Batman '89 Review
January 18, 2013
By Ryan Porzl
Movie Title: Batman
Release Date: June 23, 1989
Running Time: 126 Minutes
Director: Tim Burton
Budget: $48 Million
Box Office: $411,348,924
Composer: Danny Elfman
Cast-
Michael Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne- Billionaire Playboy philanthropist by day, vigilante by night. As Batman, he mostly goes after criminals that the police are unable to capture.
Jack Nicholson as The Joker/Jack Napier- As Jack Napier, Joker is a mobster working under crime boss: Carl Grissom. After Grissom finds out of Napier's affair with his mistress, he sets him up to be killed at Axis Chemicals. After falling into some chemicals, Napier eventually emerges as the Joker. From here, Joker gets revenge by killing Grissom and taking control of his gang. Afterwards, he largely goes on killing rampages and obsessively stalks Vicki Vale.
Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale- Formerly a photographer of Vogue and Cosmo magazines. Came to Gotham City to investigate Batman. Later becomes a love interest to Bruce Wayne.
Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth- Bruce Wayne's butler. He also assists Batman whenever he can. He's served as a father figure and guardian to Bruce after Bruce's parents were murdered.
Tracey Walter as Bob the Goon- The Joker/Jack Napier's right hand man.
Robert Wuhl as Alexander Knox- Reporter at the Gotham Globe. He largely investigates Batman and his sightings. He's constantly ridiculed by the Gotham City Police and his colleagues for his belief in Batman.
Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon- Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department.
Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent- Gotham City Destrict Attorney.
Jack Palance as Carl Grissom- Crime boss who employs Jack Napier. After finding out of Napier's affair with his mistress, he sets him up to be killed. After Napier becomes Joker, Grissom is confronted by him and killed. The Joker takes over his gang.
The Plot-
The plot involves Gotham City indulged in crime thanks to a variety of people ranging from muggers and petty crooks to a crime organization led by crime boss: Carl Grissom. The mayor of Gotham tries to fight back with the always reliable Commissioner Gordon of the Gotham City Police Department and new District Attorney: Harvey Dent. Unfortunately with they're hands tied, they're unable to make much of an impact. In response for the growth in crime, a new and mysterious vigilante named Batman begins to emerge to protect the helpless citizens of Gotham. In reality, Batman is the reclusive and equally mysterious billionaire: Bruce Wayne who decided to fight crime due to an incident as a child where his parents were murdered in front of him. While Batman is largely unknown to the public, his exploits begin to get notice thanks to reporter: Alexander Knox but his reports are largely mocked and not taking seriously by either the police or his colleagues. Eventually, he's joined by photojournalist: Vicki Vale who also begins dating Bruce Wayne on the side. During all this, Grissom begins to have issues with his right hand man: Jack Napier after finding out of Napier's affair with Grissom's mistress. As revenge, Grissom tries to have Napier killed in a firefight with the Gotham Police at Axis Chemicals. The plan seems to work as Napier falls into a vat of chemicals but he survives and with a changed appearance & unstable personality, Napier becomes the Joker. As the Joker, he confronts and kills Grissom and takes over his organization. Now in charge, the Joker decides to cause as much death and mayhem as possible with only Batman standing in his way.
Review-
Tim Burton's first Batman is one of the best Batman's ever released. It was also a good first for Warner Bros. as it was their first Batman. Not to mention, the movie had been planned for nearly a decade before finally being made.
The scenery was excellent. It really captured Gotham City as this dark and gloomy city swarming with crime and corruption. It reminds you of cities like New York decades ago where it wasn't safe to go out at night. Wayne Manor also looked very good like an old castle. Also Axis Chemicals looked good as well and probably what you would expect in a chemical plant. Gotham also looks very industrial.
The first appearances of Batman and Joker were perfect. Batman's first appearance sees him sneak up on two muggers. When he confronts them, he gets gunned down only to get up immediately and takes them out. There wasn't a better way to show Batman as he scares the muggers and puts fear into their hearts. The Joker makes his first appearance as the Joker by confronting his former boss: Carl Grissom. He emerges from the elevator and confronts Grissom in the shadow. Finally he emerges in the light to show his new look and proceeds to blow him away. As he's shooting, Nicholson does a great job with the Joker coming across as someone who not only enjoys killing but enjoys every bullet he fires until finally running out.
The Joker was very well-written and creative. His weapons range from obvious items like guns and gas to creative stuff like a joy buzzer than sets a guy on fire, a large quill pen, a chemical in everyday items that results in the victims laughing themselves to death and left with grins. The best one was the Joker luring everyone the streets of Gotham with the promise of $20 million in cash only to try to gas them with parade balloons.
Another plus was the fact Batman would occasionally kill in this movie. While most fans probably hate this since Batman doesn't kill in the comics, it was necessary feature for Batman. While Batman doesn't kill in the comics and TV shows, it's easier to get away with that in those forms of entertainment. With more issues and episodes being released, it's necessary to keep villians alive so they can appear in future issues/episodes and fight another day. In the movies, people expect closure and it makes no sense for super villians to be inprisoned and never be heard of again. The killing is also done carefully as Batman is not a mindless killer but rather only kills when he has to. Mostly when put up against someone who's too dangerous to be kept alive like the Joker.
