Batman, 1989. Directed by Tim Burton. Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Michael Gough, Kim Bassinger, Robert Wuhl, Jack Palance, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams.
Tim Burton's big budget rendition of the comic book icon comes so close to capturing the grim spirit of Gotham City's Dark Knight that one is almost able to overlook that the filmmaking and screenplay are so lax. Almost. The look of the film is striking: not just the much-ballyhooed sets, but the costumes, props, and make-up, as well. This is what Batman would surely look like in real life. Certain images (The Joker's first appearance, the introduction of the Batmobile, Batman himself swinging between the Gothic skyscrapers) are so pure that one wishes the movie consisted of these images only. But we are provided a dreadful plot and dreadful actors and mediochre Prince songs and a director who has no idea of how to stage the dazzling action sequences this demands. Jack Nicholson should be singled out in particular for crimes against the audience: Oh, sure, he looks okay in the part of The Joker, but he can't resist crossing the line from menacing villain to high camp parody. This is an uneasy mess of a movie that had the potential to be so much more than it is. Enormously watchable, but damaged goods nonetheless.