Batman (1989) - Review and Analysis

Background

            The first Batman movie is one of my favorite films of all time. My early experience with it is probably like many very young kids during the summer of 1989. I can remember being 4 years old and seeing commercials for it on the small TV with my parents in our small apartment in the suburbs of our city. I still remember visiting the local Cineplex and the Batman t-shirt I got along with the Batman doll and action figures. I even collected the trading cards and ate the Batman cereal. Yes, I was only 4 years old in 1989, but remember desperately clinging to as much of the Bat-mania as possible. I lived for this movie. It’s what got me interested in learning about and reading superhero comics. As a result it can be difficult as an adult to analyze and examine the film critically without running into pure nostalgia. Anyway, I’ve had a lot of time to think about this flick, so I’m giving it a shot.

Influences on the film

This movie presents a Batman that is tonally and visually influenced by the comic books of the 1970s and 1980s, but with special attention paid to themes from roughly the first year of Batman’s history featured from Detective Comics #27 to Detective Comics #37, and the first issue of Batman comics which debuted in Spring of 1940, featuring the first appearance of the Joker. 

            Because of Tim Burton’s vision of Batman, audiences were treated to a visually stunning, Gothic world where human monsters lurked in the shadows and political corruption ran rampant. These pulpy motifs had existed in the source material very early on—1939 to very early 1941—and then—barring a nearly three decade slide into camp—continued from 1969 onward. These pulp-inspired stories would help to make the Batman mythos, grim, dramatic and mysterious. This version of Batman was truly a dark, brooding vigilante that deserved to be taken as seriously as the best literature.

            Burton’s film gives us an approximation of the Batman of the 40’s with elements from the Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams period of the 70’s and the Frank Miller influence from the 80’s. It’s an approximation of the comics but not a faithful adaptation. The whole piece is viewed through the cultural prism and excess that was the decade of the 1980's, as well as Burton’s own eccentrically operatic vision. The melding of these elements gives the film a timeless quality or, more accurately, a film that presents a world out of time and outside of our reality.

The movie paid homage to the darker, psychological themes that had been thrust upon Batman with groundbreaking works like The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, The Killing Joke and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. The actual story however was a revision of several scripts that had gone all the way back to screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz’1983 draft, inspired almost directly by the Detective Comics run now collectively known as Strange Apparitions, [published in Detective Comics #469 to #476] by Steve Englehart et al.  

The Production

            Thanks to the persistence of producer, Michael Uslan, Warner Bros. had been serious about making a Batman movie since at least 1983 when they hired Superman: The Movie scribe, Tom Mankiewicz to pen the first draft of what would become the Batman movie. Mankiewicz’ script was the same three act structure that he had patented with his Superman script. In Act One of the very first script, we meet Bruce as a child, his parents and see their murder. Act Two sees Bruce training briefly before descending upon Gotham as The Batman. In the Final Act, Batman confronts and defeats the Joker and The Penguin while saving the love interest, Silver St. Cloud. After nine rewrites of the original script, Warner Bros. hired Tim Burton in 1985 to direct. The famed director enlisted his girlfriend, Julie Hickson to write a treatment that went nowhere.

        In 1986, Steve Englehart was hired to write two treatments, again primarily based upon his legendary run with Marshall Rogers. Using these treatments, Burton then brought Sam Hamm, a screenwriter and comics fan, to punch up a completely new script, that still kept a few elements of previous scripts. This would serve as the basic shooting script that later went through even more rewrites during actual filming by other writers.

       In casting the film, producers apparently had Jack Nicholson in mind as the Joker from the beginning, though other names like Brad Dourif, David Bowie and Willem Dafoe were briefly considered. One of the most controversial casting decisions was Michael Keaton, a primarily comedic actor, as Batman. His performance as Bruce Wayne was interesting and fit the film but it was his turn as Batman where he really shined. His is the only live action version of the Dark Knight that feels like the comics’ version of the 70’s and 80’s.

 Review and Analysis

            The movie opens with an interesting aesthetic. As the credits roll, the viewer is transported through a cavernous, stone-like crevice that is finally revealed to be a version of the Bat insignia inspired by Gothic architecture. This is a hint at Burton’s vision. It illustrates the eccentric, artistic mood that the director is trying to establish. This motif is urban and expressionistic, hinting at the set pieces that will later dominate the film. On top of this visual curiosity is one of the best film scores ever written. The operatic main title theme, a march composed by the great Danny Elfman, is a masterpiece.

           

The first scene is probably the most pure expression of Batman ever put to live-action film. We open to a view of Gotham City that is at once pure German expressionism but also not too far off from how the city sometimes appeared in the comics by the mid 1970s. A family hurries through the streets of Gotham City and into a dark alley, where they are mugged. Two thugs knock out the patriarch and disappear into the night with the man’s wallet. They then hide out on a rooftop to count their spoils only to be stalked and confronted by The Dark Knight. This scene was lifted from a story called “Night of the Stalker” in Detective Comics #439, written by Steve Englehart. Keaton’s delivery of the line “I’m Batman” is perfect and his whispery Batman voice is second only to Kevin Conroy’s from Batman: the Animated Series.

            The film moves on to introduce the supporting cast:

-  Billy Dee Williams is an inspired choice to play the famed district attorney, Harvey Dent. Unfortunately, like most supporting characters in this film, he is given very little purpose. I can only imagine what his Two-Face would have been like.

- Pat Hingle plays Commissioner James Gordon really in name only and without any of the pathos, toughness or charm that is so inherent in the character from the comics. I’m sure any other actor would have done just fine in such a one-dimensional role.

- Kim Basinger really tries to portray Vicki Vale as a smart, confident, career minded woman of the 1980’s and she mostly succeeds. However, because of getting caught between Batman and the Joker, her character falls flat. She has a lot more to do, and is given more screen time as a love interest than most other female roles in superhero movies, but, by the end, she comes off as little more than a damsel in distress. She screams and yelps in this movie more than any other woman in film, outside of the horror genre.

- Robert Wuhl as Alexander Knox is interesting. He’s almost a throwaway character and mostly exists as a hanger on to Vicki as she obsesses over Bruce Wayne and tries to investigate Batman. Knox does serve one important function however. He represents the average Gotham citizen, powerless to have any effect on the events going on around him and yet curious as to whom Batman is and how the Harlequin of Hate’s mad scheme will be stopped. Wuhl’s portrayal of the reporter is quirky and expository. The film would probably be less interesting without him. 

- Michael Gough as Alfred is great. He plays much more the butler side of the character here than the aid to Batman that, in the comics, often helps his master in his war on crime. He gives a very nuanced performance in places and comes off as much more of a father figure.

- Lee Wallace as Mayor Borg serves no real function in the film, except to act as the central authority figure for the city and preside over the planning of Gotham’s bicentennial celebration. Another role than anybody could have played.

- Carl Grissom is an interesting analogue for Rupert Thorne. Jack Palance is particularly menacing as the head mobster. His sense of menace and presence add a dramatic flair to each of his scenes. 

The main subplot of the movie, the planning of Gotham’s bicentennial celebration is really just filler for what really matters: the introduction of the Joker and his battle with Batman.

The benefit gala at Wayne Manner only serves to introduce Bruce Wayne and underline his awkwardness, isolation and brooding nature. It’s interesting to see how Bruce reacts to Vicki, Knox and the whole party. The man is really just a shell of a person until he becomes Batman. Batman being the real person and Bruce as a façade is a theory on the character that has existed since at least the early to mid 70’s when writer Len Wein was writing the character. Keaton’s portrayal as Bruce Wayne is nothing like the comic book incarnation, but it works here since the film is such a depressed and moody piece.

The next scene, the action packed Axis Chemical Plant scene, is the best scene in the film and one of my favorite scenes of all time in any movie. This is a very briskly paced, well-shot set of sequences. This scene serves 2 purposes: establish Batman further, i.e. give the main character more screen time and highlight the creation of the Clown Prince of Crime, who is the true star of the film. It’s Batman verses the mob and shows his ultimate mistake in taking part in the creation of the Joker. Keaton looks and moves great in a foam rubber batsuit that is essentially just a black version of the Neal Adams costume from the 70’s. Keaton’s Batman is a lone, obsessed vigilante, a close approximation of his comic book counterpart. 

The date between Bruce and Vicki is very awkward. The dining room scene is supposed to illustrate that Bruce is out of touch and repressed but it creates an unnecessary tension to Bruce Wayne that is not very likable. He’s too tortured to be relatable and it makes me wonder how someone like that could have the energy, strength and will to train for years, to wear a batsuit and fight crime.

The plastic surgery scene where Jack Napier truly becomes the Joker is disturbing. The whole sequence is framed like an old silent horror films. An underworld surgeon with substandard tools has performed facial reconstruction surgery and is now horrified by the famous ghastly grin of the Joker. Just like in the original comics, the Joker looks into a mirror and is driven mad enough to become a literal clown. The moment when he sees himself for the first time, and that laugh, give us the first true taste of the playful, maniacal nature of Joker on screen.

           The Joker/Boss Carl Grissom scene is actually creepy. Up to now, Jack Nicholson, as the mobster, Jack Napier, was just playing Jack Nicholson. Once he transforms into the Clown Prince of Crime however, he really begins to shine. When he steps out of the elevator he is funny yet moody, homicidal yet zany. This Joker, more than any other portrayal ever, is closest to the Joker from the Bronze Age of comics. His look and costume is very reminiscent of the character as drawn by Jim Aparo et al in the 70’s and 80’s. This scene is where Nicholson begins to steal the show. His Joker is the best part of this film.

Bruce and Vicki sleeping together hearkens back to the Bruce Wayne/Silver St. Cloud liaison hinted at in Detective Comics #471. Batman hanging upside down on the metal framework is probably more of a Tim Burton inclusion, making literal the bat aspect of the Batman.

The boardroom scene, a scene that was included in a lot of comics based movies that followed this one (Dick Tracy, The Phantom and Spider-man are examples), is exciting. It’s another chance to see the Joker’s craziness. Probably more than any other scene, this gives us a chance to see, if he has one, Joker’s motivation. He wants to become top dog in the Gotham underworld. 

When Vicki follows Bruce Wayne into Crime Alley we see the first glimpse of a tortured, sad Bruce Wayne. This torment offers the most logical explanation as to why this version of Bruce Wayne became Batman. As in the books, Bruce’s loss affected him so profoundly that he stepped into a vigilante role, attempting on a nightly basis to scare the hell out of the wicked and right the wrongs done to average citizens.

 The scene where the Joker hacks the television station and broadcasts on every TV in Gotham is classic Joker. The Joker has appeared in countless comic book stories announcing on TV his latest scheme or that someone was going to die. The Joker toxin was also used innumerably throughout the characters history to produce a frozen grin on his victims.

            Bruce Wayne never really gets the chance in this movie to be a detective. We see him study Jack Napier’s police file and, late in the film, we see him put it together that it was Jack Napier who killed his parents at a young age (something that fans still can’t rightfully forgive). How he concludes that the tainted beauty products are part of a compound and only toxic when mixed is never explained.

Note: Batman’s parents being murdered by the Joker and not by Joe Chill, as it was in the comics, is a sore point with many fans, myself included, but it is a classic convention in fiction. Connecting the hero to the villain by having them share in each other’s origin or personal tragedy builds complex drama and pathos. Whether it works in this movie is another matter. 

The Flugelheim Museum scene culminates in another impressive action sequence. Defacing priceless works of art and dancing playfully to the music of Prince is weird. The Prince music really dates the film but Joker’s men look great in those purple leather jackets. Joker meeting Vicki, reviewing her work and then threatening her when she refuses to help him is also great. Joker’s ambition to become “the world’s first fully functioning homicidal artist” is something that comic book Joker might actually try. Batman crashing through the skylight, saving Vicki and the reveal of the batmobile (let’s be honest, the coolest car ever put to screen) is an amazing sequence for Batman fans. The car chase is fun and the battle with the Joker’s men is a blast!

Bruce confronting Vicki in her apartment ultimately is just a setup for Joker’s arrival to pine over Vicki and taunt Bruce Wayne. The question “You ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight?” is one of film’s all-time great lines and it shows how Joker’s more serious moments always descend into silliness. Keaton’s attempt to intimidate the Joker with “You wanna get nuts, c’mon, let’s get nuts,” is just overacting and just not that funny.

Vicki figures out that Bruce is Batman by studying the murder of his parents with Knox at the newsroom. How is this discovery the reason why she ultimately decides she loves him?

When Mayor Borg announces plans to continue with the 200^th Birthday Gala and Joker interrupts, this is again classic Joker. This is another case of Jack playing Jack. The Joker adopts a very serious manner when he challenges Batman to the “Big Dukaroo.” Bruce is of course watching this and begins to brood. This is the moment where he recalls his parent’s murder and realizes that Jack is the killer. Wow! What a detective! Good call, Batman. This totally connects the hero to the villain, which is something that was prevalent in 80’s action flicks.

Vicki shows up in the batcave (Congratulations, Alfred. YOU ARE FIRED). This does serve to add a little more depth to their romance, but for a guy who wants to remain hidden, both literally and emotionally, why did Alfred let her in?

Batman suits up and proceeds to KILL nearly ¾ of the Joker’s goons. The batmobile driving to the chemical plant and blowing it up is outrageous. Batman in the comics, at least since the mid 1940’s, possessed a strict moral code against killing. This was thanks to editor, Sheldon Moldoff, and later the introduction of the Comics Code in the 1950’s. Batman had not really killed since his earliest days but at one point in his history, the very first year, he was a indeed a murderer. So, YES! THERE WAS A PRECEDENT FOR BATMAN KILLING! Since this movie is based largely on early Batman, it makes sense for this movie, right? Right! Besides, this movie is from the 80’s so the Rambo/action-movie influence should not be ignored.

The 200^th Birthday Gala kicks off with the Joker balloons. The balloons are definitely reminiscent of classic Joker appearances from the 70’s. The murder of Bob the Goon was so sudden and unexpected that it’s a total gut-punch moment. I’ve always felt that the batwing in this film was awesome looking. The shot of the plane against the moon to form the bat-insignia is a classic image.

The Joker’s elongated trick pistol shooting down the bat-plane is nonsense. Batman’s targeting system sucks. He had the Joker perfectly targeted and completely missed him.

From the time that the batwing crashes to the point where Batman finally confronts the Joker I am left just marking time. For me, it is tedious to watch. That whole sequence is overlong and kind of boring. Batman fighting a few of the henchmen in the bell tower just drags on. 

The final battle isn’t very impressive either. Joker’s false teeth and the fake hand gag recall the comics, and the impressive set piece of the Gothic Cathedral recalls Phantom of the Opera. Those are both fun aspects to the scene, but in the end the Dark Knight just trades barbs with his archenemy before knocking him onto a ledge and it is just kind of predictable and flat. Given how brutal Batman has been throughout the rest of this flick, attaching Joker’s foot to a gargoyle via a bat-line while the villain attempts escape in the Joker-copter, to cause the Joker’s ultimate death is no surprise. Batman also probably kills almost as many people in this film as the villain.

In the end, Vicki says goodbye to Knox and gets escorted away in the Rolls Royce by Alfred. Batman gives police a gorgeous looking Bat-signal and stands heroically on a parapetic structure, his cape flowing in the wind, a classic Batman image. The closing theme, like the rest of the score, is some of the best film music I have ever heard. Panning upward and through Gothic city buildings is an amazing way to end such a Gothic feature.  

Overall, this movie is style over substance without much plot. I suppose you could base the entire film’s theme on obsession and madness and how dramatic events and tragedy can drive people over the edge to vigilantism and insanity. Either way, the plot is not really evident. That being said, it has such an impressive visual style that I am able to forgive nearly all of the movie’s shortcomings. How much of that is out of nostalgia and growing up with this film and how much of that is truly enjoyment of the movie, I can’t decide. I rate this film 4 out of 5 stars.