Not long ago I decided to watch all of the live action Batman films. As far as American superhero franchises are concerned, Batman has always distinctly been my favorite. He may be a lot of people's favorites, but I think there's a good reason for that. Batman characters are different from just "DC" characters. In a very broad, unique way, Batman manages to have interesting and unique villains that no one else even comes close to -- there's also no lack of distinct, tangible tone in Batman-related media, laying the groundwork for a setting as diverse and investing as Gotham city.
It's honestly hard to go wrong with Batman. The Adam West (rest in peace) television series is a family-friendly classic, Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy is masterful in every sense of the word, and even the worst of the Caped Crusader's two films, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, manage to recreate some of the campier Batman ideas well enough to be watched and enjoyed, even if it it's done ironically.
To start off the Bat-A-Thon, here is my review of Tim Burton's Batman (1989)
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Burton crafted a setting almost as iconic than the land of Oz out of Gotham (if not more so). The image of this seemingly 30’s behemoth of a city is intentionally polluted, Gothic, and unwelcoming in presentation, giving it a unique identity. Nothing can come close to the true noir-grittiness of this place; it begs to be saved, and begs to be feared, which makes it a perfect place for a dark hero like Bruce Wayne. To me, this makes Burton's Gotham possibly one of the best portrayals of a single, fictional location ever. Everything is uncut and murky, shady characters are lingering down dark alley streets, and fog is constantly sweeping the ground, clouding the residence in an eerie mist.
You're not safe here -- no one is.
What I found more interesting, however, is how the dialogue in this film is incredibly subdued. The scenes are usually quiet, somber, and lie within a visual darkness, but that’s not really what I mean. The lines spoken by many of the characters are drowned out by background commotion and foreground imagery, rendering them somewhat unimportant. While this makes the film a little hard to follow, (I actually turned on the subtitles) it adds more of an artistic nihilism to the world around them. Like the city is just so loud with silence that what they say means nothing.
Unfortnately, the flow of this movie does not feel natural. The direction makes it feel more like a sequence of important events that are awkwardly flip-flopping between two sides of the same plot, only one of which being consistently interesting. There’s a lot of trashed potential in some of the extra characters in this story, mainly the wasted archetype of Kim Basinger’s Vicki Vale, and the lackluster portrayal of Harvey Dent/Commissioner Gordon by Billy Dee Williams. I believe this film would benefit from much, much less of the story that revolved around Vale’s damsel in distress, and instead focused more on the psychology of the Joker vs. Batman and the creation of the two. In hindsight it does to an extent, but it’s overshadowed by what often takes center stage, that being Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale’s relationship.
As for the mains in their respective roles, Jack Nicholson makes a great psycho but his interpretation of The Joker doesn’t quite hit the mark with me. His demeanor and crimes are accurate in essence of the character, but his raw motives aren’t what drive the character traditionally, and that takes an esteemed fan like me somewhat out of the moment. I also have a bit of a hard time getting past his voice. Mark Hamill and John DiMaggio offer sort of a different take on the same zaniness. Ledger completely deconstructed the character altogether. But Nicholson? He doesn't quite have what it takes.
In similar vein, Michael Keaton plays a great Bruce Wayne but a somewhat unconvincing Batman. He excels with the small talk as his alter ego, and manages to make the prolonged and awkward Wayne/Vale scenes bearable. However, he’s not quite strong or brutal enough for me to sit and go, “Yeah, that’s totally Batman.” Instead, I sit with my hand on my chin and go, “Yeah, that guy in the Batman costume plays a good Batman."
I don't thin these flaws make the film bad, but it holds it back. Batman stories have always had a lot of things to say, and this movie is no exception. I can admire how it looks, and how it presents that look, but there's better ways to experience this character and his stories.
Overall, Tim Burton’s Batman is a good film. It remains a pinnacle of setting and lacks somewhat in other departments, but is still a worthwhile watch.
Arbitrary score: 7/10
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