OK doke so here is another movie review and this one harks all the way back to 1989 and I have chosen to review Batman, the Tim Burton version, starring Michael Keaton in the titluar role and Jack Nicholson as the Joker. So let's get into the bat suit, mask up and dare the dark night.... (or knight!).
So here's a bit about the plot (and its hard for me to keep it short but I will do what I can) which is of course set in Gotham city, with a couple of street hoods carrying out a mugging. The hoods later count their takings only to be stopped by a tall dark caped figure, as the men both try to put him down by shooting the figure, it rises again and subdues both of them and grabs one of the muggers and tells him "I'm Batman!" before throwing him aside and diving off the rooftops. Meanwhile Gotham city's mayor insists that the district attorney, Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams) and police Commissioner Gordon (Pat Hingle) increase the combat against crime in the city as Gotham reaches its bicentennial. And local reporter Alexander Knox (Robert Whul) along with photojournalist Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) investigate the sightings of the masked vigilante named Batman.
In the meantime mob boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance) discovers that his mistress Alicia (Jerry Hall) has been having an affair with his second in command, Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson) and decides to have him set up to be murdered with the assistance of a corrupt cop, Max Eckhardt (William Hootkins) during a raid at the Axis chemical plant. During the raid the police arrive and Jack kills Eckhardt but he is then surprised by the appearance of Batman and as the two of them struggle, Napier accidentally falls into a vat of chemicals and Batman flees before the police can apprehend him. It is then revealed that Batman is in fact Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) a wealthy billionaire who saw his parents murdered when he was a child. Bruce soon meets Vicki at a party held at his manor and they fall for one another and soon begin a relationship. In the the meantime, Napier has survived the fall and after some facial surgery is left disfigured as his skin is now chalk white, his hair emerald green and he now has a permanently fixed smile on his face. Napier then goes to confront Grissom and reveals his new persona as "the Joker" and kills Grissom, taking over the mob boss's criminal empire as a result.
The Joker soon announces his presence in the city as victims fall foul to a deadly chemical known as "smilex" which is mixed into certain hygiene products, which causes people to laugh themselves to death. The Joker then sets up a trap for Batman as he invites Vicki along to the Gotham museum of art where his gang deface some of the art there. Batman soon arrives and rescues Vicki and they are pursued by the Joker's men, who Batman manages to fight off and they escapes back to the batcave where Batman gives Vicki a list of information for the press to leak, providing information on Smilex. Bruce the next day meets Vicki at her apartment and he tries to tell her he is Batman but is interrupted by the Joker, as Bruce briefly moves out of sight, he enters again and confronts the Joker who takes out his gun and says "Have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?" and shoots Bruce and leaves. Bruce however was wearing body armour and he escapes the apartment and later realises that the Joker was in fact the man who killed his parents as he recalled the Joker's words were said by the same man who shot his parents years ago. Back at the batcave, Bruce's bulter, Alfred (Michael Gough) let's Vicki in and she and Bruce talk, afterward Bruce guises as Batman and heads off to destroy the Axis chemical plant, now run by the Joker, which leads into the film's final confrontation.
There is no doubt that Batman is the best film out of the four films of the reboot of the franchise from 1989-1997 and Tim Burton's take on the Dark Knight was just right and it was a far cry from the camp 1960s Batman, with Adam West running around saying "sometimes you just can't get rid of a bomb!". Burton certainly keeps more akin with the proper spirit of Bob Kane's original comic books here and get's back to the concept of the dark knight and he introduces Batman really well in the film as a dark shadowed figure, striking terror into Gotham's criminal element. The film also echoes the similarity between the two main characters of Batman and the Joker as they both have dual identities and Bruce also later learns that the Joker was responsible for the death of his parents, which ultimately lead him toward becoming Batman, a masked vigilante set on riding Gotham of its criminals.
