"Batman (1989)" Fine Enough, Could Have Been Funnier

 

    I'll be honest I wasn't expecting much from this film. That's not to say I heard it was bad but as someone whose a pretty avid comic reader and has seen three separate continuity Batman films since then, I just doubted it was going to be a film I would really see as superior. Was it really going to beat the Reeves movie or the Nolan Trilogy? Absolutely not. But I remembered it as corny, and frankly if it could win on any ground it would have been that. Did I think it was absolutely gut-punchingly funny? No. Did I think it was bad or awful? Also no. I think it wasn't some boring bog-standard Batman origin story, but it was just kind of campy, for better or for worse. Let's talk about it. 

    To start off with the good. The acting in this movie was better than I expected? Perhaps that's just because a part of me pictures Michael Keaton as old, so I could never really see him as Batman, but he was surprisingly good as a Bruce Wayne. Maybe not as charming as I thought a Bruce Wayne might be, but a pretty admirable attempt at one too. In terms of other characters I really didn't care about any of them. Everyone else could pretty much be a footnote unless you're named Joker, Bruce Wayne, or Vicki Vale. Alfred has like one notable line about not wanting to bury Bruce, Commissioner Gordon exists? And so do the rest of the characters. Even Knox is basically just there to be "that one side character that solely exists to ask questions and have lines."

    At the very least even if most of the characters seem flat, Jack Nicholson does a great Joker. I'll admit I was very, very skeptical, but he's just good. He's able to do the unnerving creepy stuff, he can be kind of charismatic when he needs to be, and he just impressed me. I didn't know what to expect and he did well. It was pretty funny watching Batman crash his plane because of a long pistol at the very least. That's about it though. That's the issue.

    I've seen better Batman films, Michael Keaton cannot move his neck to save his life, he's looks so stiff out there, so the action scenes can only do so much. The plot was bog standard, the only real significant change they made to the Batman mythos was making Joker the killer of Batman's parents. I mean you don't even see Bruce tell Vicky he's Batman, Alfred just brings her down to the Batcave. There's nothing else to this movie. It's slightly above average, but it's nothing special.

Final Score: 55/100

    Personally, I just think this movie needed to be more camp. If it was funnier and more corny and stupid I would have liked it more. Why is it trying to be super scary Batman looks like he has a back injury. We need more. I did all of this is because a friend of mine told me to watch Batman Returns, but I didn't want to watch it without seeing this movie first. It seems I didn't miss much though. Either way it's kind of interesting just how much progress has been made from Batman film to Batman film, and just how much nicer the newer ones look and feel in terms of both atmosphere and action (I never watched Batfleck and he just doesn't really exist in my mind though).

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