As you all should be abundantly aware by now, this blogger prides himself on bringing you reviews that are unbiased as I can possibly muster. I try to examine everything that I review with an expository eye. That said, this is probably the closest you’re ever going to see me get to sentimental and nostalgic. We continue our month of beloved films with one that’s especially near and dear to my heart. You can read the titles so you already know that we’re looking at the 1989 TIm Burton classic Batman. There are a lot of reasons why I love this movie, and we’ll get to those in a bit, but first the setup! Until ‘89, most superhero films were regarded as kitschy, niche, novelties that studios produced in order to attract comic lovers to some of their other works. There had only been a handful of comic films made in the decade prior to the release of Batman, notably, the four Superman films, a Captain America movie, and a Punisher movie starring Dolph Lundgren. And while the Superman franchise had done fairly well for itself, that machine was quickly brought to its knees with the release of the Canon Films disaster Superman 4: The Quest for Peace. It was terrible, just take my word on that. Hence, when Warner Bros. announced that they were interested in producing a Batman film, they didn’t really think at the time that there would be much response. They hired Tim Burton for a film and more or less let him do as he saw fit. What we got out of it is one of the most enduring comic book films of all time, and possibly one of the most classic films of all time period. Why? Let’s take a look.
The movie opens with the Warner Bros crest, and the chilling opening refrains of Danny Elfman’s iconic Batman theme. Right away the audience is meant to realize that this is going to be an exciting and unique experience for them. As the credits roll, we’re guided through a labyrinth of stone and shadow, never quite certain what we’re seeing until the end of the credits when the camera pulls back to reveal the Batman crest. We’re given an establishing shot of Gotham City at night, and then we’re thrown straight into the setting. I’m impressed with the fact that we’re not necessarily dropped straight into the story, but we’re given a few minutes to really soak in the setting. It’s one of the things that, in my opinion, really sets the Burton Batman movies apart from its cousins in a superior way. Burton does an incredible job using Gotham City as a device to enrich his story. It’s not just some scenery to put the action in front of; it almost functions as a character in and of itself. Anyway, we’re dropped into the city following a family around. A dad, a mom, and their son wander the streets all lost and whatnot. As they’re wandering, we see the grit and the grime of the city, as well as a few unsavory types that also wander the streets at night. The family cut into an alley where they’re ambushed and mugged. The dad gets knocked out and the mom does her best Jamie Lee Curtis impression. Following the mugging, we switch from watching the family to watching the thugs. They’re hanging out on a rooftop talking about some of their associates who died suspiciously, and one of them is ranting about a supposed bat that stalks the shadows of Gotham at night. Our first glimpse of the Dark Knight is, unfortunately, a poorly animated shadow skulking down the roof towards the muggers, but it was ‘89 and I can’t think of a more effective way to have achieved that effect way back then. Our reward for slogging through all of this expositional foreshadowing is a fairly intense fight scene between the crooks and Batman. But the real payoff is when Batman dangles one of the crooks over the ledge of the roof and psychotically exclaims, “I’m Batman!” It’s truly a wonder to behold! But seriously look at Keaton’s eyes, they’re probably the scariest thing you’ll see in the entire movie.
We cut to ‘later’ and the goons are being carted away t the hospital, and presumably, the loony bin. A news reporter, Alexander Knox, played by Robert Wuhl, is trying to get the scoop as a detective named, ‘Not Harvey Bullock’, just kidding, it’s Eckhardt, tells Knox to knock(s) it off before he ruins his entire career. But the intrepid reporter remains steadfast because as one of the goons is being carted away, he’s ranting about a giant bat. Eckhardt steals off to the shadows where he, and we meet Jack Napier. Naper, of course, is played by Jack Nicholson,and he’ll later become the Joker, but for now, he’s Jack Napier. I gotta say, I really liked Nicholson’s portrayal of the Joker, like a lot. As Napier, there’s a sort of tough nonchalance to his performance, and a cockiness that makes him begrudgingly likeable. It’s an interesting finesse that was brought to the role that I can definitely get behind as a viewer. Anyway, the next morning comes and Knox is coming to work and getting ribbed by his coworkers for seeming absolutely insane. However, in one of the best moments ever committed to celluloid,Robert Wuhl gets to call Bob Kane, the guy that created Batman, a dick. It was in that very moment that I realized that I was doomed to spend the rest of my mortal days eternally jealous of the fact that Robert Wuhl got to call Bob freakin’ Kane a dick. And then almost immediately, we’re introduced to our leading lady, Vicki Vale, played by the stunning Kim Basinger. She happens to be a photographer obsessed with getting pictures of the elusive Batman so it just works out that Knox is trying to unravel that mystery. They concoct a scheme to get some juicy interviews at a charity event being hosted by Bruce Wayne.
