Tim Burton's two Batman films are both pictures that I hold very dear to my heart. I grew up a huge Batman fan thanks mostly due to The Animated Series, and of a very bad TV recording of Batman '89 on VHS which was replayed to a skippy fuzzy mess. The thing that makes the films so important to me growing up though is that they sat in my collection alongside films such as the Terminator and Robocop films amongst others as being films with questionable content for an under 6, but which I were allowed to watch due to the ignorance of my mother, in part due to them being blockbusters and in part, the mindset that as there was such large amounts of merchandise from these franchises available such as figurines and colouring books and the likes, then surely they must be suitable for children. Okey so I know that Batman '89 is no Evil Dead by any stretch of the imagination, but make no qualms about it, seeing the Joker fry that guy with a shake of his hand was horrifying for a child afraid of clowns. Regardless, I now attribute my being able to watch these films as a child to my later life obsession with horror films, so kudos mum. Anyway, I digress, so on with the review.
Being one of the most high profile blockbuster films of all time its easy to talk about Batman '89 and quip that it's just an okey summer superhero movie with little depth and the second best Joker performance seen on the silver screen. I really think now that opinions like this come from people who haven't watched the movie perhaps since they were a child or at least since Batman Begins was released. Yes, it is of its time, however you have to remember that at the time there was a lot of talent working on this movie who were at the top of their game but in front and behind the camera. While we're on the subject of the Joker I personally think that Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the character is really great. Its easy to dismiss it on the basis of it being Jack Nicholson playing Jack Nicholson but where is the harm in that? Nicholson is a mesmerising, flamboyant and charismatic actor both in real life and on screen and the energy he puts into the role is absolutely perfectly suited to the tone of the film.I fully acknowledge how phenomenal Heath Ledger's turn in the role was in The Dark Knight and I'll talk about that in my review of the film in a couple of weeks time, but for now I'm just going to go on record as saying that I rate both performances equally and enjoy them both for individual reasons.
Elsewhere across the board the acting is stellar from the supporting cast, Michael Gough in particular as Alfred, right through to the top billing Michael Keaton and surprisingly Kim Basinger who gives a convincing performance as the fairly shallow Vicki Vale. Out of all the actors however the biggest surprises come from Michael Keaton who by some strange miracle makes a completely credible Batman once his barnet is covered up, and even weirder a quirky, complex yet somehow entirely believable Bruce Wayne. My absolute favourite scene in the whole film is at Vicki Vale's house when he confronts the Joker as Bruce Wayne and delivers the line "You wanna get nuts? Come on! Let's get nuts!" with the absolute craziest look in his eyes.
The thing that always keeps me coming back to the film time and time again is the overall tone the film creates thanks to its set design, beautiful matte backgrounds and Tim Burton's directing. At times the film has a noir look to it with lots of 40's looking gangsters running about the beautiful Deco buildings that make up Gotham City, whilst at other times such as at the bell tower or the batcave its full on gothic. It all pulls together to make the most complete and dense conceptualisation of the Batman mythos on film. There are at times a few instances where the vision deviates slightly, which I can only likely attribute to studio intervention, but these few scenes (and Prince songs) are forgiveable in the grand scheme of things (not just because I happen to love Prince).
It's not quite my favourite Batman film, but its the most balanced and perhaps the most enjoyable out of all of them, perfectly resting between the camp of the 60's and Schumacher films, the sinister tones of Returns, and the gritty seriousness of the Nolan trilogy.
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