Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Bob Kane, Sam Hamm, Warren Skaaren
Photography: Roger Pratt
Music: Danny Elfman, Prince
Editor: Ray Lovejoy
Cast: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, Jack Palance, Jerry Hall, Tracey Walter, Lee Wallace, Hugo Blick
Director Tim Burton’s Batman was not the first Batman movie. Two were made in the 1940s and of course we can’t forget the 1966 extravaganza with Adam West, Burt Ward, Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero, and all the rest. But this Batman was the first after Frank Miller’s graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, which returned Batman to his vaguely sick and dark creature of the night origins, nursing traumas and taking retribution as he could out of the hides of criminals. Miller’s Batman was not vaguely sick. He was explicitly sick. He needed to be put away, old and bitter and beginning to fail physically, committed only to the vigilante ethic. Compare Marvel’s Punisher.
The Miller treatment turned out to be a big hit. When word came that a movie was being made, it was the kind of Batman we were hoping for. But I don’t believe anyone making a Batman movie has yet matched Miller’s vision. What, you want an NC-17 Batman? Full disclosure, yes, but that’s me and even I know how unlikely it is to happen. Burton was a good enough choice, with his own quirky style that often flirts with the dark side (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, etc.). The problem was that Burton’s instincts tend equally toward the cartoony and the loony (Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, etc.). It’s not grim enough for the Batman a lot of us were looking for.
Director Tim Burton’s Batman was not the first Batman movie. Two were made in the 1940s and of course we can’t forget the 1966 extravaganza with Adam West, Burt Ward, Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero, and all the rest. But this Batman was the first after Frank Miller’s graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, which returned Batman to his vaguely sick and dark creature of the night origins, nursing traumas and taking retribution as he could out of the hides of criminals. Miller’s Batman was not vaguely sick. He was explicitly sick. He needed to be put away, old and bitter and beginning to fail physically, committed only to the vigilante ethic. Compare Marvel’s Punisher.
The Miller treatment turned out to be a big hit. When word came that a movie was being made, it was the kind of Batman we were hoping for. But I don’t believe anyone making a Batman movie has yet matched Miller’s vision. What, you want an NC-17 Batman? Full disclosure, yes, but that’s me and even I know how unlikely it is to happen. Burton was a good enough choice, with his own quirky style that often flirts with the dark side (Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, etc.). The problem was that Burton’s instincts tend equally toward the cartoony and the loony (Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, etc.). It’s not grim enough for the Batman a lot of us were looking for.
I also had a problem with not just casting Jack Nicholson as the Joker but also giving him top billing. The name of this picture is Batman, for crying out loud, which in my mind means Michael Keaton is the star of the show (for better or worse—he’s far from the worst of the Batmen). It’s true that Nicholson’s Joker might get more screen time than Batman, but still. I’ve never been a huge fan of Nicholson, basically a one-note player, though admittedly he plays the note well. Too often, as here, he is set free to mug and preen and act like a crazy guy. How hard is it, I wonder, to act like a crazy guy? I’m also put off by his aura of cool which so many seem seduced by. I’ll give him Chinatown, his best role and performance, but otherwise I don’t have much use for him.
But never mind. This is a movie in the Joker division of Batman and among other things we get Joker’s origin story—fell into a vat of chemicals, basically. We also, of course, get Batman’s origin story—parents mugged and killed with the young Bruce Wayne as witness. It’s a good origin story but frankly I’m getting tired of people using it and playing around with it and changing it pointlessly. In this version by Sam Hamm the Joker himself is one of the miscreants at the stick-up, a younger version played by Hugo Blick. In a way that closes a circle in the relationship of Batman and Joker but it’s such a reach that it pains more than satisfies.
I’m only complaining about how my expectations were thwarted. In many other ways this Batman has lots of the qualities of a boffo hit. There’s a romance between Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger), there’s the Batmobile (self-driving—in 1989!), the Batcave, and the Batplane all getting cameos (no Batarang, however), and I always love to see Jack Palance even when he is killed off early. This Joker has an ominous stock phrase he likes to utter before going in for the kill (“You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?”). And the picture has not one but two soundtrack albums, one by Danny Elfman and the other by Prince, who for whatever reason wanted badly to get in on this Batman movie. Maybe the chance to work with Nicholson? Indeed, much about this Batman adds up to a big night of popcorn and entertainment, with superficial Dark Knight touches all over it. The ending is a protracted mess—the movie should never have been longer than 100 minutes—but at least Nicholson is obviously enjoying himself.
