PG-13, Action, Adventure
2h 6min
4K/Blu-ray 30th Anniversary set due out June 4th
There are few films that left such an impressionable imprint on me as a kid than Tim Burton’s 1989 superhero phenomenon “Batman.” Premiering in theaters 25 summers ago this June, Warner Bros. is pulling out all the stops to not only celebrate that films anniversary, but the 80th anniversary of the Caped Crusader himself, including playing all four original “Batman” flicks in theaters this month and releasing new 4k/Blu-ray combo packs of all the films June 4th. This week, we celebrate the lasting impact of the original Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson star vehicle.
Seeing “Batman” on the big screen this week brought back a flurry of memories. Besides the impending release of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988) the summer before, I can’t remember a more anticipated release for my friends and I. If memory serves, “Batman” (‘89) was the most anticipated movie in history at the time, leading people to purchase movie tickets to films that had the trailer to “Batman” beforehand, only to leave once the preview was over. They had gotten what they came to see, a trailer that convinced them that the 1960’s Batman was long gone, replaced by a brooding hero, a colorful but psychotic clown and a gritty, crime-ridden Gotham City.
The movie itself delivered in spades. Unlike the wonderful “Superman: The Movie” (1978) over a decade earlier, Tim Burton and screenwriter Sam Hamm gave the crowd what they wanted, showing Keaton’s Batman taking down a couple of hooligans in the first five minutes of the movie, where one of the most famous lines in cinema history is uttered in Keaton’s growling whisper:
Nic: “Don’t kill me! DON’T KILL ME, MAN!!!”
Batman: “I’m not going to kill you. I want you to do me a favor. I want you to tell all your friends about me.”
Nic: “What are you?!”
Batman: “I’m Batman.”
The previous twenty years had not been kind to The Dark Knight, with most dismissing the character as a joke since the end of the campy (and if you ask this writer, wonderfully absurd) Adam West 1966 show. After the first scene of this new movie, there was no doubt that the character was returning to his dark roots. The “Bat shark repellent” and blue spandex were replaced by grappling hooks and black armor. The convertible Lincoln Futura with a siren on top was replaced by a muscle car with a jet turbine in the front and an after burner on the back.
It’s probably just as well that there was no Facebook or Twitter in 1988, as production ramped up and Michael Keaton (“Mr. Mom,” “BeetleJuice”) was announced as the actor that would don the cape and cowl. While the public cheered the casting of Jack Nicholson as an obvious and perfect choice for The Joker (beating out the likes of David Bowie and Tim Curry, who both would have been inspired choices), the same audience treated the news of Keaton’s casting with scorn. Lucky for us, he was a wonderful Batman and a darned good Bruce Wayne, proving that type-casting was going to be a thing of the past in Hollywood sooner rather than later.
Watching this movie on the big screen with a group of friends for the first time since 1989 was a joy. The movie holds up. I have seen it hundreds of times over the three decades on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray, but seeing it again on the big screen shines a spotlight on things–good and bad–that you don’t notice at home. It’s a good example of why the movie-going experience is so superior to a home theater one, regardless of how impressive your 60” HDTV and surround sound system may be.
For starters, the look of the film –spearheaded by exceptional Production Design work by Anton Furst –holds up well, despite the obvious matte painting in the background or outdated (but real!) model work done for the Batwing.
Performance wise, Keaton is solid if not a tad underused, in retrospect. His Bruce Wayne is a bit tepid but he continues to be one of the best Batman’s brought to the silver screen.
On the other side of the coin is the supporting cast with the likes of Robert Wohl and Kim Basinger. Of these two, I made a mental note of how awful Wohl’s character of “Alexander Knox” is. I never noticed it before, but the characters lines are throwaway and his reporter-esq questions are useless. Frankly, the character is annoying. In 2019, I could only imagine how well a journalist-type character whose mission is to prove the existence of this “Bat-man” would be. In 1989 it is a throwaway character, even with Hamm’s wonderful script and witty dialog.
The real star of this first modern day “Batman” film, however, is Nicholson’s Joker. It’s interesting to compare and contrast Jack’s performance with Heath Ledger’s Oscar winning turn as the murderous clown that we saw almost twenty years later. Now that we’ve got plenty of distance from the two releases, I am tempted to call Nicholson’s performance as The Joker my preferred version of the character. They are different interpretations and both phenomenal (to this day I can’t fathom why Nicholson wasn’t nominated for “Best Supporting Actor” for this), but I think Nicholson nails the grim humor of the Joker character better. The character is always making extremely dark and tasteless jokes while he goes on his crime sprees. Ledger was fascinating to watch but didn’t capture the essence of the character as well. Let me put it this way: Ledger was the better performance. Nicholson was the better Joker.
Warner Bros. will be playing “Batman” and the rest of the original four Bat-films the next two weeks while the new home video releases will be all released on June 4th. You can also stream all of the films on Amazon Prime and other streaming services. In the age of the behemoth that is “Avengers: Endgame” (* * * * ½), “Batman” (‘89) may seem quaint, but for my money there is nothing better than seeing Keaton and Nicholson go at it on the big screen. If only they would bring back Batman cereal!
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