Review: Batman (1989)

When the camp appeal of the Batman television show wore off, the show was cancelled and comic sales plumated yet again. In 1969, writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams set out to return Batman to the dark, grim avenger Bob Kane and Bill Finger invisioned him as. Though O'Neil and Adams had tremendous success in returning Batman to his darker ways, becoming extremely popular with fans, their efforts still did little to help the declining comic sales..

In 1978, Superman exploded on the movie screen, so naturally, Warner Bros. decided to follow him up with Batman. But as DC Comics completed the task of making the Batman comics darker again, it now fell upon Warner Bros. to deliver a dark Batman film that would be as acceptable to the public as the television series was back in the '60s.

The project went through several scripts (one script combined the darkness of the '30s comics with the campiness of the '50s & '60s comics) and several different director & actor combinations (such as Ivan Reitman to direct, and Bill Murray as Batman). But with the talents of Tim Burton and actor Michael Keaton, along with the determination of die-hard Batman fan & producer Michael Uslan, the first dark Batman film from Warner Bros. was delivered to the public in 1989.

The film's plot appears pretty straightforward. Batman is a mysterious vigilante whom everyone, from reporters to public officials, believes is made up, save for two journalists, Alexander Knox and Vicki Vale. Jack Napier is the right hand man of mob leader who becomes horribly disfigured in a failed attempt to hide their mob connections, when Batman drops Napier into a vat of comicals, effectively turning him into The Joker. Though they never meet face to face until over half-way through, the tension between The Joker and Batman builds up as the film goes on, seeing Batman attempting to stop Joker's smilex toxin from spreading all over Gotham, and Joker find ways to steal back all the press Batman has been "stealing" from him.

Now what is there to like about this film?

For starters, the world that Tim Burton creates is simply wonderful. A hybrid of '40s and '80s culture, the world of Gotham City is a timeless gothic, visually stunning, like hell has frozen over. Gotham City, influenced by art deco designs, establishes the world for the audience that allows for the fantastic to become believable, a world where a homicidal clown battles a man dressed as a bat.

The music is absolutely fantastic. Danny Elfman's score is very operatic, complimenting the world of Gotham City very very well. The Batman march is quite possibly the most famous of Batman themes for years to come; they simply walk hand in hand together.

The character of Batman is honestly not my favorite interpretation, but it is still very much Batman. Michael Keaton is fantastic at playing the troubled Bruce Wayne, a lot of the time letting his eyes tell of the character what the narrative doesn't. The Batman in this film, like his Golden Age counter-part, is a murderer, and though while I'm a fan of a Batman who doesn't kill, the film sets up a very interesting story for Burton to continue in later films, that I honestly would love to see.

While Nicholson is not my personal favorite choice to play The Joker, he's absolutely fantastic in the role, giving a ridiculous amount of energy into the cackling face of evil, a man who sees death as art and Gotham City as a blank canvas for his twisted expression. You can definitely tell Nicholson is having fun.

Now, with all that good said, is there any bad? Yes there is.

The writing can honestly get very sloppy at some parts, particularly Vicki Vale and Bruce Wayne's relationship. Bruce Wayne goes out on one date with Vicki, and all of a sudden he's convinced that she's the one? Bruce is ready to tell Vicki that he's Batman? Out of all the things that i find gel with this world, this simply does not fit.

To make matters worse, whether Bruce would've told Vale or not is irrelevent, because Alfred goes ahead and lets Vicki into the Batcave, anyways. It does fit with Alfred's desire in the film to see Bruce Wayne end up with someone and not become entirely consumed by Batman, but for Alfred to let her in after only one date?...seriously, that is Alfred's last day at Wayne Manor. Hell, considering Batman's murderous ways, I wouldn't even be surprised if Bruce personally kills him himself later on.

To add to this, while I'm completely fine with the film exploring Batman's darker side as a murderer, to have him kill people but then the police and political leaders lift him up as a hero is just puzzling to me. Given the world these characters exist in, it wouldn't surprise me if everyone is just so happy that Batman disposed of evil that they don't care how he does it, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't feel weird at all to see the film end that way.

Despite sloppy writing, the film is visually memorable. While not my personal brand of Batman, the film provides us with characters who are very much in vein of the comic book counter-parts, played very well by top notch actors. The story is classic Batman, and the music is fantastic.

Final Grade

Batman (1989): 8.5/10

Next week, Burton's follow up to this film, Batman Returns (1992).