Batman

A Tim Burton Movie

Starring: Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger, Jack Nicholson

Monika says:

Tim Burton, the man who recently brought us the bizarre and shrill 'Mars Attacks!' directed 'Batman' in 1988. I've been avoiding movies like that for years. Let's see if I was right.

The running time is 118 minutes. It took me one of those almost two hours to find out what was going on. Half the movie. Unbelievable, the fans will say. In this first hour the viewers are introduced to Gotham City and the people who live there. In one of the first scenes we meet Batman (Michael Keaton), who scares away two dark figures in a dark night. So, he's one of the good guys, I understand. Two other characters we meet are Jack (Jack Nicholson) and the press photographer Vicki (Kim Basinger). Then there's Bruce Wayne, a mysterious single gentleman who falls in love with Vicki. Or vice versa, I'm not quite sure. After another long while I understood that he is Batman. I wish they'd told the uninitiated viewer a little sooner. And Tim Burton worked so hard on his introduction.

The story is simple: Jack turns out to be the evil Joker who wants to poison the whole city to take over control. Batman tries to stop him. He has an old bone to pick with Jack, who many years ago shot his parents while he was watching.

Jack is easily spotted as the villain. A guy who looks like this can't be up to anything good. Jack Nicholson certainly was a good choice for the part. He has the potential to play a real psychopath. He didn't need much make-up: just some white and red color and stuffed out cheeks and you have a joker. Once more I thought that this is the ideal kind of part for Nicholson. As long as he can be mean he is great. But even the best villain in the end has to succumb to the good guys.

Michael Keaton is Batman. The honor of saving Gotham City dressed in a black rubber suit is his. Allegedly there are some women who saw the movie for this reason alone. I was surprised to find that he was seen more often as Bruce Wayne without the suit. His acting was more convincing in those scenes than the bat-scenes. To me the rubber suit is as sexy as a hose.

I can't say much about Kim Basinger as Vicki either. She is introduced as a press photographer who neglects personal danger to obtain a good story. And that's all. Her character remains flat and one-dimensional. Batman (of course) gets to save her from evil joker. Why is it that women in Hollywood movies always have to be saved?

All in all the movie looked less "comic-like" than I had feared. The set design was gloomy rather than shrill and colorful. However I had hoped for a more bizarre movie. At least that was what I expected a Tim Burton movie to be after seeing 'Mars Attacks!'. But 'Mars Attacks!' isn't supposed to be a typical Burton movie. I heard that his real fans don't like it. Danny Elfman's musical score wasn't too good this time either. I think I'll leave 'Batman' to the real fans and watch 'Mars Attacks!' again.

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Monika Hübner