When Batman was finally taken serious again on film.

Taking place in the crime laden Gotham City, the criminal element runs rampant terrorizing the citizens of the city. They have very little respect for the police force, and there's even cops on the take. The mayor is doing what he can to restore order for the sake of the citizens, and also hopes to control the crime in time for the city's festival. Batman (Michael Keaton), a costumed vigilante does his part in combating the criminals. Unbeknownest to him, one of his crusades leads to the birth of a psychotic killer, the Joker (Jack Nicholson). -summary

In the late 80's, 86-87 to be exact, Frank Miller revitalized the Batman character and further embraced his darker roots. Batman was clearly the darkest character with the most complex background DC had to offer. The popularity of the superhero began to rise even more, and with him, so did the popularity of his greatest nemesis, The Joker. Alan Moore would give the clown prince of crime his due with The Killing Joke in 1988. For every great superhero there must be a great a villain, and this is apparently what Tim Burton thought when he decided to direct Batman in 1989. 

Burton's Batman is a film I enjoyed quite a bit as a kid. I find some entertainment in it even now, but I have to admit that I don't think too highly of it anymore. Some of the reason is due to my increased knowledge of Batman himself, and this movie just seemed too by the numbers and quite frankly, there were just some bad moments in directing here.

I must give credit to the setting. Gotham City is the one character which was over looked by many. The dark, gothic atmosphere, in combination with the deathly looking night skies tells the story of the city. It has that "keep away from me" look that can spell danger for those who refuse to keep away. Everything appears to be the right fit; the dank alleyways, criminal mind sets, 20-30's noir feel, and even the Batman himself who is draped in black. Then here comes the colorful Joker who completely clashes with everything; sporting his "all eyes on me" personality seeking to grab all the attention for himself. In fact, it's the lack of attention he gets as opposed to Batman, which begins their deadly rivalry. Burton seemed to get this much down in regards to the Batman universe.

The plot follows Batman as he attempts to stop the Joker as he unleashes hell on Gotham City. The Joker attacks the crime syndicates, and also unleashes deadly chemicals on the citizens. Batman as Bruce Wayne, decides to complicate his life by getting involved with a photographer by the name of Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger).

I have always regarded Keaton as the best Batman, but when looking back at the others to take on the role, that's really not saying much at all. In any case, he managed to juggle the roles as the billionaire and the caped crusader rather well. I enjoy how his Batman persona never really felt forced, unlike Bale in the Dark Knight, whose attempt at the dark, raspy, fear inducing voice, gave me an annoying feeling as if I had bees buzzing around in my head. Nicholson is the reason why this movie succeeded and remains entertaining up to this day, but it's also Burton's direction with the Joker character that works. Outside of the two main characters, I found the rest of the cast to just be there. I didn't like Basinger at all. She played the annoying damsel in distress who did almost nothing but scream, scream, and scream some more. I found all of that screaming super annoying when I was a kid. She was nothing but an unnecessary plot device, for two characters with more than enough charisma to carry the movie.

Basinger's character hurt the movie a lot more than I realized until this recent rewatch, and I have to  lean in favor of Nolan's Dark Knight (since it's always compared with this) as the much better movie. Nolan didn't only seem to understand the characters better, but he understood the natural flow of Batman and Joker's rivalry, where Burton seemed not to have that firm of a grasp on it. He did reference the Joker's need for attention, however at the same time, he resorted to not only one but two gimmicks, with intentions on bringing Batman and Joker together; the first being the damsel in distress, next, the play in their origins. As far as I'm concerned, he didn't completely understand the two characters, because they don't need those things. If he chose to say "forget about it", then even worse because he has no respect for the fan base or the characters then.

The action scenes and special effects make up for a few more of the movies shortcomings. There are some good moments of hand to hand, and Batman puts to work some of his gadgets and arsenals. Joker is more impressive in this area with his bag of tricks. One thing is for sure, I was never bored during the action segments.

Personally, I think Batman is a good superhero movie. But even back then, there were things that never really sat well with me, and now years later I can better explain what those things are. I don't care who despises Nolan, and I will admit that his spoonfed style of storytelling can grate on some people's nerves with me being one of them. However, I'll be lying to myself if I said he didn't do Batman and Joker better than Burton, or perhaps I need to see Nolan's version again to be completely sure and not go off of memory. The funny thing is, I still think both movies are beneath Mask of the Phantasm and always did. In any case, this is still a cool action movie that I can recommend.

Pros:
-Action, Cinematography, Nicholson and Keaton

Cons:
-Kim Basinger, a little poor characterization