Review of Batman (1989) by Arwin K — 14 Jan 2014

I always liked Tim Burton's adaptation of Batman growing up because it was never too excessive and was very strongly grim,.

And still to this day it is a visual treat which surpasses the quality of other comic book films of its time, including the similarly styled Dick Tracy.

The visual style of Batman is a very neo-noir one which establishes the gritty and dark atmosphere in terms of use of lighting and cinematography techniques. Yet at the same time it has the feel of a comic book in the way it is edited during some of the more intense or action packed sequences. The action scenes especially are done very finely as well as choreographed well, and they're a lot more entertaining than you would expect since there is plenty of gun action and some good hand combat in there.

Plus the e impact of the musical score is great because it assists Batman in being a very strongly atmospheric film and it is powerful as well as memorable.

And with a really strong team behind creating the costumes, makeup and production design as well as some very strong visual effects, Batman never falls short of being a completely convincing comic book action film.

Really, even though Tim Burton didn't create the story himself like he has in his own personal works, he does use his talent for adding a creepy and gothic style to the film which is great for the themes in Batman. And his direction is just great to make Batman the entertainingly dark spectacle that it is.

And built on all this, the cast just has to do bare minimum greatness to pass, yet they do more.

Michael Keaton was great in the role of Batman. Although nobody believed at the time he would do the role justice, Michael Keaton proves that he has the ability to create a powerful and dominating darkness for the role of the heroic batman as well as a generally sophisticated talent in the role of Bruce Wayne. He puts up a hell of a fight and gives Batman some of his best work as an actor which makes Batman an even stronger character than you'd expect.

But the screen is stolen by Jack Nicholson who manages to completely nail the maniac qualities of The Joker in the creepy and cartoonish way which is spot on in Batman. As Jack Nicholson is one of the greatest male actors of all time, seeing him in a more insanely cartoonish character is actually awesome, because he's both freaky and hilarious in the evil clown role of the joker. He finds the balance between ring a hilarious clown and a freaky clown, and although it doesn't match the quality of Heath Ledger's Academy Award winning performance in the role, he is still one of the best actors to ever play the role and he is deserving of immense praise for branching out as an actor enough to nail a comic book role after winning two Academy Awards.

Even though Kim Basinger gets stuck with some of the most weak lines in the script and a character that doesn't do much more than complain and scream, she does use her talent for strong facial gestures and sympathetic line delivery to get her character right, as well as the fact that she is very attractive without it being a too unrealistic sense of beauty.

Billy Dee Williams also manages to use his talent for cool charisma and strong line delivery to establish a strong characterisation of Harvey Dent in his brief time on screen.

Lastly, Michael Gough was very convincing as Alfred Pennyworth since he has the necessary wit and charm for the role.

The only criticisms I would point out are that the script is rather hit and miss at times without ever being that strong, and that many of the elements of the story seem rather supernatural and hard to believe.

But still, even though Batman is quite dated and doesn't reach the heights of Christopher Nolan's magnificent Batman trilogy, Tim Burton manages to add his personal touch to a classic comic book character in Batman and create a greatly entertaining film to give credit to batman himself.