With only a few short weeks till The Dark Knight Rises hits the screens this summer and completes the trilogy which so many of us have been excited about, I thought it would be a great time to look back on the Bat.
Everyone’s favourite winged avenger has had a long and varied cinematic history, and sadly not one that has been to every fan’s taste. However it’s a history, which for me at least, is very special. As a film lover and film student, one of my earliest memories of film is of the Tim Burton Batman, and as such I wanted to start with this classic.
My closest friends will know I have a strong opinion of what makes Batman great, and as such the reason I am starting with this one is because the Adam West Batman infuriates me. And I think that it was the Burton Batman that started to shape my ideas about what he should be like, how he should look as well as very importantly, who he should face.
Released in 1989, I was 4 at the time, this film paved the way for what many comic book lovers now hold dear. Lets not forget that it was this film that inspired the highly acclaimed Batman: The animated series, which in turn gave us the whole DC animated universe.
The first character we are introduced to is actually the score, composed by Danny Elfman, as it grows over the title credits. Its sets the mood for the rest of the film straight away, swelling heroically with deep, dark rumbling tones. The score is so memorable, its one of few themes I know of to very clearly stay with you long after the closing credits. It continues to set the mood as the second, even more oppressing character is introduced.
Gotham is established early on as a force to be reckoned with on its own. With it’s huge looming gothic towers, the citizens that swarm its street looking vulnerable as they run the gauntlet of their everyday lives. This is a place so corrupt Hookers come on to kids in the street. This is the breeding ground for crime, and what happens as a foreshadowing of Bruce’s own parents in the alleyway, comes as no surprise. That a family would be preyed upon and mugged seems commonplace in a city such as this. Its subtle, but it mirrors the later flashback brilliantly. Mother, father and son emerge from a theatre, the same theatre Bruce exits many years before, head down an alley and are cornered by a thug at gun point. What happens next does seem familiar in the more recent films.
Chris Nolan may have taken more inspiration from this film then many would have believed, as much like in Batman Begins, Tim Burton made much of the action take place from the criminal’s perspective. The first time he is seen, he is stoic, menacing and predatory. He takes out the criminals with little effort, even toying with them to maximise the fear he strikes into them. Bruce Wayne is something else entirely however.
His portrayal is less then perfect , which is complicated as both batman and Bruce Wayne are the same person, just different sides of the same coin. Early in his very separate introduction, you could argue that Bruce is an idiot. He is intensely focused on another characters entrance to the point that he becomes exceptionally clumsy, tipping over glasses and stabbing pens into flowerpots. He is either using this as an exception cover for his nightlife or just dim witted. If it’s the latter it does give some credibility to behaviour he displays throughout the film as often he is seen as being reactive rather then active to event as they unfold. He does display moments of detective prowess, managing to decipher the Joker’s chemical killing formula, but he is more often then not called out to action or festivals rather then out looking for trouble.
And the man causing the trouble is the joker, a legendary performance by the larger then life Jack Nicholson. The film dares to give the joker a back-story not present in the comics, allowing him to be humanised rather then a force of nature he does come across as depicted elsewhere. He does come across as your typical 1930s gangster you would not want to meet in a dark alley, but he only really comes to life once Jack Napier meets his death. His rebirth in the back alley plastic surgery must be one of the more disturbing reveals of a character in comic book movies to date. It is clear how much fun a character like the joker is to play, giving whoever has the opportunity to play him wonderful moment to unleash the inner chaos. And Nicholson grabbed that opportunity with both hands, chewing the scenery whenever he is on screen. One of the most memorable Joker moments occurs half obscured by skin coloured makeup, in front of a board of criminal kingpins. The evil masked by the grotesque grin radiates from him more and more resulting in the roasting of a fellow gangster, and as if a response to being asked about being crazy he has a deeply disturbing conversation with a charred corpse.
The demonic theatricality he demonstrates throughout the film hides a brilliant mind, actually giving credibility to his actions and schemes. The files showing his knowledge of chemistry and other sciences, though only briefly on screen, give some much needed exposition that many would have glossed over and left as a plot hole. If it wasn’t for Bruce’s billions, the Jokers question “Where does he get those wonderful toys?” would also remain relatively unanswered.
The production design of the film, including these wonderful toys and the batcave all show exceptional thought. The zipline gun for example isn’t small and streamlined like it would have appeared in the comics but actually rather large and clunky, something which could well have existed at that time. And the wide open, dark and brilliantly established Cave is a perfect hiding hole for someone such as Keaton’s Wayne who broods in the darkness ALOT. This is made all the more striking when Ying and Yang meet here, after a brief confrontation in the final act, Kim Basinger who plays the love interest Vicki Vale, all in white and a light flowing dress sticks out like a flash light in the bats natural habitat.
Now as much as I have glowed about this film, with hindsight it does have a few glaring omissions of the Batman code. From an early age I knew one rule of batman. No killing. He isn’t the punisher and he could very easily be, given a few nudges in the right direction. But he has a strict code of Justice, one he may think is a broken system but one he must adhere to else become what he actually despises. So when ol’ bats whips out machine gun and rocket launcher features of his brilliant looking Batwing, and fires them at the joker, you can not in your wildest delusions believe he is using them to shoot him in the leg to incapacitate him. No, he wants to blow him up! The fact that all the money in the world, a world where you can build a plane in the shape of your own logo, he couldn’t actually afford an aiming device that works. The fact that all these shots whiz harmlessly by is actually irrelevant, the intent to kill was there! Seriously, the joker with a gun barrel so ridiculous as the one he magically pulls from his pants has better aim then the computer tracking system of the batwing. This continues with the battle in the belfry. The one and only time our hero is in genuine peril is against a mountain of a henchman, one who unlike pretty much everyone else he has met, he cannot pummel into the ground with minimal effort. His response? He punishes him for being bigger and stronger by dropping him down the bell tower.
Overcome by rage when he finally confronts the killer of his parents he even attempts to kill him, only after beating him savagely first, by punching him over the edge of the building. Granted it was an unsuccessful attempt at murder, but if nothing else, Batman isn’t a quitter! He can’t be let off the hook that easily, as it is his handy gadget that snags the jokers leg and ultimately leads to his vertigo inducing death.
Now, in the grand scheme of things, this may only be a small thing, but the ideal of actually upholding the law and allowing these maniacs to be judged and sentenced means he isn’t just another lunatic running around who is just as bad as the villains he terrorises.
Overall, this moody, dark, and visually distinctive film may just very well be the reason for many of my own little idiosyncrasies, and no doubt, if you cherish this film as much as I do, many of yours dear readers. For all its few faults it still lasts and shines as bright in the comic book movie history pages as the bat signal itself.