Batman (1989) 4k Ultra HD
Directed by Tim Burton
Screenplay by Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren
Rated PG-13
Do I really need to give you a plot synopsis of a Batman movie at this point after 1000 different versions? Batman (Michael Keaton) fights crime in Gotham City and accidentally causes an up and coming mobster named Jack (Jack Nicholson) to fall into a vat of unknown chemicals that turns him into the Joker. Not only is it a physical transformation, dyeing his skin white and turning his hair green, it causes the already innate psychosis of a cruel criminal to become even worse. He goes mad. He no longer cares for material power. He wants to kill people. LOTS of people. It's up to Batman to stop his plans but his alter ego, Bruce Wayne, might be falling in love with a photographer named Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger), who is town to get pics of the Batman! This distraction could spell his doom.
I remember when this came out in the movies back in the day. Trust me, it was an EVENT. Besides the original Christopher Reeve Superman movies, there really weren't any other superhero movies to this point. I also remember there being a lot of WTF? when it was learned that Michael Keaton would be playing Batman. I mean he's basically a shrimpy, average looking dude, and short. How was he going to play the dark brooding toughness of Batman? And Tim Burton, the director of Pee Wee and Beetlejuice, two weird comedies? It just didn't seem like it would work on paper, but the visual product was very successful.
Let's get something out in the open first. To me, this movie is more about the Joker than Batman, which was repeated almost 19 years later. Jack Nicholson steals the show completely much as Heath Ledger did a generation later. Jack Nicholson is even listed on the marquee first. I think if you added up the screen time between Batman in costume and the Joker, the Joker would have tipped the scale. Nicholson plays the Joker somewhere between the campy goofiness of Cesar Romero's Batman tv show and outright subdued matter of fact violence of Ledger's portrayal. He is funny but also dangerous and unpredictable.
Keaton, on the other hand, seems to play it more like Christian Bale. Doing more through action than speaking. There's not really a wide palette of acting on display for his part. His was never my favorite Batman. Mainly because if you're going to act mainly through body language and facial expressions, you have to be a GREAT actor. Also, physically, Keaton just is NOT a good Batman. You're telling me this shrimpy guy is going to lift a full grown man by his jacket 2 feet off the ground? I bet Keaton did like zero body building training or fight choreography for this film. Don't get me wrong, I LIKE Michael Keaton. Bird Man is a great movie! But here he was just serviceable.
As for the 3rd member of the main cast, Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale, she is a beautiful woman, but my god, what was up with her hair in this movie? Most of the time it looks like she has 3 or 4 different hairstyles on her head at any one time. She just looks really bad in this film, and that's hard to do for a such a gorgeous woman. Again, she's ok.
I have never been a big fan of Tim Burton, but I think he did a really good job with this movie. He was able to meld his weird expressionistic sets with a superhero that matched his aesthetic. He would not have been a good choice for Superman or Wonder Woman. He needed a hero with dark dystopia vision. A hero that was weird and broken.
It was also cool to see Jack Palance and Billy Dee Williams in small roles.
Prince did some songs for the movie but to me they were subpar for him. I would say this was his last hurrah as a relevant and powerful pop figure but he was definitely on the way out. Danny Elfman's symphonic score was much more memorable, especially the iconic Batman theme he wrote.
The main attraction of this movie is the Joker and the action scenes and fun still hold up 36 years later.
The 4K picture looks amazing! I have the box set of all 4 movies so I plan on watching and reviewing them all. Then on to the Bale trilogy and maybe even the Twilight Batman with Edward in them.
My Grade: B+
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