On the soundtracks, I would like to add a churlish and perhaps contrarian note. I couldn’t stand Oingo Boingo and, perhaps related, I have never warmed to a Danny Elfman score. That certainly includes this one. I found Prince’s contributions here (his album includes many songs not heard in the movie) to be well off his own highs—I didn’t think it was such a good Prince album but it’s better than Elfman’s and among other things includes the stunningly gorgeous “Scandalous,” my favorite song on the album and approximately perhaps in the top 20 of my favorite Prince songs.
When it comes to a lot of these comic book movies, especially the continuing ongoing ones, I often think about Seinfeld and The Simpsons, which I think have the right idea about continuity. Forget about it, in short. You can leave some things unresolved and never have to explain them. Every new episode is a reset. I think that attitude would help with many of the gyrations of the Batman franchise, except I also know many fans would never stand for it. It’s their demands for a consistent universe that work these various filmmakers into pretzels dotting the tees and crossing the eyes. By a lot of the metrics there’s evidence it worked here and worked well. Over 400,000 on IMDb have given it an aggregate score of 7.5 on the 1-10 scale and I see it is 91st in terms of lifetime grosses for PG-13 movies. See? I told you there’s no chance anyone can ever get away with an NC-17. Best to stick with The Lego Batman Movie.
But never mind. This is a movie in the Joker division of Batman and among other things we get Joker’s origin story—fell into a vat of chemicals, basically. We also, of course, get Batman’s origin story—parents mugged and killed with the young Bruce Wayne as witness. It’s a good origin story but frankly I’m getting tired of people using it and playing around with it and changing it pointlessly. In this version by Sam Hamm the Joker himself is one of the miscreants at the stick-up, a younger version played by Hugo Blick. In a way that closes a circle in the relationship of Batman and Joker but it’s such a reach that it pains more than satisfies.
I’m only complaining about how my expectations were thwarted. In many other ways this Batman has lots of the qualities of a boffo hit. There’s a romance between Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger), there’s the Batmobile (self-driving—in 1989!), the Batcave, and the Batplane all getting cameos (no Batarang, however), and I always love to see Jack Palance even when he is killed off early. This Joker has an ominous stock phrase he likes to utter before going in for the kill (“You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?”). And the picture has not one but two soundtrack albums, one by Danny Elfman and the other by Prince, who for whatever reason wanted badly to get in on this Batman movie. Maybe the chance to work with Nicholson? Indeed, much about this Batman adds up to a big night of popcorn and entertainment, with superficial Dark Knight touches all over it. The ending is a protracted mess—the movie should never have been longer than 100 minutes—but at least Nicholson is obviously enjoying himself.
On the soundtracks, I would like to add a churlish and perhaps contrarian note. I couldn’t stand Oingo Boingo and, perhaps related, I have never warmed to a Danny Elfman score. That certainly includes this one. I found Prince’s contributions here (his album includes many songs not heard in the movie) to be well off his own highs—I didn’t think it was such a good Prince album but it’s better than Elfman’s and among other things includes the stunningly gorgeous “Scandalous,” my favorite song on the album and approximately perhaps in the top 20 of my favorite Prince songs.
When it comes to a lot of these comic book movies, especially the continuing ongoing ones, I often think about Seinfeld and The Simpsons, which I think have the right idea about continuity. Forget about it, in short. You can leave some things unresolved and never have to explain them. Every new episode is a reset. I think that attitude would help with many of the gyrations of the Batman franchise, except I also know many fans would never stand for it. It’s their demands for a consistent universe that work these various filmmakers into pretzels dotting the tees and crossing the eyes. By a lot of the metrics there’s evidence it worked here and worked well. Over 400,000 on IMDb have given it an aggregate score of 7.5 on the 1-10 scale and I see it is 91st in terms of lifetime grosses for PG-13 movies. See? I told you there’s no chance anyone can ever get away with an NC-17. Best to stick with The Lego Batman Movie.
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