Crawford,

There has only been one filimic interpretation of the Batman that comes close to the character's history and identity and that has been Nolan's Batman Begins. Christian Bale's interpretation of Bruce Wayne was also superior. Tim Burton's (one of my favorite directors) is a distant second. Shumacher's interpretation canned and if you did some research you would see what sort of reviews his play with the character received. Additionally, I feel that as the character originated in the comics, an argument for understanding the character ought to take into account the character's representation through the comic books. For instance, we would see that there have been several female love interests in Bruce Wayne's life: Vicki Vale, Sasha Bordeaux, Silvia St. Cloud, Celina Kyle (Catwoman), and Talia al Ghul with whom he had a son called Damien. His commitment to fighting crime has often meant that he sacrifices his personal life, another tragedy in the character.

People will read what different things from a character's on screen treatment, which largely depends on the director, and imho, Schumacher should be the litmus for how NOT to play Batman on screen. 'Cause he got it wrong.