Sept 15: Batman

"The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being the clownishly homicidal Joker."

Directed by: Tim Burton, Rated: PG-13, 126 minutes

Tim Burton's Batman is what turned me onto The Dark Knight. As a young kid, looking for the "ultimate superhero" to worship and idolize, I found so much awesome in Batman that I was immediately hooked. The suit, the gadgets, and the Batmobile gave me something I not only wanted to be a part of, but awesome toys to play with as well (and as a kid, toys are king). Then, just as I was getting into the movies, a glorious thing happened. Batman: The Animated Series premiered and I just about lost it. I couldn't get enough of Gotham's Finest and the obsession rolled in faster than a Batrang flying at a gang of criminals. Now, whenever I hear Danny Elfman's memorable Batman theme, I go back to my childhood and worship the Bat even more, tapping into my nostalgia for a quick fix. 

The movie also gave me the most memorable VHS cover of all time. Just the Bat Symbol- so simple. 

Burton's Batman skips the origin story for the hero (played by Michael Keaton) and focuses on his greatest nemesis, The Joker (Jack Nicholson). The film starts with Batman already doing what he does, but alludes to the fact that he's still a mysterious figure that's popped up in Gotham City. We then see Jack Napier, a professional criminal who's looking to move up in the underworld. After a chemical accident turns his skin white and leaves a permanent smile on his face, Napier takes on the persona of The Joker, a man hellbent on destroying Gotham and taking control of the city. Driven insane by his accident, the man will not stop at nothing to take over and stop the Batman from doing any more good for the city. As The Joker begins his takeover by contaminating the city's hygiene supplies (makeup, deodorant, hairspray, etc.), turning all those who use any products into grin-faced corpses, Batman must figure out a way to stop him, while juggling a love interest (Vicky Vale played by Kim Bassinger), who's a little too curious as to what's going on in the city. 

The Clown Prince finally portrayed as a homicidal freak. 

While I appreciate the film starting off after Bruce Wayne takes on the cowl, the semi-focus on the origin of The Joker is a little out of place. I know a part of it is faithful to the comics, but I don't see how a man falling into a vat of chemicals makes him bat-shit crazy and insane. I would have much preferred to see The Joker exist already, and simply bring his mischief and chaos to Gotham in full force. Luckily, even that smallest bit of disappointment is almost washed away immediately with Jack Nicholson's performance. He steals every scene he is in and seeing his trademark grin (stretched a little wider for the role) and hearing him laugh like a mad man never gets old. His gadgets are just as entertaining and the more comedic route he goes about the role makes his darker moments even creepier. Michael Keaton also does a terrific job as Bruce Wayne, even though I've never thought he fits the role physically. However, even then he's just not on screen as much as I remembered. There's just a lot more focus on The Joker and his story. 

Keaton's Bruce/Batman focuses much more on the gadgets than brute force. He's still a stud. 

While I could go on for days about the film, I'll wrap up saying that Batman really isn't as good as I remember it being. Maybe a part of that is having the Nolan Dark Knight trilogy fresh in my mind, or maybe that times have changed so much that a somewhat campy adaptation just doesn't do it anymore. I actually prefer the animated series over this film and feel the colorful villain and over-the-top style fits much better when hand-drawn. Batman will forever have a place in my heart and I will never downright hate the film, but I have to say it has not aged as well as I hoped. The pacing is a little weak (back to the focusing on The Joker issues) and the entire film looks like it's on one giant sound stage. To argue that, however, one could say that it's a faithful adaptation to the comics, which I agree on, but I guess these days I'm just looking for a bit more from my superheroes, even if it's Batman. 

The Good:

seeing Batman in a live-action movie and realizing how much the film did for the hero and comic book adaptations as a whole (and of course, Nicholson)

The Bad:

too much camp in a post-camp world, feeling more out of place today than anything else

The Ugly:

realizing the film isn't as great as I remembered, with plenty of flaws that I now see as a more "experienced" movie-watcher

Overall: 7.8/10

Trailer: