MJ5K's Review

Summary - Perfect 5.0

One of the greatest comic book films of all time(its at least in the top 5). Told through a dark story and complex character development, visionary director Tim Burton excellently tells the story of the caped crusader. The film to me comes off as a character study of a man who is psychologically torn between two worlds of his own. One: a life of crime fighting and hiding behind a mask. The other: hiding all of his pain on the inside while trying to lead a normal life. Michael Keaton plays our hero and Jack Nicholson plays our villain, the Joker. One made the other. The Joker killed Batman’s parents and Batman tossed the Joker into acid. The woman caught between all of this is reporter Vicki Vale(Kim Basinger), who isn’t only interested in Bruce, but the bat as well. The film contains some of the best lines in a film I’ve ever heard(You are my number one guy) and the score is just amazing. As much as I love it, when I was ‘bout 10 I didn’t really dig it. Now that I’m older, I love it a lot more. So if your under the age of 12, I don’t think you’ll love so much of the adult overtones, especially if you saw the Schumacher films first. Either way, its still a must see. By all means a triumph.

Acting - Perfect 5.0

From what I’ve read, when it was announced that Michael Keaton was to portray the Dark Knight, many fans petitioned not to have him in the role. This was kinda similar to when fans were upset that Heath Ledger was announced to play the Joker in “The Dark Knight.” But like Ledger, Keaton proved all the nay sayers wrong. Keaton WAS Batman. He put so much effort into the role. He’s the only actor who can actually smile while still in the Batsuit. Keaton is, in my opinion, the definitive Batman. While Keaton is brilliant, the real star of this movie is Jack Nicholson as the Joker(no wonder his name came before Keaton’s on the poster). He brings a campy yet still psychotic presence to the role. You see him dancing in the art museum, and you just think, this guy is hilarious. Yet when you see him say “boo” and laugh that evil laugh, you just gotta be afraid. As for the rest of the cast, Kim Basinger was great as Vicki Vale, and while she was kinda an ordinary damsel in distress, she was still quite snappy and knew her limits. I like Pat Hingle as Gordon, his character is somewhat underplayed in this film, much like Michael Gough’s Alfred. The two would continue their roles throughout the next three films.

Film - Perfect 5.0

The cinematography is incredible. Gotham City looks quite amazing in my eyes. The dark atmosphere, the smokey skies, the well scaled buildings, it just looks great. The special effects mainly include models, like the Batplane. The action isn’t too over-the-top. The score by Danny Elfman is one of the greatest scores I’ve ever heard.

Edge - Risqué 2.0

As I said, the fight scenes aren’t too over-the-top. Their not too overplayed. There is some blood shed, including the part when the Joker is wiping the blood of his former boss’ blood off the newspaper. We also see the burnt up corpse of a mobster and Joker’s girlfriend’s mutilated face. The closest thing we get to sex is when Vicki Vale and Bruce Wayne sleep with each other.

Reality - Fantasy 5.0

It’s a Tim Burton movie, don’t expect realism. Burton’s speciality is fantasy and the super natural. When you look at the Nolan films, you see the realistic side of Batman. But this movie and that one are two totally different things, there’s no comparison.

4 Comments

• MJ5K Nov 6, 2009 7:33PM

  Thnk you for saying that, Wick. I thought I was the only one who liked Dark Knight better than Batman.

• kukuruza Sep 10, 2009 4:13AM

  I very much liked a film!!! At all did not expect that it will be such good!!!
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• Wick Aug 24, 2009 11:19PM

  Regarding MetalJunky5000’s Review
  I agree with you MetalJunky about Michael Keaton being the definitive Batman. All in all, I think The Dark Knight is the better movie, though if I rescreened Batman I might change my mind about that. But I have no doubt that Michael Keaton was a better Batman than was Christian Bale.

• Wick Jan 4, 2008 12:32AM

  There’s a thread going right now in the General Movie Discussion forum about great movie trailers of ‘07. The greatest trailer of all time had to be the original Batman. It was such a sensation, kids were buying tickets to movies where the trailer was showing, then walking out right after the trailer, not even staying for the movie they’d paid for!

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