Batman 1989 Film Review

While these days we take Batman being this incredibly dark and disturbing character for granted believe it or not thanks to the live action Adam West show and movie the character was largely seen as being bright and colorful for a few decades. Yet that all changed in of his media output when the movie that i'm going to be reviewing for you all today came out and took the character back to his roots and not only proving that a darker Batman can still work but that it's something that should always stay as well and so then me as I review the film that took the world by storm with the film in question being called simply just "Batman" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when a new criminal rises up the ranks in Gotham's underworld calling himself The Joker it's up to Batman to put a stop to his crimes before he kills all of Gotham. Now then in of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as this is a plot that feels right at home on the big screen n that it's not a plot that you could do in an episode of the live action Adam West show or in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series for that matter as alot of what drives the plot of this film forward is in the smaller moments be it between Bruce and Vicki Vale or between The Joker and his love interest Bob and those are moments that would have been lost if the plot was instead used in a an episode of either show but with that being said this films is pretty generic plot as when you boil it down it's just a good guy trying to stop a bad guy and while this films does at the very least try to do something new just by having be set in this dark and gothic looking world that does make the film feel like a crime noir film it doesn't do enough to make it actually feel like a Batman story as Batman who is said to be the worlds greatest detective doesn't have any crimes to solve and so while this films plot is still a hugely entertaining plot it's also one that doesn't manage to capture that aspect of just who Batman is as a character with the plot of this films also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne / Batman and Jack Nicholson as Jack Napier / The Joker. Also starring in this film is Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale , Robert Wuhl as Alexander Knox , Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon , Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent , Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth , Jack Palance as Carl Grissom , Jerry Hall as Alicia Hunt , Tracey Walter as Bob , Lee Wallace as Mayor Borg and William Hootkins as Lt. Max Eckhardt.

Now then in of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. Which is really nothing that's all of that very surprising as all you have to do is look at not only who is starring in this film but also who is making this film to know that this film has good acting in it as all of this films actors are a bunch of really good actors in there own right and this films director Tim Burton really does know how to get a good performance out of all of his actors in any of his films. With the true standout performer in this film being none other that Michael Keaton as even tho he was mostly known for doing comedic roles when this film was being released he proves in this film just how good of an actor that he is by turning in a really good dramatic performance and while he doesn't make for a good Bruce Wayne he does make for a great Batman but he does have some good moments as Bruce like when he gets to show off just how crazy Bruce Wayne is be it by sleeping upside or by daring an armed mobster to hit him these are moments that just wouldn't work if the character was being played by someone else but because he's being played by Michael Keaton who can and does switch and manic and calculated at the drop of a hat those moments do work really well in this film with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that the script for this film is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Vicki Vale in this film does feel like a waste of a good idea for a character as she really gets nothing to do outside of being someone for Batman to rescue. As her character does nothing for a huge portion of the movie outside of being the love interest for both The Joker and Bruce Wayne and that's really it and that doesn't justify her character being in the movie and the while the film does establish why she's in there in Gotham as that's to help Knox prove that Batman is real she does that and then some within fifteen minuets of her being screen and yet she's still in the movie with her inclusion in the more of the movie feeling like something that the makers of the film were pressured into doing verily early on in the process with this issue being that could have been fixed by doing a rewrite of the films script to justify her being in the movie alot more then she is like for example after helping Knox she then wants to help Batman defeat The Joker which given the fact that she works with Knox at the local newspaper she'd be more then able to do just by using all of their s to try and figure not only who this version of The Joker is but also what his evil scheme is and while this might take more away from Batman being the world's greatest detective that wouldn't be that big of an issue as this film already does that and so having Vicki work some stuff out both when she's helping Knox and on her time would also work for both the film and the character of Vicki Vale herself but for one reason or another the makers of this chose not to do that and instead chose to have be this pretty decent character for her first couple of scenes but then by typical comic book movie love interest for the rest of the movie which just does a huge disservice to the character.

To put it frankly this movie is just flat out cool with there being alot of really cool shots where you don't really notice Batman is in them as the film doesn't draw that much attention to it. Which is just such a cool thing to see as now we the audience get the same kind of surprise that his foes get when he does get the drop on them with it also being something that reminded me personally of the original 1978 version of halloween where they have the films main villain appear in several scenes but they very rarely if ever call attention to it thus making it all the more scarier and creepier when he does show up and it's the same thing here as for the first few times that Batman appears in the movie it's in shots where he not only isn't all that visible but also isn't the main focus on the scene which does make it seem like that this character can appear from out of nowhere and it's one of the best aspects of this movie as Batman as a character should be scary as he's meant to be scaring criminals and heck even one of the first things that he says in the move is that he wants the criminal that he left unhurt to go and tell his friends all about him as that way they two can be scared of him it's just a shame that this film dropped that aspect of the character just by adding a bit of the Batman theme play when he's in screen which yes granted is also true for his scene where he's watching over the city but given that it's early on in the film that character could have been anyone at that point in time with the the fact that Batman does seemingly blend into the shadows being another cool thing in this film as this is a character that would make that one way to scare criminals as they won't be able to know that he's there with them as he could be anywhere or not even with them all at the same time.

