Batman Movies part II: The Burton films

In the 1970's and 80's, no one took the idea of a serious Batman movie, well, seriously. After the self-parodying Adam West show, everyone thought Batman was a campy, family-friendly, poorly-written superhero comic. That was exactly the opposite. In the late 60's, DC got a new editor: Julius Schwartz. Julius was responsible for the re-designs on Green Lantern and Flash, and bringing back the dark, brooding Batman of the early comics. Schwartz hired Denny O'Neill and Neil Adams to do some Batman stories, and they created the modern Batman. The stories in these new comics were dark, realistic, and more current, and knew that the audience for comics was growing, no longer just kids' play, and that teenage readers needed more intelligent comics to read. One of these stories actually deals with Batman taking down a neo-Nazi war criminal who is murdering the Jewish people of Gotham City. This led to some darker Batman material in the 80's, including Frank Miller's masterful graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns, about Batman returning to Gotham after a ten-year absence, and Alan Moore (writer of Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and V for Vendetta) and Brian Bolland's dark novella The Killing Joke, where The Joker's origin is revealed, which coincides with a plot that follows him trying to drive Commissioner Gordon insane (including crippling his daughter, Batgirl). These are the two graphic novels that inspired Tim Burton to make his Batman film. After fighting long and hard for their dark Batman film, Burton, producer and comics expert Michael E. Uslan, writer Sam Hamm, and producer Peter Guber saw their vision come to fruition in 1989.

Batman:
One of the most highly anticipated films ever, and one of the most successful, Burton's Batman is a masterpiece. The plot follows criminal and psychotic gangster Jack Napier's scheme to overthrow his boss, Carl Grissom. When Grissom finds out, he has Jack killed in the Axis chemical factory, dumped in a vat of acidic waste. He actually is transformed into the even more psychotic criminal and super villain The Joker, who tries to poison Gotham and kill the mob bosses who betrayed him. Meanwhile, the eccentric but popular billionaire Bruce Wayne is last on the cops' list of suspects that could be the violent vigilante Batman, who punishes Gotham's criminals by night. Batman has been attacking the Gotham mobs for quite some time now, but must stop the Joker, the bigger threat and finds he has some mysterious connection to The Joker. A sub-plot is that Bruce and Joker also fight for the affections of beautiful reporter Vicki Vale. The cast is perfect. Jack Nicholson got top billing as the archvillain Joker, and is perfectly cast. Every movie he's in, he plays some sort of crazy motherfucker, and this is no exception. This was the craziest he had gotten since Kubrick's The Shining. He has that creepy, deranged look to him already, now he's a creepy clown with a permanent grin. Michael Keaton is the one of the best, if not the best live-action Batman ever. He's so naturally cool, mysterious, and threatening. He's also the only Batman that can smile, and still be bad-ass and scary. It just says : "That's right, your ass is mine." (You don't see Christian Bale doing that in the new Batman movies.) He was actually one of the controversies during the release. Everyone was focused on the fact that he was a comedian and was in the family comedy Mr. Mom. But after Burton had him in Beetlejuice, the studio saw how diverse he could get, and signed him on. Kim Basinger is good as Vicki Vale, she's smart, sweet, but can still do shit on her own, and isn't a pushover, but she still does need saving sometimes, but her constant screaming is extremely annoying. Pat Hingle is a decent Commissioner Gordon, but when in the comics did he get so large? Jesus, I mean, just do a comic-to-film comparison, it's very noticeable. One problem I have with these older Batman films is they don't go into any depth about Batman and Gordon's close relationship, which pisses me off because that's a big deal in the comics and almost every other media adaptation. Robert Wuhl is funny as Batman-obsessed reporter Alexander Knox. Michael Gough (a veteran of Hammer horror) plays Alfred, Bruce's loving, caring, and intelligent British butler and assistant, just like family to Bruce. William Hootkins plays the cynical and crooked cop Eckhardt. Jack Palance is great as the smart, smooth, and selfish crime boss Carl Grissom. Billy Dee Williams plays Harvey Dent, black in this version, and his character is sort of saved for a sequel that never happened. Tracey Walter plays the awesome and cool background character Bob the Goon, Joker's right-hand man. He does literally nothing, and he gets his own action figure. That demonstrates how cool Bob is. The action in the film is surprisingly little, but when it happens, it's bad-ass and comic book-like. The music in the film has that brooding, dark feel that Danny Elfman usually brings, and has a few notes that makes you feel like its pumping you up for action. The special effects are few and far between, but when they're used, like the Batwing, they're not that bad. They're that kind of nostalgia-inducing special effects, that remind how effects used to be done. This movie, altogether, is a big, bad-ass, and brooding comic book movie. The definitive Batman movie. 5/5 stars.

Batman Returns:
This film was the really controversial one. It had Happy Meal promotions even though it had gruesome violence and mature themes. But, passed all the hype that it's the "most disturbing and violent of the Batman films" let's really look at this movie, which I feel is underrated. The plot follows Oswald Cobblepot , a newborn rich kid, who is dumped by his parents in the sewers for being deformed and beastly. Raised by Penguins and circus folk, Penguin returns to Gotham 30 years later, now the leader of a psychotic circus gang, ready for revenge. Meanwhile, evil business tycoon Max Schrek (named after the main actor in the German horror film Nosferatu) kills his quirky secretary Selina Kyle after she finds out his plans to dump toxic sewage in the city bay. Somehow resurrected with nine lives, Selina becomes Catwoman, a violent and psychotic antihero/villain who has a love-hate relationship with Batman. Schrek tries to exploit the Penguin by having him run for mayor, and the city turn against Batman when he is framed for murder by the Penguin and Catwoman. But after Batman exposes the Penguin for the psychotic villain he is, the Penguin goes back to his revenge plans, and everything goes to hell. The cast is, again, great. Michael Keaton is even more dark and brooding than ever. Danny DeVito is empathetic, but also disturbing and disgusting as the deformed Penguin. Turned from gentleman gangster to deformed crime boss, the Penguin is an infanticidal, disgusting and nasty villain, but we still feel bad for him. You don't really hate him, but you don't really like him either. Speaking of love-hate relationships, Michelle Pheiffer is the perfect Catwoman. She's smart, sexy, but still very unstable and crazy, making her an interesting challenge for Batman. Pat Hingle and Michael Gough return as Gordon and Alfred, two lovable side characters. Christopher Walken is great as the psychotic and pure evil businessman Max Schrek. The action is more bad-ass and violent than in the first film, and the special effects and makeup are fantastic. The music is still dark, brooding, and Burton-esque. This theme was so good, that Elfman went on to compose a similar theme for the Batman:TAS show. Altogether, the entire movie is good, a bit too dark and mature for younger kids, but it's a great Batman movie, so, if you love dark movies, Tim Burton, action movies, comics, or Batman, check out Batman Returns! 4.5/5 stars.

Next: The Schumacher and Nolan films!