Batman is my favorite DC character and when it comes to movies based on the caped crusader, you guaranteed to get a slew of options. From the flashy, campy nature of the 60s movie, to the cornball, over the top manner of the Joel Schumacher films, to the dark, brilliantly animated atmosphere of the "Timmverse" films, Batman has had his share of makeovers throughout the years, but none can come close to the thrilling, Gothic quality of Tim Burton's 1989 masterpiece. In my opinion (light your torches), I think it is superior to Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, and to this day, it still remains my absolute favorite Batman representation. Why else would I have a poster of the old Batman logo hanging on my bedroom wall?
The look of this film perfectly showcases Tim Burton's macabre imagination. The design of the city parallels that of the 1927 science fiction landmark Metropolis or the 1920 German expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. It's one of my favorite looks for a city and it's a pity they didn't use the stylized, dark look of the city for Schumacher's films. I also admire the film's overall tone and feeling. Even though it's a Batman film (the first in a series), it still feels like a Tim Burton film, and Burton does a good job of re-imagining Batman as if he was his own creation rather than Bob Kane's. He treats Batsy with love and affection and of course comic book nuts will get all over the film for not following the source material closely, but this one still has it where it counts. In this film, the characters come first, and this film has some of the best you will ever see grace the screen.
Michael Keaton very well might be my favorite Batman. Sure, the animated series Batman (voiced by Kevin Conroy) was excellent and Christian Bale is okay with his dark, raspy voice, but Keaton proves that you can be a calm, collective Batman yet still be threatening and terrifying at the same time. He goes around in the cape and cowl smirking and giving off menacing grins to thugs and you can really tell that he enjoys playing the role. It's shocking that people thought he wasn't a good choice to play the dark hero. I thought he was spot on, really fit for the role. He did play Beetlejuice after all!
All the other players are fantastic as well. Jack Nicholson's Joker is scary and funny as heck and with a permanent grin on his face, he really gives you the shivers. Like Keaton, you can really tell he enjoys playing the villainous clown prince of crime. He's always what I imagined the Joker being like in movie form, equipped with dangerous laughing gas and chattering teeth! I also like Billy Dee Williams, Kim Basinger, Pat Hingle and Michael Gough in their respective roles, and who could forget Danny Elfman's top notch score mixed in with those catchy, late 80s Prince songs.
Batman is a great movie, and the impetus that led to other superhero films being made. I like to think that one day, Tim Burton will make another Batman flick, but I'm not holding my breath. Hopefully, somewhere down the road, a Batman reboot will come along that not only mixes in the contemporary nature of the comics and the Nolan films, but the dark, demented and overpowering nature of the Burton films. It would make for quite a Batman we have never seen before.