Unlike alot of the other Batman films both animated and not this film really does go out of it's way to make Gotham City itself a character in this movie. With the city itself looking dirty and grimy which is exactly how this city should look and not like a clean and happy place that Batman Vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice made it look like as it's that dirty and griminess that help make the city feel more like a character and less like a film set and to add to that is the gothic look of the city with Gotham having alot of these really tall skyscraper buildings that just tower over everyone that adds to the film as it makes it feel like that this very version of Gotham is more on enclosed space with characters that are fit to burst because of how they've been treated by other people or by how they treat other people and yet this is something that alot of adaptations of Batman do get wrong as Gotham should be it's own character and it should look like the hell hole that it's meant to be and while some adaptations do have a reason for this like both the animater series and by extension Mask Of The Phantasm as well have the excuse of being animated and therefor making Gotham look highly detailed in animation was never going to happen but in other live action media where they can do that they then choose not to for no reason whatsoever with this films version of Gotham being the best one in any medium as it's an actual character in the movie and not something that's treated more like set dressing as that's something that just takes away from those productions when Gotham itself works it's best when it's treated as an actual character something that both The Batman and The Penguin got right.

One of the more interesting aspects that this film did was add The Joker to Batman's origin by having him be the one that killed off Bruce Wayne's parents. Which was something that not alot of people liked when it first happened but it is something that does make sense in the context of this film as it now links the characters together forever as much like how The Joker created Batman Batman in this film helps to create The Joker by letting Jack Napier fall into the vat of acid that drives him insane and heck even this films version of the character is a really good and creepy villain as even tho his only real plan is to take over Gotham's underworld not having a main goal in mind is something that is in keeping with any version of the character and heck it could even be argued that this film has a prototype Harley Quinn in Alicia Hunt as both characters fall in love with The Joker with him treating them both badly and even changing both of them forever the difference is tho Harley didn't commit suicide but with that being said tho even The Joker does plan to kill off everyone in Gotham that is one thing that doesn't really make alot of sense as then he'd have no way of making money from anyone as there would be no Gotham to rob anymore and while it could be argued that that plan was only made to show us the audience just how truly insane that this films version of the character is it is something that still does need to make sense even for a character who is all about doing things that don't make sense and while his one true companion will always be Bob seeing just how Batman and Joker are forever linked due to this one event is something that is an interesting aspect of the film and one that really should have been either developed more in this film or followed up upon in Batman Returns.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and six minuets and nineteen seconds. Which to be fair to this film is perfectly solid running time for this film to have as this film does have so much to set up and establish even tho it doesn't do Batman's origin story at the very least not fully as we still get a very small amount of it but to be fair tho this film really does have the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time with the film even shockingly making some really great use of it's running time as both the plot of the film and the films characters do feel like there very fleshed out with the films plot being as good as it was ever going to be and considering that this film was coming out when comic book movies or just comic books in general weren't treated with the respect that they are now it is still a wonder that the film got as good of a plot that it really did get which just proves that director Tim Burton and writer Sam Hamm were the right people to bring this character to the big screen as the film makes the absolute best that it can do with the running time that it was given as while Vicki looses all importance as a character not that long after she's been introduced the film makes sure to keep both Batman and The Joker very important by developing both of the characters so well to the point where us the audience just cannot wait to see them fight each other just because of the fact that the film actively does go out of it's way to make us care about both characters outside of the fact that one's the good guy and the other is the bad guy but I really will it that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us un this very film was in all honesty really good. As even tho it does look like that you can't physically do all that much in the Batman suit the film still does have alot of really cool looking action acenes with Batman in them all of which do show off just how good that the stunts in this film are as even tho alot of this films action does boil down to who can who hit who the hardest it's seeing how they get to that point with the best example of this being the fight between Batman and The Joker's goons in the church as we see Batman having to climb all of these stairs just to try and reach The Joker all the while the church is crumbling around him with it being that kind of storytelling that helps to make that fight scene really stand out with the best action scene in the whole entire movie being the one where Batman confronts The Joker at the parade as it's just such a fun sequence seeing Batman have to try and outwit The Joker with it all being topped off by the fact that The Joker pulls out this comically large gun which is not only perfect the character but also plays into the fact that this is a comic book movie with the film not being afraid to be exactly that and while the action scene with the Batmobile blowing up the chemical plant was a really good scene in it's own just due to how iconic alot of the imagery is in the parade scene nothing will ever top the Batman and Joker confrontation at the parade as that's just how good that that action is in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall while Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm is quite clearly the greatest ever Batman film both animated or not this film is either a close second or a very close third as The Dark Knight is still a really good film but with out this film being as good as it is then the comic book movie that we enjoy today could potentially look very different in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as boys and girls I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Batman: The Animated Series fandom wiki page , the official Batman fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great the official Batman fandom wiki page this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from the really great the official Batman fandom wiki page are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid the official Batman fandom wiki page really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.