Getting onto the performances they are pretty good and Michael Keaton is a somewhat unlikely but also very astute piece of casting for the dual role of Bruce Wayne and Batman, as he is excellent in both roles. Keaton's Bruce Wayne is a more subdued and thoughtful character and his Batman is appropriately moody and intense and unlike Christian Bake, thankfully, he doesn't resort to using a stupid husky voice! Keaton has plenty good moments in the film such as in his first scene as Batman where Batman grabs one of the muggers at the start and dangles him off the side of a rooftop and he says "I want you to do me a favour. I want you to tell all your friends about me" and the mugger asks who he is and Batman grabs him and says "I'm Batman!" before throwing him aside and leaping off the roof. Keaton has another good scene where as Bruce he invites Vicki around to his manor for dinner and they both sit at opposite ends of a ridiculously long dining room table as they eat soup, and Vicki asks him if he likes it in here and Bruce says "Yeah. To tell you the truth I don't think I've ever been in here before!". And afterward in the next scene there is a nice moment where Bruce, Vicki and Alfred all sit together and Afred tells them a story and leaves for the night and Bruce says "Alfred's a great one. I couldn't find my socks without him". And then there is the scene where Bruce confronts the Joker at Vicki's apartment and he tells him a story about an imaginary thug and he says "You know what happened to this guy, Jack? He made mistakes and then he (grabs a poker smashes a vase next ontop the mantle of the fireplace) HAD HIS LIGHTS OUT! NOW DO YOU WANNA GET NUTS??!! COME ON!! LET'S GET NUTS!". And as Batman there is the scene where he takes on the Joker's thugs in an alley and after he fights them off he goes to pick up Vicki and he says to her "you weigh a little more than 108!" (as he asked Vicki her weight when they used the bat belt hook to scale a building together). And there is Batman's final confrontational scene with the Joker where he casually asks him "excuse me, have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?" and he proceeds to beat him up. And Batman then says "You killed my parents, I made you, you made me first!".
And Jack Nicholson it has to be said steals the show in his dual role as Jack Napier and the Joker, who starts off as a high up figure in a mob outfit but after his accident at the chemical factory, he becomes crazed and facially disfigured and sets out to terrorise Gotham and take control. Nicholson has many highlights in the film such as his first scene as the Joker when he confronts Grissom in his office and Grissom begs "Jack maybe we can cut a deal" and the Joker says "Jack? Jack is dead my friend. You can call me... Joker! And as you can see... I'm alot happier!" and he proceeds to peform a balletic dance while shooting Grissom. Then later there is the funny scene where the Joker get's tired of all the press attention Batman is getting and he smashes his TV with an extended jack in the box, boxing glove. And the Joker moans "Batman?! Batman?! Can somebody tell me what kind of a world we live in where a man dressed up as a BAT get's all my press????? This town needs an enema!". Then there is the scene where the Joker lures Vicki into a trap at the Gothan museum and Batman enters and saves her using his grapple gun they flee and the Joker looks on saying "Where does he get those wonderful toys???". And later on in their final confrontation, Batman beats up on the Joker and he says to him "I was a kid when I killed your parents. You said "I made you, you made me?" how childish can you get??" and he puts on some glasses and says "Hey you wouldn't hit a guy with glasses on, would you?" and Batman proceeds to punch him off the roof, and after a moment, as Batman and Vicki peer over, the Joker's hands suddenly appear and he grabs both of them over with him! Then there is the scene where the Joker rides on a big float which carries balloons, dancing away, he throws out money to the crowds. And he addresses the crowd on a mic and says "Who do you trust?? Me. I'm giving away free money. And where is the Batman??? He's at home washing his tights!!" before unleashing poisonous gas into the crowds. And as Batman turns up to save the day in his batplane and snatches away the Joker's balloons, the Joker looks on outraged and says to his second in command, Bob, "He stole my balloons! Why didn't someone tell me he had one of those things!" and then says to Bob "Bob? Gun." who hands the Joker his gun and the Joker proceeds to shoot him with it!
Kim Basinger on the other hand is the weak link in the cast here however as she is simply downright annoying in her role as Vicki Vale and she does no more than stand around and scream throughout the film and its a pity in a way she was thrown off the roof at the end of the film! And no offence to Kim but her performance is pretty mediocre here and her dialogue is naff as well and she get's one of the film's worst lines which comes at the very end when Alfred, who chauffers her says "I'm afraid Mr Wayne told me tell you he will be running a little late" and Vicki looks out and sees the Bat signal in the sky and says "I'm not a bit surprised!". Uggghhhh!!
