Comic Movie Collection: Batman (1989)

By Jason Haskins

1989’s Batman film stars Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson and was directed by Tim Burton as his third feature behind the successful Pee Wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice. This also happens to be one of my favorite movies in the franchise revolving around the caped crusader who battles evil in the to fight for what was taken from him so long ago with the murders of his parents.

Batman starts off with the title character as more of a myth than an established vigilante hero. Some criminals are scared, some shrug him off, and one newspaper man has tried to prove his existence only to get schlock from everyone around him--except Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger), a young (and hot) photographer. Batman is Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton), one of Gotham City's richest (and elusive) bachelors and Vale and him can't help but hit it off.

A criminal in Gotham's "mafia" of sorts named Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson) is set up to take a fall by his employer and, quite literally, he accidentally falls into a vat of chemicals with the help of Batman. He's turned into a vicious looking clown and calls himself the Joker, attempting to thwart the criminals he used to work for and take their collective torches as the main honcho in town.

He's invaded Gotham City with his toxic chemicals and has put them into cosmetic supplies in hopes of killing off as many people as he can. Little does Batman know that's he's up against his ultimate component and while juggling his secret identity, falling in love, and stopping this madman he must decide what Batman ultimately stands for.

This movie got a lot of crap for coming out--mostly overblown. Stuff like "Batman's too dark" and "Michael Keaton's way too skinny to be Batman"--stuff like that. Say what you will, but the movie's a lot of fun. Tim Burton is notorious for having all of his movies look the same-- gothic architecture and tonally black--but this movie didn't actually feel like one of his at certain points.

Batman is nowhere near as dark as the sequel, Batman Returns, and stylistically it feels similar (don't kill me) to some of the older Superman films in the action department. I felt like the movie was a mixture of Burton's craft with his producers' (mainly Jon Peters) and from what I've read even Burton's not a big fan of the original movie as much as the sequel, which he definitely had a lot more say in.

Michael Keaton is still one of my favorite cinematic Batmans and I really dig everything about him from his Bruce Wayne segments to the similar tone of voice he uses for Batman. He fits the mask wonderfully and beyond this he has some really good lines and parts--which includes the Bruce Wayne freak-out scene in Vale's apartment when the Joker shows up. His counterpart, Nicholson, steals the whole show. Not only did his character give me nightmares, but he's darkly funny in the exact way the Joker should be. There are so many sadistic things about his character...but he's so humorous that you (or at least I) end up sort of liking him. The makeup effects that surround his character are impeccable and bring about a memorable quality that you associate with the movie the most.

There's an ample mix of dark humor with action and various film noir elements which help make this movie fun to watch. I really dig much of the art design and I think that the Batmobile in this movie is one of the coolest of any. My only complaint would be some script elements, which are a little whacky. Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren completed obliterated Bruce Wayne's back story involving the deaths of his parents at the hands of...Jack Napier and there are some leaps in logic evident throughout the movie including one of the biggest plot holes in movie history towards the finale. Granted, these are sort of nitpicky, but it always struck me a ton when I was a kid...and I can't help it now.

Batman is probably not the most beloved of all the Batman movies--definitely now that Christopher Nolan has come around--but I think that it holds up exceptionally well today. The special effects are mostly good and the story is very entertaining with its dialogue and quirky moments from the Prince music everywhere to all of the Joker's dialogue. I really dig this film and while I can definitely say that it has some imperfections to it, I'd say that they can easily be overlooked by the good time it brings--especially to the Batman fan in all of us. Burton proved he had some cojones and brought us a film that was stylistically dark for the character of Batman and he did it almost effortlessly.

5 out of 5 stars