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Bought Batman and Batman Returns together because I could not remember which one was better.In the final analisis, Batman is a waste of time.Batman returns is MUCH better.Batman is a good sleep aid however.But since I have no trouble sleeping it went out with the morning garbage.Batman returns is more mature, more spellbinding,more emotional and more believable.You will save this one to watch another day.
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BATMAN (1989) is the one Tim Burton film where his directorial style worked in perfect synergy with mainstream Hollywood. Many of his other earlier films, including BEETLEJUICE (1988), EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1993), ED WOOD (1994), and ironically BATMAN RETURNS (1992) are 100% TIM BURTON! They are all great in that Burtonesque way. While Burton's first Batman film BATMAN has obvious Burton touches: odd and disturbing characters, dark tone, neo-noirish look, the film still manages to be generally accessible to the mass audience. It moves at a fast, breezy pace and has an epic, Hollywood feel to it, with a satisfying conclusion. But that, in this case, is not a bad thing! I have re-watched this entertaining flick so many times it isn't funny! It just works. Can't say that for many of the superhero films in this new PC, uninspired generation of films.
I actually saw BATMAN (1989) when it first came out in movie theatres and was blown away by it's originality and scope...still am. Even more so now since it holds up 20+ years later as great entertainment. In retrospect, Michael Keaton was the perfect choice to play the fractured, flawed antiheroic Bruce Wayne AKA Batman. But I always felt he was the right choice! Keaton captures the guarded loneliness of the Bruce Wayne character, while still being very convincing as a tough guy who can hold his own when donning the cape and cowl! Mr. Burton...you made the right choice!
The other inspired (and perhaps more obvious) choice was casting the legendary Jack Nicholson as Jack Napier AKA The Joker. Nicholson is convincing as high-level "yes man" thug Napier who through a nasty accident becomes facially scarred and assumes the Joker persona. And Nicholson really looks like The Joker in this! He has so many memorable lines that I think about all the time. The hero-villain chemistry between he and Keaton is electric.
Kim Basinger (at her most gorgeous!) admirably plays nosy photojournalist Vicki Vale, who arrives in Gotham City to unlock the secret of the mysterious Caped Crusader who has been "terrorizing" low level criminals throughout the city. She ends up falling in love with Bruce Wayne (lucky bastard!). Basinger is the weakest link of the main actors, but she still does a good job of emoting, being simultaneously fascinated and repulsed by Batman and Joker's antics. She screams a lot, but look at the freaks she's dealing with! Can you blame her?
The solid supporting cast includes Michael Gough (wonderful turn as Alfred, Bruce's ever-so-reliable and dependable butler and caretaker), Robert Wuhl (in an energetic turn as Vicki's fellow reporter Alex Knox), Billy Dee Williams (as DA Harvey Dent), and Pat Hingle (as world-weary Police Commissioner Gordon). In particular, Keaton and Gough have an effortless chemistry as though they have been close their whole lives. Gough came back for Schumacher's cartoonish campy films and he had none of the chemistry with either Kilmer or Clooney that he had with Keaton in the Burton ones. It was weird watching Gough's Alfred interact with those tepid versions of Bruce Wayne.
As previously stated, I am amazed at how Burton's style fused perfectly with more conventional Hollywood touches and created something special out of it. It could have been a monumental failure, but instead ended up being a template for all future superhero films.
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I purchased this as a Christmas gift, and while there was some misunderstanding initially about the product, everything turned out all right and he loved his gift. Another successful Christmas!
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Not much to say that hasn't been said, this is a great movie. The Blu-ray transfer is well done making it look as good as it did when I saw it in the theaters.
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to all you dark knight band wagon riders,you don't know crap about batman people. this film was based on Frank miller's "the dark knight returns", where batman PROUDLY KILLS PEOPLE. the reason for this choice at the time was because that comic is considered the best batman comic ever written and it made batman dark and grimey, of course this was in the eighties, while you all were still in your daddy's bag. before you write a review and try to sound knowledgeable, do a wikipedia search or something, because this film is a masterpiece. it combines Alan
Moore's "the killing Joke" with Frank miller's "The dark knight Returns", both considered some of the darkest and best batman books. you fools that think your big batman fans really aren't, otherwise you would know all this. this film impeccably creates that dark feeling that the comics had in the eighties. i hate all these people that see dark knight and now totally feel like disrespecting tim burton's vision. i loved the dark knight but this movie is just as good and deserves mutual respect. jack nicholson as the joker was amazing and it'll always be debated which joker was better heath or jack. personally i liked jack waaaaaaaaay better, but heath did an awesome job too and did deserve the oscar. i can't wait until 20 years have passed and they make another film with batman and the joker and all these wannabe fools that think they are batman fans, start to praise the new film and bash the dark knight for being out dated and lame.
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