We next see aforementioned, although not in this article for brevity sake, mob boss Carl Grissom, over acted by Jack Palance. I mean, when I say that his performance is over-the-top, I mean it could clear the stratosphere! The mayor, and DA Harvey Dent, played by Billy Dee Williams, have vowed to shut Grissom down and now Grissom is looking to tie up a few incriminating loose ends. The plan is to send Napier and a crew into Axis Chemical plant to destroy some documents, but since we already saw that Napier is boinking Grissom’s girl, we all know that this is just a ploy to get Napier out of the picture, permanently. Napier even understands that as he attempts to make some weak excuses about why he shouldn’t go, but go he does. In the meantime, Knox and Vale are striking out hard at the charity ball. Vale has a run in with Wayne, who fails to identify himself. They see Commissioner Gordon slink off and attempt to intercept, I think,but get lost and stumble across Bruce Wayne’s collection of antique armor. Because if you’re a millionaire, why not, right? There’s some light rich people bashing and then Wayne introduces himself and some funny lines ensue. Let’s pause here. I love the way Michael Keaton plays Bruce Wayne/Batman in this movie! There’s a withdrawn intelligence to his playboy persona. Like, you know he gets it, but he just acts so aloof all the time that you’re not quite sure. On the other side of that coin, his Batman is brooding, but not excessively, and you can see in the eyes that there’s definitely a madness driving him the entire time. As a result, there’s a subtle,but ever present struggle behind the mask for that character to exist in both worlds, and it adds a depth that I think maybe got lost over time. Anyway…
At the chemical plant, Eckhardt is looking to skn Napier, but Gordin intervenes. The chemical plant set is really cool! There are a lot of pipes and shadows, and computers and stuff that make it a memorable set. The bad guys and the cops all skulk around this set until Napier ends up on a scaffolding high above everyone else. He shoots and kills Eckhardt. Then Batman appears. Napier tries to shoot him, but the most magical bullet ever ricochets off Batman’s glove and back into Napier’s face. Napier reels, falls over a railing, and Batman attempts to save him just before he plunges into a vat of toxic, I’m assuming, chemicals. Gordon wants to take Batman in for questioning, but Batman has other ideas. He drops a smoke pellet and uses a grappling hook to make a hasty escape. There’s a short scene where we see Napier getting surgery from an underground doctor. It… Doesn’t appear to end well judging by the crazed and maniacal laughter. Then Napier returns to Grissom’s apartment. There are some tense and angry words exchanged, and then Napier reveals himself as the Joker and holy cow is it amazing! The lighting, the situation, the performance are all top notch. Joker proceeds to shoot Grissom in the most insane way possible. Grissom dies, and with just one simple line and a prop, Joke declares war on Gotham and Batman. Joker holds a meeting with all of the mob bosses in Gotham and he kills one of them with a joy buzzer. Brutal! Then he kills the rest during a press conference where they were announcing the arrangement that the Joker orchestrated. Dude’s hard as diamonds. But I’m glossing a bit mostly so you don’t have to read a novel length review.
