Batman – ABC Film Challenge – Comic Book Movies – V (Vicki Vale) – Batman – Movie Review
Director: Tim Burton
Writer: Sam Hamm, Warren Skaaren (Screenplay)
Writer: Bob Kane (Characters)
Cast
- Michael Keaton (Spotlight)
- Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)
- Kim Basinger (Cellular)
- Robert Wuhl (Arli$$)
- Pat Hingle (Hang ‘Em High)
Plot: The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being Jack Napier, a criminal who becomes the clownishly homicidal Joker.
Runtime: 2 Hours 6 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Batman starts as Bruce Wayne (Keaton) has started fighting crime as Batman. Gotham City has started to find itself outnumbered by criminals causing chaos. Corruption has taken over the city and gangster Jack Napier (Nicholson) is thriving in it.
When Bruce clashes with Jack, he believes he has been killed in an accident. However, Jack survives and turns the scars he is left with to become The Joker. The Joker decides to take over the criminal empire demanding the death of Batman. This leads to Batman needing to figure out how to stop his biggest threat to date.
Verdict on Batman
Batman is an action-adventure movie following the adventures of Batman against the Joker. It sees how he has started to become the vigilante we know and now he looks to stop crime. On the other side of things, the Joker looks to gain power over the city and needs to stop Batman.
This is often considered one of the best Batman movies, being the first big-budget vision of the project. We get to see the massive gadget and high-tech vehicles used to bring this movie to life. The performances are wonderful and Keaton really brings to life the dual characters, as does Jack Nicholson. While the story keeps things within the city battling corruption and criminal power. We get to see the one trying to stop this with everything he has to give himself an advantage.
Final Thoughts – Batman is one of the greatest comic book movies ever made.
One reply on “Batman (1989) Movie Review”
I watched this again recently and was surprised by just how much I enjoyed it – Keaton and Nicholson are indeed perfect for the roles – I remember when I first saw it and thought that Burton doesn’t know how to do action at all – I still feel that way but I now appreciate that the film is so much more than that.