With the Dark Knight Rises being released July 20th, 2012, I am going back and re-watching the Burton, Schumacher, and Nolan films leading up to the Dark Knight Rises. Hopefully I can get through all of them before Rises is released. However, I am going to a Dark Knight Rises marathon on July 19th (all three Nolan films) and may blog about Batman Begins and the Dark Knight afterwards. Time will tell. So, on to Batman (1989)!
Release Date: June 23, 1989
Michael Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne
Jack Nicholson as Joker/Jack Napier
Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale
Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth
Robert Wuhl as Alexander Knox
Directed by Tim Burton
Written by Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren
Batman, sometimes referred to as Batman '89 or Tim Burton's Batman, was one of my favorite movies from my childhood. I was not able to see the movie in theaters due to my parents wanting to view it first and see if it was appropriate for me (I was 8 when it came out). I still have a a clear memory of being an 8 year old and watching the movie on a VHS my parents had rented and being very excited when I first saw the Batman symbol appear during the opening credits (they didn't tell me what it was, they surprised me with it). It was instantly one of my favorite movies after watching it for the first time. Time, as it is wont to do, has changed my initial perceptions of the film, but it will always be a special movie to me simply because of the joy and fond memories I had of it as a child.
From the opening scene where a family of three is racing through town trying to find a cab (as a kid, I thought that was actually Bruce and his parents, which perhaps was what Burton was going for, but I was obviously wrong), Burton has set up Gotham City to almost be a character in and of itself. Gotham is definitely dark and Gothic with tall stone sky scrapers and, of course, gargoyles. Not to mention that a majority of the movie is set at night. Gotham City, in many ways, is an important part of Batman lore and I think Burton tried to recreate that straight from the comics. The fact of the matter is, however, that it really hasn't held up over time. It's obvious that it was shot on a sound stage. In fact, even the exterior scenes looked like a sound stage. This may not bother some people (and it didn't bother me, if I even noticed it, which I probably didn't, as a child), but I don't like fake looking scenery. It tends to take me out of the movie and make it apparent that I am watching something created, rather than transporting me to different place as I think good movies should do. That's not to say that this is a bad movie, and I will get to more on that later, but it's something that has not held up for me.
The bat-suit still looks badass in my opinion. I realize it's just a rubber suit, but it still looks damn good and it remains my favorite bat-suit to this day. That may never change...or at least for 5-6 years until the next inevitable Batman reboot. Since I'm on the topic of style, why does everyone seem to dress like it's the 1940's? I am not really sure what time period Burton was going for, but there are scenes that make it look like it was current (for '89 at least), but then scenes when Alexander Knox and Lt. Eckhardt look like ad men from the late 40's. I think this was Burton trying to capture the spirit of the early Batman comics, but to my "modern" eye, it seems out of place. One last note on style: Why in the hell is Bruce Wayne wearing glasses during several scenes? I am guessing they are reading glasses, but this is the only version of Bruce Wayne I ever remember wearing glasses. It doesn't affect the overall story, but it is kind of odd.
There a quite a few characters straight from the comics in this movie, but most of them feel like cardboard cutout characters cut and pasted from 100 other movies. Gordon feels like Generic Police Guy Helping Hero rather than an integral part of Batman lore. He wasn't in the movie much and when he was, he was basically just an afterthought. I realize that Batman and Gordon didn't have a history together when this movie started and the fact that Gordon doesn't have a strong presence doesn't really hurt the movie, it's just that I would have liked to see interactions between Batman and Gordon.
Alfred has the same feel to me as well. There was the dinner scene between Bruce and Vicki Vale where Alfred was talking about giving Bruce a horse riding lesson that, I guess, was meant to convey that Bruce and Alfred had a history together. Outside of that one scene, Alfred seemed like he was just a background servant instead of Batman's conscience/father figure that he has been in the comics in the past. Burton was making, first and foremost, a Batman movie. But having these characters, who are important parts of who Batman is and how he operates, make it feel like a movie rather than creating a world. Having only two or three charcters that are more than one dimensional gives it a stagnant feel, as if Batman and the Joker are "real" and everyone else is only there to add depth to their the Batman/Joker story, instead of having their own "stories" and backgrounds. Again, it doesn't really hurt the movie, per se, but I think it would have improved it.