A romance develops between Bruce and Vicki, big surprise there. However, she suspects that there’s more to Bruce than he’s sharing and she’s working to put the pieces together. In the meantime, the Joker has sparked an infatuation with Vale, and so he’s trying for her affections as well. This leads to an interesting back and forth between Bruce and the Joker. This whole back and forth culminates in a final showdown that’s one of the best I’ve ever seen. See, behind the scenes, the mayor has been trying to get an anniversary celebration organized because Gotham is turning 200 years old, and he feels that the celebration might help encourage businesses to come back to the city. Also in the meantime, the Joker has more or less thwarted this plan lacing personal hygiene products with deadly chemicals, but there’s a catch. The chemicals necessary to kill a person are not all present in one item. One has to use a certain combination of items in order to get the deadly mixture. It seems to be a slightly convoluted plan, but it is effective in spreading panic and chaos. Well, all of this culminates in Batman breaking the code as it were, and alerting the people of Gotham via newspaper which combination of items it’s safe to use. In response, the Joker challenges Batman to a final duel Oh, at some point, Vicki Vale finds out that the millionaire playboy she’s been pining over is a psycho vigilante. That’s important.
Let me just say that the climax of this film is just spectacularly grand. The buildup of tension and competition between Batman and the Joker is so well executed, and that tension really reaches palpable levels by the time the climax starts so much so that you just know that either Batman or the Joker will die by the end because the stakes are made to be that high. Batman sends the Batmobile in by remote control to blow up Axis Chemicals, and Joker is right there to mock him for missing his mark. Next Joker is riding a float in a parade and giving away millions of dollars (200 million to be precise because Gotham is 200 years old). Little do all the partygoers know that the Joker has rigged his balloons with canisters of his deadly gas. He starts gassing the joint, but Batman swoops in with his Batwing and tows all the balloons away. Then Batman attempts to kill the Joker with all of this plane’s weapons. We’re talking guns, and missiles, but somehow Batman misses so the Joker shoots down the Batwing with a revolver. This makes the Batwing crash outside Gotham cathedral. Vale goes to make sure Batman is okay and promptly gets abducted by the Joker. They start climbing a ridiculously inordinate amount of stairs towards the belfry while Batman struggles to regain his momentum. Batman pursues them up the tower despite the Joker trying to drop a huge bell on him. Batman then has to fight the Joker’s goons, who got up to that spot… somehow? After fighting the goons, Vale sees an opening and uses her feminine wiles to throw the Joker off his game. Batman seizes the the opportunity to punch the Joker square in the face. It’s a satisfying blow, let me tell you. There’s some back and forth about the one creating the other, and then Joker pushes them out of the belfry! They’re dangling with barely a hand hold, and the Joker is dancing on the ledge of the dilapidated building breaking bricks and stuff, and just making the lives of Batman and Vale absolutely miserable. A helicopter comes to whisk the Joker away, but as it’s leaving, Batman uses a grapple thing to attach Joker’s foot to a gargoyle. The weight is more than the Joker can hold, and so the Joker slips off of his rope ladder and falls to his death. There’s a ceremony celebrating Gotham’s release from tyranny. Some reconciliation happens between Vale and Knox, who quite understandably had a crush on Vale. There’s some understood reconciliation between Vale and Batman as we see that Vale has accepted the terms of her existence as girlfriend to Bruce Wayne. Then, the bat signal is piercing the sky like a beacon in the fog, and the camera pans down to show Batman standing atop a building vigilantly guarding the city as triumphant music blares from the score! And then it’s over.
So what’s to love about the 1989 Batman? I would ask, what’s not to love? It’s true that in the nearly 20 years since this movie came out, a lot of people have been able to nitpick it apart like a turkey carcass, but I will say with conviction that this movie still holds up as a brilliant masterpiece of cinema. Here’s why… As I alluded before, Burton does a phenomenal job incorporating Gotham City as a pseudo character in the narrative. The aesthetic, and the implementation make the sets crucial to the quality of the film. Schumacher tried to recreate that feeling, but in so doing,he mostly just parodized it. Nolan took a more, “who gives a crap?” approach to this aspect of Batman choosing instead to just use a few different cities interchangeably. That’s a huge loss to the Dark Knight trilogy if you ask me. As I said before, Nicholson’s portrayal of the Joker is brilliant. I hear a lot of people say that Heath Ledger did it way better, and to them I say to each their own, but I would submit this for their consideration. If Mark Hamill’s animated Joker is the benchmark that most people use for the best Joker, then go back and watch this film, and then watch a few Mark Hamill performances because I guarantee that you’ll see an astounding amount of influence drawn from Nicholson’s Joker. He just appears to enjoy his brand of anarchy a little too much, and it really makes that performance. His Joker is volatile and unpredictable, a brilliant juxtaposition of chaos to Keaton’s Batman’s inescapable need for order. Like I said, I really like Keaton’s Wayne/Batman performance. Kilmer comes in a close second for live action performances, but Keaton does such a good job coming across as tortured, and conflicted. That gets totally lost on Clooney Batman, and extremely subdued with Bale. I can’t speak to Affleck’s performance because I haven’t seen that one.