Danny Elfman's soundtrack is also amazing. It really adds more to an already great movie. From the excellent Batman theme to the great finale at the end and everything in between. Prince's songs were also very good choices and made sense in the scenes they were used for.
The casting was also well done. Jack Nicholson is excellent playing an already not stable mobster: Jack Napier and then takes it to a whole new level as the crazed Joker. Basinger is good as Vicki Vale but her yelling and screaming can get on your nerves. Michael Gough is perfect as Alfred as he's believeable as both a father figure to Bruce Wayne and still able to help when Bruce becomes Batman. Tracey Walter is great as the Joker's right hand man: Bob the goon. As Bob, Walter does a great job playing the straight man to Nicholson's crazed and over the top Joker. Robert Wuhl is entertaining as Alexander Knox. Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, and Jack Palance are good in their roles but aren't given a lot to work with.
The big winners are director Burton and star Michael Keaton. Burton's direction was great and even more impressive considering this was only his third full length movie (Previous movies were Pee-Wee's Big Adventure in 1985 and Beetlejuice in 1988) but watching the movie you wouldn't know that. Keaton was also amazing as the Caped Crusader. His performance in this role probably makes him one of the most underrated actors of his time. A good example of how great he was in the role, people need to remember that when Keaton was first cast he was mostly a comedic actor. His casting also resulted in over 50,000 negative letters to Warner Bros. as many fans believed he didn't have the attributes of Batman in the comics. Even Batman creator: Bob Kane questioned the casting. Fast forward nearly 25 years later and many fans consider Keaton the best Batman. Keaton was believeable as the billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne (though he didn't show this side as much as future Batmans) and the dark, brooding Batman. One of the best features of Keaton was the little things like attempting to mask his voice which is something most Batmans failed to do (except Christian Bale). It's even more better when your reminded that Keaton admited to not following Batman comics. Because he thought Batman was similar to the 60s TV show, Keaton didn't understand Batman or get inspiration until he read the Dark Knight Returns graphic novel.
As far as negatives are concerned, there's some. While Robert Wuhl is entertainng as Knox, his role is largely useless and doesn't add much to the movie. Pat Hingle and Billy Dee Williams were wasted. One of the biggest problems in Burton's Batman movies is the lack of interaction between Batman and Gordon. Hingle's Gordon would get better treatment in later movies. William's Harvey Dent was also barely used. It would've been nice to see more interaction between Batman/Bruce Wayne and Dent which could add more history between then so it's a bigger deal when Dent eventually becomes Two-Face.
The Batcave also didn't look good as it was too bare bones. It would've been nicer if it was more hightech and detailed.
The Bruce Wayne/Vicki Vale relationship dragged the movie down at times and wasn't entertaining or fasinating to watch.
One of the early ideas in the movie was to have a young Commissioner Gordon on duty the night Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered in the flashback scene but wasn't used (it was eventually used in Batman Begins). It's one of those little things that would've added to the movie and enhanced Batman's relationship with Gordon.
All in all, Batman '89 is a great action movie and one of the best superhero films of all time. If you get a chance you should see it.
Recommended
Batman'89 Facts:
Michael Keaton being cast as Batman was so controversial that Warner Bros. received over 50,000 letters protesting the decision. Batman creator: Bob Kane was also said to have been against Keaton being cast.
Despite the movie being released in 1989, the first draft was written in 1980.
Jack Nicholson ultimately agreed to play Joker after receiving top billing and royalties on all merchandise. He reportedly made over $60 million dollars.
The Jack Napier name is a tribute to Alan Napier who played Alfred in the 60s Batman TV show and the 1966 movie. The name is also a play on the word “Jackanapes”.
Michael Jackson was offered the chance to write and perform new songs for the movie but was forced to turned it down due to touring.
When Billy Dee Williams signed on as Harvey Dent, he knew that Dent would become Two-Face. As a result, he had a clause put in his contract which reserved the role for him in sequels. He was eventually bought out when Warner Bros. & Joel Schumacher wanted to cast Tommy Lee Jones for Two-Face in Batman Forever.
When Jack Nicholson wouldn't give an answer as to whether he would accept the role of Joker or not, the producers approached Robin Williams on playing the role. After Williams showed interest, the producers went back to Nicholson and told him about the offer to Williams and Nicholson eventually accepted. After realizing he was used as bait, Williams was angry at Warner Bros. and refused to work with them for several years.
First Batman in which the actor playing Batman didn't get top billing (Jack Nicholson got top billing over Michael Keaton). The next time would be in Batman & Robin when Arnold Schwarzenegger got top billing over George Clooney.
When Michael Keaton was cast, he wasn't surprised as he thought it would be similar to the 60s TV Show. It wasn't until Tim Burton gave him a copy of Frank Miller's novel: The Dark Knight Rises when he realized Batman's dark and brooding side