The last character I want to talk about is Alexander Knox, played by Robert Wuhl. As far as I can tell, this is the only time that Alexander Knox appears in relation to Batman and to be quite honest, he is basically useless in the movie. He really doesn't do anything other than be an annoying reporter. I think his point was basically to show that the news is covering Batman and that people are not sure what to make of Batman yet, but that could have been served in other respects rather than adding Knox to the story. There were several scenes of local new anchors talking about current events in Gotham and they could have covered the news instead of Knox. I feel like the character stole screen time that could have been better used for other characters.
What about the two most important characters, though? I mean, after all, this is a Batman movie and he is facing his arch nemesis. I feel like Burton basically got these characters right. Batman feels close to my version of what I think Batman should be (or, to be honest, perhaps it helped shape my view of Batman since I saw it an such a young/impressionable age). He's tough, has great gadgets, doesn't show any fear, and, dammit, has my favorite Batmobile to date.
The Joker, on the other hand, was Jack Nicholson. I don't mean played by Jack Nicholson, I mean the Joker was Nicholson. What I am getting at is that Jack Nicholson was playing Jack Nicholson playing the Joker. That is not to say he did a bad job and he was well cast since Nicholson is very good a playing crazy. At the time the movie was made, I don't really think there was a better actor, or more popular actor, to play the role. So, it was a fine cast in my opinion. Despite the fact that the Joker was crazy, I never really got the sense that he was any kind of match for Batman, though, neither physical or mental. The Joker has never been a physical match, strength for strength, of Batman, but he has always been an intellectual equal to Batman in the comics. The Jokers plan was to taint some cosmetics, infect the city with gas, and kidnap Vicki Vale a couple of times. Batman figured out the chemicals in the cosmetics pretty quickly, however, and stole all of the Jokers balloons. The Joker just didn't feel like Batman's arch nemesis. The kind of nemesis that can screw up Batman's life and push Batman into realms Batman does not want to go.
After everything I have said about this movie, both good and bad, I would like to point out how important this movie was to Batman overall. In 1989 Batman made $251 Million which, when adjusted for inflation, made $498 million in today's money. The incredible success of the movie made it possible for the Batman franchise to continue (for better or for worse, which I will get into in later posts). It's quite possible that the Nolan films wouldn't exist if Batman was never made or had flopped. Remember, up until this film, the world only had the Batman TV show (and 1966 film) starring Adam West and Burt Ward, which was campy as hell (which I loved when I was a kid). Burton's Batman showed that Batman was a dark, more adult character and that Batman was a moneymaker. Batman was important in that it showed that non-Superman superhero movies could appeal to large audiences. It may not have been the first superhero movie, but it was one of the most important. I am giving this film a score of "Worth the Money". You can see our film scoring system here.
Quick Hits
Good Points
- This movie had some very memorable lines, most of them uttered by the Joker: "Where does he get those wonderful toys!" "Wait till they get a load of me." "He stole my balloons!" and of course, quite possibly the most innocent dirty line in the movie "Never rub another man's rhubarb."
- The Batmobile is till my favorite Batmobile to date. I love the design of it
- The Batplane (or Batwing) flying up in front of the moon may be corny, but it's still damn cool and I love it every time I see it
Nitpicks
- After Vicki and Bruce make love, Bruce wakes up and starts hanging upside down. I don't like the movie trying to show that Bruce has "bat-like" tendencies. Batman isn't bat like, he uses the bat as a symbol of fear
- Why is the Joker able to take down the Batplane with a long barreled gun? I just don't think a gun like that would be powerful enough to take down the Batplane
- Why does Batman write a letter to Gotham City? That seems very un-Batman like.
Thank you for reading my first ever Uncaped and Unmasked blog post. I didn't get to all of my notes on Batman, but I didn't want an overly long post, either. I tried to hit upon some of the good points, some of the bat points, and to try and view the movie in the context of when it was made and what came before it. There are quite enough superhero/comic book movies (and many more being released every year) that I hope to do this for long time.
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