The aesthetics of this movie are spot on, and I don’t just mean the city. Pay close attention to Batman’s gadgets. They’re functional without seeming militaristic. I do enjoy the Tumbler a great deal, but my heart will always belong to the Keaton car because its design is such a brilliant meld of the real and the fantastic. It’s an iconic work of art, and I love it! Let’s talk about Alfred for a moment. I love Michael Gough as Alfred, more so than Michael Kaine. You can berate me in the comments, but here’s why. I love that Gough’s Alfred serves as Bruce’s father figure and mentor, but in addition to those two roles, he also serves as a confidante. Now I know what you’re saying, Kaine portrayed those aspects as well. The difference for me is that Gough did it with such an overabundance of love that you really believed he had raised Bruce from a young age and into adulthood. Gough did it that convincingly. He knew Bruce would always come to the right decision eventually. He trusted Bruce to make good decisions, and there wasn’t any parenting really, except a few old person jabs about settling down, but that just speaks to his love for Bruce. Okay, enough of that. Now, let me address one major inconsistency that I found as I watched. This movie tries pretty hard to be dark and brooding, and it does this pretty well throughout. But then you notice some wacky nuance performances from some of the background characters. My theory here is that Burton tried to blend a little of the zaniness of the 60s Batman show with his new darker approach, and it that was indeed the case, then he walked that line fairly well.
I think I’ll be done singing the praises of Batman for the time being. I won’t promise not to review it again though! So why is this a beloved film to me. Well, first, it’s the one of the first kind of inside things I remember sharing with my father. When it came out on VHS, we sat and we watched it together. We even used the slow motion to highlight a few of the action sequences. Beyond that though, I got toys, and merchandise out the wahzoo. Beyond that, it spent a lot of years my benchmark for what a brilliant movie is. As you’ve read, I still hold it in high esteem and that’s because it’s a movie that knows what it wants to do, and it does it without any unnecessary baggage or fluff. While it’s true that it’s not the most financially successful comic movie ever, I think it accomplishes something that a lot of comic films haven’t been able to accomplish since. First, it’s not a Batman origin story. It’s true that we do get a Joker origin story, but I think that was necessary from a narrative perspective to give the audience a feel for the challenges that lay ahead of our hero. We live in a world of origin stories and reboots that retell origin stories so for a film to just assume that we know what’s going on already is not only a huge risk, but it says a lot about the kind of respect that Burton must have had for the intelligence of his audience. To address the Joker origin story, yes, I know that Burton got it wrong, but at the time, this film was meant to only be a one shot ordeal. Warner Bros didn’t anticipate the amount of success it would garner so Burton wrote the Joker make this one film as narratively intense as possible. Second, I’ve spent literally years revelling in the amazing score that Elfman wrote for this movie. Again, there have been a lot of comic book movies since, but none possess musical compositions on the caliber that Batman does. The score accentuates the narrative while still taking risks in committing so heavily to the gothic tone of the film. There are reasons why Batman has withstood the test of time for nearly 20 years. It leads me to speculate about whether or not the comic book movies of our current age will be regarded with as much reverence and nostalgia 20 years from now. I personally tend to think not. They’re all fun, but in this blogger’s opinion, none have been able to deliver the kind of full package quality that Batman delivers.
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