Review of Batman (1989) by Richard T — 28 May 2013

I watched this film, 1 of four in the series on two dvds, and it doesn't feel dated whether one considers Michael Keaton and his career since then or the scene stealing antics of Jack Nicholson as the Joker.

Kim Basinger's role doesn't give her much beyond beautiful femme fatale mixed with nerdy reporter but presumably she does her best with the part.

This is the first of the Batman films of my era and it stands up well all these years later, even the songs by Prince, a controversial choice for the soundtrack.

This film introduced the Batman mythos that is known to the comic fans but perhaps with some characters changed (Harvey Dent played by Billy Dee Williams as opposed to someone like Tommy Lee Jones). In this film Dent is still a respectable fellow, no hint of his change to Two-Face.

The Joker is introduced and given some weight as the man who had killed Bruce Wayne's parents.

The Joker becomes jealous of Batman's fame and notoriety and does what he can to gain the spotlight.

It is sad that the Joker died at the end, arguably the role could have continued to breathe life into the movies which suffered from Danny Devito's Penguin and the other villains, aside from Michelle Pfeiffer's tortured Catwoman. 10/10.