BATMAN

PRIVACY POLICY

2009-02-19T02:56:00.000-08:00

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THE DARK KNIGHT (2008) - Review

2009-02-18T20:33:00.000-08:00

A Warner Bros. release, presented in association with Legendary Pictures, of a Syncopy production. Produced by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, Christopher Nolan. Executive producers, Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy, Thomas Tull. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Screenplay, Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan; story, Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer, based upon characters appearing in comicbooks published by DC Comics, "Batman" created by Bob Kane.

CAST:
Bruce Wayne - Christian Bale
Joker - Heath Ledger
Harvey Dent - Aaron Eckhart
Alfred - Michael
Caine Rachel - Maggie Gyllenhaal (English, Mandarin dialogue)
Gordon - Gary Oldman Lucius Fox - Morgan Freeman

Having memorably explored the Caped Crusader’s origins in “Batman Begins,” director Christopher Nolacn puts all of Gotham City under a microscope in “The Dark Knight,” the enthralling second installment of his bold, bracing and altogether heroic reinvention of the iconic franchise. An ambitious, full-bodied crime epic of gratifying scope and moral complexity, this is seriously brainy pop entertainment that satisfies every expectation raised by its hit predecessor and then some. That should also hold true at the box office, with Heath Ledger’s justly anticipated turn as the Joker adding to the must-see excitement surrounding the Warner Bros. release.

With the Bruce Wayne/Batman backstory firmly established, “The Dark Knight” fans out to take a broader perspective on Gotham City -- portrayed as a seething cauldron of interlocking power structures and criminal factions in the densely layered but remarkably fleet screenplay by helmer Nolan and brother Jonathan (stepping in for “Batman Begins’” David S. Goyer, who gets a story credit).

Using five strongly developed characters to anchor a drama with life-or-death implications for the entire metropolis, the Nolans have taken Bob Kane’s comicbook template and crafted an anguished, eloquent meditation on ideas of justice and power, corruption and anarchy and, of course, the need for heroes like Batman -- a question never in doubt for the viewer, but one posed rather often by the citizens of Gotham.

Indeed, with trusty Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman, superbly restrained) and golden-boy District Attorney Harvey Dent (a cocksure Aaron Eckhart) successfully spearheading the city’s crackdown on the mob, even Wayne himself (Christian Bale) figures his nights moonlighting as a leather-clad vigilante are numbered. The young billionaire hopes to hang up the Batsuit for good and renew his relationship with assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, an immediate improvement over Katie Holmes), who has taken up with Dent in the meantime.

But Batman’s stature as a radical symbol of good has invited a more sinister criminal presence to Gotham City -- and, as seen in the crackerjack bank-robbery sequence that opens the pic, one who operates in terrifyingly unpredictable ways. Utterly indifferent to simple criminal motivations like greed, Ledger’s maniacally murderous Joker is as pure an embodiment of irrational evil as any in modern movies. He’s a pitiless psychopath who revels in chaos and fears neither pain nor death, a demonic prankster for whom all the world’s a punchline.After Ledger’s death in January, his penultimate performance (with Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” still to come) will be viewed with both tremendous excitement and unavoidable sadness. It’s a tribute to Ledger’s indelible work that he makes the viewer entirely forget the actor behind the cracked white makeup and blood-red rictus grin, so complete and frightening is his immersion in the role. With all due respect to the enjoyable camp buffoonery of past Jokers like Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson, Ledger makes them look like -- well, clowns.

The pic shrewdly positions the Joker as the superhero-movie equivalent of a modern terrorist (one of several post-9/11 signifiers), who threatens to target Gotham civilians until Batman reveals his identity. Batman, Gordon and Dent uneasily join forces, but the Joker seems to have the upper hand at every step, even from a jail cell; the city, turning against the hero it once looked to for hope, seems more fractious, vulnerable and dangerous than ever.rer
Though more linear than “Memento” and “The Prestige” (both also co-scripted by the Nolans), “The Dark Knight” pivots with similar ingenuity on a breathless series of twists and turns, culminating in a dramatic shift for Dent. This subplot reps the film’s weakest link, packing too much psychological motivation into too little screen time to be entirely credible. Yet Eckhart vividly inhabits the character’s sad trajectory, underscoring the film’s point that symbols of good can be all too easily tarnished.

From Wayne’s playful debates with faithful butler Alfred (Michael Caine) about the public perception of Batman to the Joker’s borderline-poetic musings on his own bottomless sadism, the characters almost seem to be carrying on a debate about the complicated realities of good vs. evil, and the heavy burden shouldered by those fighting for good. One of the few action filmmakers who’s capable of satisfying audiences beyond the fanboy set, Nolan honors his serious themes to the end; he bravely closes the story with both Gotham City and the narrative in tatters, making this the rare sequel that genuinely deserves another.

Viewers who found “Batman Begins” too existentially weighty for its own good will be refreshed to know that “The Dark Knight” hits the ground running and rarely lets up over its swift 2½-hour running time. Nolan directs the action more confidently than he did the first time out, orchestrating all manner of vertiginous mid-air escapes and virtuosic highway setpieces (and unleashing Batman’s latest ooh-ah contraption, the monster-truck-tire-equipped Bat-Pod). In a fresh innovation, six sequences were shot using Imax cameras, and will presumably look smashing in the giant-screen format (pic was reviewed from a 35mm print).

Though not as obsessively detailed as “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight” shares with that film a robust physicality and a commitment to taking violence seriously; a brief shot of bruises and scrapes on Bale’s torso conveys as much impact as any of the film’s brutal confrontations. Bale himself is less central figure than ensemble player, but the commandingly charismatic thesp continues to put his definitive stamp on the role, and also has devilish fun playing up Wayne’s playboy persona.

Tech work is at the first entry’s high standard, with many artists reprising their contributions here -- from Nathan Crowley’s imposing production design, shown to flattering effect in Wally Pfister’s gleaming widescreen compositions, to the propulsively moody score by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. Perhaps most impressive is Lee Smith’s editing, confidently handling multiple lines of action and cutting for maximum impact.
Exteriors were lensed in Chicago aside from an early, plot-necessitated detour to Hong Kong, which marks the first time in a Batman film that the title character has left Gotham City.

Camera (Technicolor, Panavision widescreen, Imax), Wally Pfister; editor, Lee Smith; music, Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard; production designer, Nathan Crowley; supervising art directors, Kevin Kavanaugh, Simon Lamont; art directors, Mark Bartholomew, James Hambidge, Craig Jackson, Steven Lawrence, Naaman Marshall; set decorator, Peter Lando; costume designer, Lindy Hemming; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS Digital/SDDS), Ed Novick; sound designer/supervising sound editor, Richard King; re-recording mixers, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo; visual effects supervisor, Nick Davis; visual effects, Double Negative, Framestore, Buf Compagnie, Cinesite (Europe); special effects supervisor, Chris Corbould; miniature effects and photography, New Deal Studios; stunt coordinators, Paul Jennings, Rick LeFevour, Tom Struthers; associate producer, Jordan Goldberg; assistant director, Nilo Otero; casting, John Papsidera. Reviewed at Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, July 3, 2008. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 152 MIN.
With: Monique Gabriela Curnen, