Batman (1989)
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Directed by Tim Burton
Written by Sam Hamm
Screenplay by Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren
Insanity is, in some scary way, the most freedom you can have because you're not bound by the laws of society"
-Tim Burton
When Batman came out in 1989, it was nothing less than a phenomenon. It was kind of like the "Star Wars" of superhero films. Everyone went out to see it, and more than once too. The amount of successful merchandising tied to it was beyond belief, and it seemed like everyone had a Batman tee shirt. Nobody was expecting the amount of money it raked in. Everyone seemed to sit up and take notice of it. After Frank Miller and Alan Moore took turns writing dark, mature Batman storylines with The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke , respectively, Tim Burton and Danny Elfman had their dark, mature Batman major motion picture, and superhero films would never be the same.
Batman tells the story—the main story—of its title character and his never-ending quest to foil the plans of the Joker. Michael Keaton portrayed Batman with a weird kind of manic intensity while Jack Nicholson creates a strange blend of psychopath and performer for the Joker. As his character says in the movie, "I make art until someone dies. See? I am the world's first fully functioning homicidal artist." His performance, up till that point in time, was unique and wonderful to watch. It's unfortunate that in later films, actors portraying other villains from Batman's rogues' gallery tried unsuccessfully to imitate Jack's performance villainy and so diminished those films with their attempt that they're largely unwatchable. Jack is unto Jack alone.
Also appearing in this film are Jack Palance and Michael Gough—two veteran actors with loads of experience. Whether they're insidious villains or grandfatherly-type roles, they both do very well (watch City Slickers and Let Him Have It to watch these two reverse roles). Unfortunately, Kim Basinger is also in this film and she doesn't do much aside from shrieking at the top of her lungs every other minute during the action sequences. It gets tiresome quickly.
What doesn't get tiresome is Danny Elfman's soundtrack. While I do admit he phones them in from time to time, Batman has Elfman in his prime—right after creating equally impressive themes for Betelgeuse and Pee Wee's Big Adventure . The other side of the soundtrack was written by Prince. While imagining a blend of Prince and Elfman seems almost incomprehensible, Tim Burton manages to get them working together in a way that is not only aggressively unique, but also downright fun. Two scenes in particular come to mind—the murder of dozens of people in an art gallery followed by the destruction of all its art pieces, and a parade through Gotham City complete with oversized balloons filled with a lethal doses of noxious gas. Both seem in the writing to be so gruesome they'd be unpleasant to watch for anyone, but Prince's music is blasting and Jack Nicholson is whirling around like a dervish, and even as the bodies start dropping, I suddenly realize that I haven't had this much fun in years.