Batman Reviews

Summary Tim Burton's 1989 Blockbuster introduces us to the origins of Gotham City's fearless crimestopper Batman (Keaton) and his arch-enemy The Joker (Nicholson).

• Action

• Adventure

This Batman is a stunning achievement, especially through the incredible and unique visualization of director Tim Burton. The film may be disappointing to those expecting a campy cartoon, however, although the more dramatic stylization of this version is its strongest asset.

The movie fixes you in its gravitational pull. It's an enveloping, walk-in vision... As rich and satisfying a movie as you're likely to see all year.

Sans doute le meilleur film Batman encore aujourd'hui. Tim Burton et son équipe ont magnifiquement rendu hommage au personnage.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

The Batblast of the summer.

Burton's direction rises to a Wagnerian hysteria (an impression backed by Danny Elfman`s roaring orchestral score) as the two mortal enemies fight it out on the brink of a zillion-foot drop. Burton achieves a genuine majesty at that moment-though he would need one or two more like it to make Batman a genuinely memorable film.

It's relatively easy to convey the claustral in interior scenes, but [designer] Furst and the director Tim Burton do it even when the setting is a great flight of steps before the municipal building or the huge square where Batman and the joker confront each other. [31 July 1989, p.24]

The main problem is that Burton operates best on a modest scale; saddled with a blockbuster, he doesn't know how to animate all the dead space.

Nicholson's Joker will be the pivotal point for many. It's his energy, spurting like an artery, that keeps the picture alive; it's certainly not the special effects, the editing, which has no discernible rhythm, or the flaccid screenplay.

There will never be a greater batman or movie ever. The original is still the only good batman movie out there. They keep trying but they had it right the 1st time, and they messed it up now.

Tim Burton, Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton team up to revive the caped crusader after two decades of "bam, pow, sock" over-saturation. Batman '89 often feels like a great, big batch of irrelevant ideas tossed into the same pot, but more than a few of those notions are good ones. Its bonafides check out, at least, and the film's tone is daring enough to effectively shift the conversation away from that campy Adam West TV series. Burton cites The Killing Joke as an influence, while Keaton studied The Dark Knight Returns before filming, both strikingly fresh renditions of the character at the time, stories which still remain extremely well-regarded some thirty years later. Nicholson's Joker is polished and refined, steeped in fine art and literature, but also gleefully chaotic and wildly unpredictable. Jack's enthusiasm for the part is clear, and appropriately so, as he gets almost all the memorable lines (there are quite a few) and is given plenty of liberty to make the role his own. Batman himself is almost a secondary character, amidst all the police corruption, overnight love connections and puzzling machinations by his nemesis. The scenes which actually feel like Tim Burton are the most interesting - the director's strange visual sensibilities serve as a wonderful partner for the Joker's increasing lunacy - but most of the time I had the sense that he was on a leash. Whether that was at the mandate of Warner Brothers or something more self-imposed is anyone's guess. It was his first major studio effort, after all, and there was a lot on the line. Indecisive at times, uncertain at others, Batman is a rather shallow story that rides high on its loud fashion choices, brooding nature and raw, energetic spirit, not to mention a few irresistible performances. Fascinating as a statement, perhaps less so as a complete motion picture. It’s very much a product of the times.

Sure, this is a good movie, but if you compare it to any of the Dark Knight Trilogy entries it is nothing.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Garbage. Tim Burton just making another "Tim Burtonv film, not a Batman film.

Academy Awards, USA

• 1 Win & 1 Nomination

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA

• 1 Win & 7 Nominations