Batman - June 23, 1989

Today is the 20th anniversary of the release of Batman. Since it's been a couple of years since I've seen it, I decided to pop it in the DVD player and do a review as if I was just seeing it for the first time. Unfortunately, I found that I wasn't able to view it and judge it on its own merits, as opposed to being influenced by how movies have evolved over the past two decades, or the Christopher Nolan films.

The weird thing is, I expected to almost dislike Batman, especially post-The Dark Knight, but I was surprised by how well it holds up. Which is to say, it doesn't really, but enough so that I didn't feel like I was watching something hopelessly out of date.

The Good

-- The opening. The theme is incredible, and remember how cool it felt when you realized the twisting maze the camera was roving through wasn't just some random passageway, but was actually the Bat-symbol?

-- The costume. The yellow oval aside (which DC Comics wisely decided to ditch about ten years ago), this is my favorite costume in any Batman film. It's nice and uncluttered, especially compared to the Bat-suits from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Also, no nipples.

-- The Batmobile. Now that's a fucking Batmobile! Not like that stupid tank that Christian Bale drives around in. The CGI "shields" are pretty laughable, though. Even back then.

-- The main cast. It's unfair to compare Nicholson's Joker to Ledger's, because they're both two completely different takes on the character. Nicholson's seems a bit closer to the portrayal in the comics, but even though he occasionally camps it up, it's still a great performance.

As for Keaton...you know, it's really easy to trash his casting 20 years later. Short, scrawny, thinning hair...not really attributes you associate with Bruce Wayne. Also, he was 37 when he filmed this, which was about ten years too old. But in spite of all that, I still dig his performance. He (or his stuntman) doesn't do the martial arts stuff nearly as well as Bale (or his stuntman), but it's certainly passable.

Kim Basinger, I've never really been a fan of in general. And they probably could have found someone better for this film. Still, at least she's believable as a photojournalist, compared to the almost insulting idea of Katie Holmes as an assistant district attorney.

-- The supporting cast. Once you get past the big three, the rest of the casting in this film was just bizarre. Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent? Jerry Hall? Robert Wuhl? I mean, it worked, but almost in spite of itself. Meanwhile, for some reason, they cast unknown character actors in the far more pivotal roles of Alfred and Commissioner Gordon.

-- The dialogue. Most films are lucky to have one truly memorable, iconic line. This one has several:

"What are you?" "I'm Batman."

"Where does he get those wonderful toys?"

"Can somebody tell me what kind of a world we live in, where a man dressed up as a bat gets all of my press? This town needs an enema!"

"Alfred, let's go shopping."

"Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

-- The action scenes. Honestly, this is the part I thought I would dislike the most for some reason, but even though I'm considerably more jaded and cynical now than I was 20 years ago, I still found them to be surprisingly well-done. Batman crashing through the skylight at the museum, fighting the thugs in the alley (especially the guy with the swords), the climax at the cathedral...really, really good stuff.


The Bad

-- Gotham City. Normally, I'm in favor of comic book movies being as comic book-ish as possible. And the Gotham City in the film looks like a city straight out of a comic book. At the time I dug it, but watching the movie now, it really pulls you out of the story. The neo-Gothic architecture, the almost cartoonish interior sets, Gothamites' odd propensity for dressing like it was still the 1940s, etc. Still, it's head and shoulders above the neon-heavy set design in the Joel Schumacher films.

-- The Joker's crush on Vicki Vale. Lame. It reminded me of the old Super Powers cartoon, where Darkseid sort of wanted to take over the world, but his real goal in life seemed to be to force Wonder Woman to marry him.

-- The Bruce Wayne/Vicki Vale relationship. Keaton and Basinger have barely any chemistry. (Weirdly, she and Robert Wuhl have tons of it. I can't be the only one who wanted her to end up with Knox, can I?) The film also rushes them along as a couple way too quickly.

(I remember reading the novelization of the film after I saw it, and when Bruce and Vicki sleep together--on the first date, no less--the author ended the chapter with a really horrible line like, "And finally, they made love." Finally? They barely knew one another! Maybe in the 60s, going two whole days without sleeping with someone you'd just met was considered a long time. But by the late 80s, we knew about STDs. Also, it's just not something Bruce Wayne would do.)

-- The Joker's plan at the end. Let's review: 1) The Joker kills God knows how many people with his tainted products, terrorizing the entire city. 2) The Joker then goes on TV and says he's going to give away millions of dollars to Gotham City residents. 3) People actually fall for this. Worse, even though the Joker's announced exactly where and when he's going to be, at no point does it occur to anyone in the Gotham City PD to maybe stop him or call in the National Guard or whatever.


The Ugly

-- The revelation that the Joker killed Batman's parents. It's just stupid. I get why they did it, as it sort of wrapped everything up in a nice little bow. Still.

-- Alfred bringing Vicki to the Batcave. Unforgivable. Absolutely unforgivable to the point where it almost demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the characters. If we're making a list of the worst moments in the original Batman franchise, this ranks only below Batman whipping out the Bat Credit Card in Batman & Robin.

-- Killing the Joker. What a horrible, horrible, horrible decision. I mean, yeah, it was done in a cool way. And I love the bit where he's dead and the laugh box is still going. (For some reason, I've actually always found that moment a little bit poignant.) But you have to wonder what they were thinking. Batman has a lot of good villains, but he doesn't have so many of them that you can just haphazardly kill off the very best one and not expect it to come back to haunt you.


To Sum Up:

Looking back, it's interesting how everyone--me, included--panned Schumacher's films at the time for being too campy and not as dark as the Burton films, when Batman and (even more so) Batman Returns are really nothing but camp. Better made camp. But still, not nearly as "dark" as we thought they were at the time.

In spite of its many faults, though, I still think it's impossible to not love this movie. Overall, Tim Burton's vision of Batman may not be as good as Christopher Nolan's vision, but it's certainly a lot more fun.