Batman (1989) Movie Review

There was a time when I would say that I didn’t like superhero movies. I felt they were all the same and didn’t appeal to me. I have completely changed my tune in recent years, thanks to all the great Marvel movies that have been released. This led me to revisit many of the films I had missed over the years. One of the ones that have constantly come up is Batman (1989). I was born in 1989 and never watched this one growing up, so I was curious to see if it was as good as people said it was. This is, after all, a character that has been interpreted in many different ways. After watching it, I realized that some aspects of this film haven’t stood up to the test of time, but I consider it one of the all-time classic superhero movies.

Plot

The basic plot is that Gotham is a city plagued by corruption and organized crime. Bruce Wayne (played by Michael Keaton) pledges to rid the streets of said crime as Batman after witnessing his parents’ murder in his youth. It’s the classic Batman origin story we’ve all heard before. This movie dives into Bruce’s personal life as he meets Vicki Vale (played by Kim Basinger). Vicki is a photojournalist who has become interested in Bruce personally and in Batman professionally. This creates an exciting dynamic as Bruce juggles both personas without giving himself away to Vicki. That ends up being a subplot of the movie as Batman still has to contend with The Joker (played by Jack Nicholson), who is hellbent on destroying Gotham City.

Keaton as Batman

I wondered how much I would enjoy Michael Keaton’s portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman, as I thought he seemed out of place in such a role. Those thoughts proved senseless as Keaton brings a nice balance to the character I didn’t expect to see. Keaton plays a Bruce Wayne who’s almost embarrassed by the role he has to play. He sometimes comes across as nervous and awkward. You get the sense that Bruce doesn’t want to keep this secret that he’s been hiding, but he has to protect the city. Keaton does an equally admirable job playing Batman when he had no other actor to play off of when filling the role. It’s impressive how well he nailed the conflict in the character—his stoic mannerisms as The Caped Crusader were excellently portrayed.

Nicholson Shines

Jack Nicholson was my favorite part Batman (1989). He played a Joker that evolved significantly throughout the movie in a fascinating way. He starts the movie as Jack Napier, a sociopathic mob member. Jack is sent to retrieve evidence by his boss, Carl Grissom, which ends up being a ruse to have Napier murdered for sleeping with his mistress, conducted by a corrupt police lieutenant, Max Eckhardt, in an unauthorized police operation. Napier falls into a vat of chemicals after a battle with Batman on a catwalk, and The Joker is born.

Nicholson delivers an incredible performance that embodies the eccentric ruthlessness this character is known for. He commits acts such as poisoning the city’s food supply and defacing artwork at a museum. His line, “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” is iconically delivered a few times in the film, and it always evokes a sense of danger in a way that you almost hold your breath.

Showing Age

As good as Batman (1989) is, it shows its age in several aspects. The special effects aren’t perfect, especially in the climax, where I had to laugh a bit. It looked like clip art of The Joker. The fight scenes are also rather forgettable. I don’t think the action sequences hold up well at all in this movie. I can’t fault it for being held back by the limitations of the period, but those things are very noticeable today, especially if you’re watching it on a high-quality TV.

There wasn’t a lot of Batman in this movie at all. The focus was more on Vicki and Bruce’s relationship and the evolution of The Joker’s character. That worked out very well for this movie, which turned out to be more of a 2-movie series. We got more character development for Bruce himself before diving fully into Batman as a character in subsequent films.

Final Thoughts

Batman (1989) is one of my favorites. This character portrayal paved the way for the actors that came after and gave us a much more serious version of all the characters than the 1966 movie. It was fantastic to see the Batwing and Batmobile in the form they took in this film (which are still some of my favorite versions of those vehicles). I highly recommend it if you haven’t gone back to watch this one.