I know that I have mentioned this before, but Warner Brothers' choice for the ultimate Batman should definitely be the talented Wesley Snipes. I decided that this rant deserves a page all to itself, so here it goes:

   When you think "Batman" the character, you think brooding, committed, athletic, vengeful. When you think about the series of movies, words like "poorly written", "gaudy", "overblown", and "silly" come to mind. Neither Michael Keaton (by far the best so far), Val Kilmer, nor George Clooney could capture the Caped Crusader's essence, let alone his physical prowess. And the suit just never seemed to fit, literally and figuratively. Snipes, on the other hand, has the obvious physical attributes, doing much of his own martial art stunts for the hyper-kinetic Blade, and The Art of War. He exudes the brooding, sulking persona in such movies that would make it a great fit. Also as Bruce Wayne, there is an obvious suave quality to his movements that would make portraying a millionaire philanthropist believable. With a great physique, we would also have no problems with the Wayne character romancing the most beautiful women in Gotham.
   I can already see what some of you "faithful" fans might have to complain about, after all Batman is not black, you'd say. While I will obviously admit that, I can also admit that he certainly doesn't have blonde hair, either. That little fact didn't deter WB from casting the golden-tressed Kilmer. As a matter of fact, all diehard fans have always seemed ok with the revolving door in the casting department, so why not get the best man for the job.
   In Blade, Snipes displayed his grasp of a comic book series adaptation to the big screen. The cinematography brought the panels straight off of the paper into onto the screen. The action sequences didn't sacrifice excitement for the mood - a great non-chalant dark comic book feel. Choreography was great, the film just happened to have the misfortune of coming out the same season as The Matrix.
   Snipes could also return the focus to Batman, himself. In the most recent films, it's all been about the sidekicks and the villains. We have been gradually moved to these secondary characters, with casting such as Schwarzenegger, Carrey, Pfeiffer, Tommy Lee Jones, and the like. Couple that with Silverstone and O'Donnell, and there's not enough screen time left for the Masked One. But Wesley is interesting enough, and a big enough star to center the film around. We would watch.
   What else could he add to the tired franchise? Well, his complection would coordinate wonderfully with the outfit. He could do most of his own stunts. He would bring the audience from Blade. And, on that note, he would also bring a large segment of society with him as well. The African-American community would obviously laud such a gutsy decision to give such a high-profile, traditionally white role to a black actor. This would give a whole new reason for a black audience to come out and see Batman.
   A perfect choice to inject some life into the old guy, there really is no other choice.

---P.S. - Dream directors for the project would be either Tim Burton (the original Batman) or Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City). I would also love to see as that scarecrow-like bad guy Leonardo DiCaprio (of all people, I know, but it'd be interesting to see him do something different, and it would add more star power, and his skinny-ass frame would be ideal). And the one mention that they could make about Batman's "change"  - a little throw-away line akin to:
Robin: "Hey, you look different."
Batman: "Yeah, I did a lot of tanning this summer."
And then be done with it.