'Batman' was released to theaters on June 23rd, 1989 to large fanfare with both critics and audiences alike. The film was heavily marketed and by the end of the year, many kids and some adults were eating Batman cereal, wearing Batman clothing, and played with the many action figures and video games. Batman was really hard to avoid during that summer. 'Batman' was directed by Tim Burton, who at the time had only made two feature films and had just been a huge success with 'Beetlejuice' the previous year and Warner Bros. was looking for him to bring the DC Comic to life.
They wanted Burton's darker film style in order to bring a proper representation of the Dark Knight to the silver screen. Before Burton was hired however, the film had been in production for many years, and was going to star Bill Murray at one point in the role of Batman. The film for its time had a very high budget and was plagued with various production problems along the way. Tim Burton had said it was one of the worst productions he had worked on due to the high stress and the secretive way everything had to be built around. At one point, the police were called in when a film reel was reported stolen and another incident had involved various publishers offering money for images of Jack Nicholson as The Joker.
The film stars Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne aka Batman, in his pursuit of a newly arrived villain in Gotham City known as the Joker, played by Jack Nicholson. At the same time, he tries to keep his two personas in check while romancing the young Vicki Vale, played by the beautiful Kim Basinger who is investigating the Batman for the local newspaper. The film is a very simple structure for a comic book movie, however it's visual flair and well cast characters that continues to keep it afloat even today. While the film was one of the highest grossing films in the year 1989 alone, the film was not met with complete love with the critics at the time, nor does it really today. Many critics cite Tim Burton's 'style-over-substance' film style of which he has been heavily criticized for over the years, while others point to the rather simplistic story and the weak action sequences, with Batman being unable to maneuver himself well due to the costume's design. The earlier Batman films always have this issue, with many scenes showing Batman as very stiff and unable to move his neck.
The film's special effects were a point of high praise at the time of release, with a mixture of miniatures, stop motion effects, and some excellent set pieces and matte paintings throughout the film. And while the film's action scenes are not the best in the world, they do get the job done and the sets during the fights help give them a unique feel at the very least. The film's actors are where this one shines, with Nicholson's Joker for many years being considered the very best at the role. He plays the character as calm and sinister, who can turn in an instant becoming a over-the-top hysterical well...clown character. I don't believe that The Joker is even close to Nicholson's best role however, but you can see he had lots of fun with the character and he always showed his faith in the project and is always happy to discuss the film in retrospect.
Michael Keaton is excellent as Batman and Bruce Wayne, although I am aware that at the time there was a huge uproar in his casting, with many fans believing he was terribly unsuited for the character. I always enjoy Keaton in multiple films and here, while not the best he's done, I love his sly personality as Bruce Wayne and his cold persona as Batman. Many today look at his performance unfavorably, especially in the wake of Christian Bale's portrayal of the character, but to me I believe his performance will hold up with time longer than Bale's, even if the film does not. Kim Basinger and Robert Whul do well in their respective roles as well, with Whul delivering some great lines to what could have been an otherwise throwaway character. With Kim Basinger, she unfortunately doesn't seem to have much to do outside of normal Comic Book and film tropes. I think she's a wonderful actress and wish she could have had a bigger part than the damsel in distress.
The film's score by Danny Elfman contains one of the most memorable and well known theme songs in film history. And while I personally do tend to think of the Elliot Goldenthal score from the later films (don't ask me why, I just do for some reason) there's no denying the score's significance and I love listening to it whenever I go for a ride with my film mix music player. The biggest downfall of the soundtrack to 'Batman' is really the Prince songs. I truly mean no disrespect to the man, and I do believe he was one of the most brilliant singers of his time, the songs composed for the film do not age well and frankly date the film and I really could have done without them. They just make the scenes they appear in have less impact.
1989's 'Batman' still holds up very well and is always an entertaining and effective film. As I said, the film is of course not without its flaws with Burton's lack of character development and plot structure and the various musical pieces throughout dating the film terribly. What really makes the film a joy to watch is the performances of Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton. They work brilliantly with the material they are given and leave a memorable mark on film history. The film's production values are nowhere near as sparkling as the recent Nolan films, but It truly feels more like a living comic book page. As far as a adaptation of a comic book film, this fits perfectly in my eyes. Give 'Batman' another chance if you are having second thoughts and trust me, you'll get that fun experience all over again and the love and appreciation will come flowing back.
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