the hand drawn comics and animated interpretations. (There I go using big words like interpretations.)
The Dark Knight Returns has an aging Bruce Wayne returning to the front lines on the war on crime. Hes not as limber as he used to be. According to Medline Plus; Changes in posture and gait (walking pattern) are common with aging. Changes in the skin and hair are also common.
The skeleton provides support and structure to the body. Joints are the areas where bones come together. They allow the skeleton to be flexible for movement. In a joint, bones do not directly contact each other. Instead, they are cushioned by cartilage in the joint, synovial membranes around the joint, and fluid.
Muscles provide the force and strength to move the body. Coordination is directed by the brain, but is affected by changes in the muscles and joints. Changes in the muscles, joints, and bones affect the posture and walk, and lead to weakness and slowed movement.
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/004015.htm
So he can't use stylized armor like Dawn of Justice or The Dark Knight Rises, even though they are two live action interpretations of The Dark Knight Returns. He has to rely on smarts and be as fluid as possible. He can't use good ol' Karate and Fisticuffs he'll get outclassed by younger cutthroats. The Frank Miller batsuit seems to be more fabric woven with Kevlar. What is interesting is the 80's is when body armor in crime-fighting seemed to take off. There were drug epidemics and many officers were Vietnam era vets putting their tactical training to use.
You can see Millers view of a militarized police in Year one and Returns.
The DC Animated universe seemed to be more fabric than anything else. The cape rips and tears, but he can move from roof to roof easily and slug it out with the best Gotham and the Legion of Doom have to offer. There are two times you can see Bruce Wayne training martial arts before he dawned the suit. One was the Night of The Ninja where he learned Aikido in a dojo in Japan. The second is Mask of The Phantasm where he uses jujitsu in training. It was before the Gracie boom of 93 so I can only assume it was Nihon Jujutsu.
What is interesting is Batman's tech always predicts law enforcement tools. Armor is one of them, LEOS, security guards and soldiers all outsource various schools and companies that will create body armor that has endurance and mobility. Now if they can only get the stink out of it, then that would be a miracle.