BATMAN (1989)
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2004
Some films don't age very well. That aging sometimes manifests itself
in most unusual ways. One example for that is the case of BATMAN,
1989 action spectacle directed by Tim Burton. What used to be the
embodiment of everything associated with successful Hollywood
blockbuster fifteen years ago now looks like low budget art-film.
The plot is based on the series of comic books created by Bob Kane. It
starts in Gotham City, huge American metropolis preparing for the
200th anniversary of its foundation. This is not very happy occasion
because the town is infested with all kinds of crime, ranging from
street muggers to powerful syndicate led by Carl Grissom (played by
Jack Palance). City authorities, despite their best efforts, can't really
cope with the situation, but everything changes with arrival of
mysterious and deadly vigilante in bat costume. Reporter Alexander
Knox (played by Robert Wuhl) decides to investigate "Batman"
rumours with the help of attractive photographer Vicki Vale (played
by Kim Basinger). During the investigation Vale falls in love with
Bruce Wayne (played by Michael Keaton), wealthy local industrialist
with traumatic past. After a while, another mysterious force appears
in Gotham City. Jack Napier (played by Jack Nicholson), former
lieutenant in Grissom's organisation, re-emerges after being terribly
disfigured, starts calling himself The Joker and takes over city's
criminal underworld. The Joker, whose unrestrained criminal
insanity is matched by his scientific genius, sees Batman as the only
man capable of stopping his diabolical plans and that leads to
inevitable conflict on the streets of Gotham City.
Tim Burton's BATMAN is just one of the many incarnations of the
character. Each of them was the product of its time and it is reflected
in the atmosphere and issues. The original series of comic books was
deeply influenced by Great Depression, rise of Fascism and explosion
of crime dominating the newspaper headlines of 1930s America - it
all reflected in Batman being one of the most serious and tragic comic
book heroes. The 1960s television series, on the other hand, was
product of post-WW2 optimism and it is best known for its campy,
light-hearted approach to the character. 1980s brought another
famous incarnation of BATMAN in Frank Miller's graphic novel; this
revisionist version pitted old world-weary crime fighter against
cynical, post-Watergate and post-Vietnam society. Burton in his
version of Batman took some inspiration from Frank Miller, but the
most visible influences came from 1940s. This is best seen in semi-
futuristic vision of Gotham City as a combination of antique and
modernity - Anton Furst's "Oscar"-awarded production design is
reminiscent of 1930s architecture, combined with heavy Gothic
influences; the costumes clearly belong to 1940s, but the cars,
television set and other pieces of technology belong to 1980s, just like
Prince's songs. All that adds to surreal but very consistent world that
manages to amaze the audiences even today.
On the other hand, if Burton's idea was to mix modernity with 1940s
nostalgia, there is very little modernity in BATMAN today. The
movie was almost completely made in Pinewood studios, and, unlike
in most of today's film that try to emulate its style, viewers could
notice the artificiality of its world. This is partly because of matte
paintings and partly because of other special effects that clearly show
how BATMAN was made before CGI technology. On the other hand,
primitive level of special effects isn't too distracting, because action
and fight scenes tend to be very short and effective - Burton paid
more attention to creating atmosphere. Because of that BATMAN has
the plot that moves relatively slowly compared with today's
Hollywood blockbusters; the very slowness of the film, on the other
hand, allows the audience to enjoy minor but often fascinating details
of the film. Another element of the film's atmosphere is very effective
music soundtrack by Danny Elfman.
Unfortunately, Burton's screenwriters Sam Hamm and Warren
Skaaren weren't that successful with the plot and characters for
BATMAN. The basic story of the origins of Batman is still here, but in
obvious attempt to make this story a little bit darker (while not going
as far as Frank Miller did) the screenwriters hint that hero has too
much in common with the villain. They provide that villain in the
form of The Joker. This provided opportunity for Nicholson for one
of the most effective and most memorable performances of his career.
Nicholson clearly has a lot of fun playing that over-the-top mobster
and steals the show with his unrestrained diabolical insanity. Michael
Keaton, despite all of his efforts, simply can't match Nicholson and
his portrayal of Wayne looks bland in comparison. On the other
hand, Keaton's role in the film at least serves some purpose, but Kim
Basinger's talent here is reduced to looking pretty and providing the
film with obligatory (and not very credible) romantic subplot. Other
actors are as overshadowed by Nicholson as Keaton is; only Michael
Gough in small role of Wayne's faithful butler leaves something close
to memorable impression.
BATMAN isn't as amazing today as it was fifteen years ago. But it
nevertheless provides two hours of more than solid entertainment
and, unlike most of blockbusters of today, shows that artistic
sensibilities can coexist with commercial nature of Hollywood.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
Review written on May 20th 2004
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
http://film.purger.com
- Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in
Croatian
http://www.ofcs.org
- Online Films Critics Society
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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1282529
X-RT-TitleID: 1001781
X-RT-AuthorID: 1307
X-RT-RatingText: 7/10
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