Batman (1989)

Batman (1989)

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It’s hard to believe we once lived in a time when superhero movies didn’t monopolize the multiplexes. Such a time was the summer of 1989, when Warner Brothers’ very first big-screen version of Batman was due to be released. Many declared the film a folly. Indeed, a superhero film hadn’t been successful since Superman II nearly ten years earlier and most of the world still had a bad taste in its mouth from the campy ’60s Batman TV series. But naysayers be damned. Batman wasn’t just a commercial and critical success. It completely overhauled Hollywood’s definition of the word ‘blockbuster’ and kicked off a superhero trend that would last for decades.

Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren’s screenplay is a Joker origin story, showing us how Jack Napier (Nicholson) was double-crossed by his boss Carl Grissom (Jack Palance), resulting in his nasty fall into a vat of acid that transforms him into the Joker. The birth of the Joker is cross-cut with investigative journalists Alexander Knox (Robert Wuhl) and Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) trying to prove the existence of the ‘Batman’, a six-foot man dressed as a bat that the dregs of Gotham City have begun to fear in recent weeks. It’s only when Vale and Knox attend a fundraiser at Bruce Wayne’s mansion that Michael Keaton fully joins the cast. Wayne and Vale hit it off romantically, kicking off a subplot to coincide with the Joker’s deadly scheme to poison Gotham with his trademark Smilex gas. The film climaxes when Batman confronts the Joker in his flying Batwing during a parade on Gotham’s main drag, before resolving in a final showdown atop Gotham’s spooky, towering cathedral.

Future Batman films would suffer by slighting Batman’s screen time in favor of too many villains, but the original film is wise to keep Bruce Wayne/Batman in the shadows. It creates an air of mystery around him and makes us treasure the time we get with the character. The controversial casting of comedian Michael Keaton in the title role proves to be a stroke of genius, with Keaton imbuing the role with a beguiling blend of nonchalance and menace, dark comedy and psychological disturbance. Nicholson, on the other hand, is a natural choice to play the Joker — and the perfect one. From a performance perspective, this is Nicholson’s movie. He electric, commanding the screen and keeping us glued to his every move. Kim Basinger pulls her weight as Vicki Vale, and the notable supporting cast includes Michael Gough as Bruce’s grandfatherly butler, Alfred and Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon.

Tim Burton’s (Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice) directorial take on the material is dark, operatic, and visually spectacular. The world of Gotham City is hyper-stylized, harkening back to German-Expressionist films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Metropolis, featuring Oscar-winning sets created by Anton Furst. The characters, however, are grounded in a reality that gives the film the verisimilitude it needs to enrapture audiences. Both Batman and the Joker acknowledge they are freaks, damaged men fighting with their inner demons by dressing up and waging war on one another. The film doesn’t have to spend a lot of time on this emotional under-current — just acknowledging it gives the film weight and depth. The script is shrewd in its character development, with dramatic heft and action set pieces in all the right places. It’s only weak point is before the climax, when the writers try too hard to resolve the romantic relationship. I think it would have been better if Vicki Vale never learned Batman’s identity, but that’s a small quibble in an ambitious project that works in all its broad strokes.

Batman has all the trimmings, too. Bob Ringwood’s Batman costume is an arresting treat for the eyes, Danny Elfman’s rousing score announces the composer as a force to be reckoned with, and even a smattering of pop songs by Prince somehow manage to hit the spot. This first iteration of Batman created the formula for decades of future superhero movies, but it’s still unique among them — epic, yet intimate; polished, yet handmade; historic in its release, yet still entertaining 36 years later.

With Billy Dee Williams, Jerry Hall, and Tracey Walter.

Academy Award: Best Art Direction