As for the other cast members they fare better, such as Michael Gough who plays Bruce Wayne's trusty butler, Alfred Pennyworth. Gough has some good moments in the film as well such as his first scene during Wayne's party and he follows Bruce around as he keeps putting down his champagne glass in different spots and Alfred picks it up! And Gough also has a good line where Alfred says to Bruce in the batcave "I have no wish to fill my few remaining years grieving for the loss of old friends. Or their sons". Pat Hingle as commissioner Gordon who is in a way perfect in the role as the aged Jim Gordon. There was actually a scene written in the film as a flashback where Bruce as a young boy is comforted by a younger Gordon just after his parents are murdered, which was cut out and later reworked into Batman Begins. Hingle has one or two good scenes in the film and his best line comes when he tries to apprehend Batman at the chemical factory and one of the cops asks who he is and Gordon says "I don't know, but until we find out we better keep a lid on it".
Robert Whul also is good in his role as the reporter Knox, and Whul himself being a comedian (who also wrote for the comedy series, Police Squad!) uses the one liners he is given quite well. One such scene Whul has is when Vicki and Knox attend Wayne's party and they look at a large mirror, just after Bruce says hello and goodbye and Knox says "The rich? Why are they so weird? Cos they can afford to be! Look at this mirror, maybe he should be Bruce Vain!". Billy Dee Williams even though he is given a very brief part as Harvey Dent does well enough as the city's distric attorney, and his opening speech and he addresses the press "I'm a man of few words, but my words will count and so will my actions". And lastly William Hootkins is also given a brief but noteworthy role as the corrupt cop Eckhardt who mocks Knox's claims of the Batman and he says to him "Don't be writing this stuff in the newspaper, Knox. It will ruin its already worthless reputation" and as Knox says about the rumours of Batman "They say he drinks blood..." Eckhardt turns and says "I say you're full of shit, Knox! Oh, and you can quote me on that!".
As for Tim Burton, well he does a terrific job with the film and he handles the action confidently and visually the film looks stunning also, as it was shot at Pinewood studios over 18 soundstages and they used the full extent of the studio's backlot aswell to cater for the film's incredibly vast sets. Burton however said he felt shooting the film itself was a hellish process but then again that can often be the case for filmmakers when they make something special and he later said he felt the film was OK but found it be boring and more of a phenomenom than a great movie. The film is also noteworthy for its visual effects and costuming and big credit goes to Derek Meddings, as the visual effects advisor who created some impressive miniatures, most notably in the scene where Batman destroys the Axis chemicals plant and then there is Batman's costume (designed by Bob Ringwood) and the batmobile (constructued by Keith Short) both of which still look pretty cool to this day. And lastly there is the wonderful music score written by Danny Elfman, which couldn't be more appropriate for the film and it has a great title theme as well even though at times it is a bit loud and overbearing its still a fine score.
As for the flaws paragraph.... well Batman is a fine film indeed but its not without its niggles, for starters part of the problem lies with the fact that Batman is essentially a killer in the film, but I always preferred to see Batman morely as a moral avenger who prefers not to take human life. But here Batman is a killer as he kills off one of the Joker's thugs and also later on the Joker himself and in a way I always felt it didn't sit right with me whereas that's one area where the Christopher Nolan films gave Batman the right balance, rather than resort to killing, so morally Batman enters a bit of a grey area here in Burton's film and continues to in Batman Returns as he kills another thug, by attaching an explosive to him. Another issue is of course the casting of Kim Basinger in the role of Vicki Vale as she threatens to really bog the film down with what is essentially a tedious performance (sorry Kim!) and Vicki is literally no more than a screaming damsel in distress and is far from the tough minded Rachel Dawes of Batman Begins and naturally miles apart from Miranda in The Dark Knight Rises. Perhaps with better casting Vicki Vale's character could have been better but as it turned out Kim was a rushed piece of casting and it certainly shows as it remains the film's only real miscast role.
The film while is a far cry from the overt campness of the 1966 film, it still does have some silly cheesy moments, the worst one being when Batman flies his batplane high up into the sky and stops right in the centre of the moon and it takes the shape of the future bat signal, which is just naff as hell! And lastly I thought the songs in the film by Prince were very much out of place and it also remains one aspect of the film that is dated as Prince's music is very much in the 80s here whereas the film could so easily be taken out of that time and be set in any recent period. Combine that also with the fact that I'm not and never really have been a big Prince fan I just think his music never really lends anything to the film to improve it.
But all that aside, Batman is still an excellent action film which saw the franchise get a reboot although its just a shame the three films that followed Batman Returns, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, couldn't live up to its expectations (which is why I won't do any posts on them!).
And with that I shall bid yee goodnight!
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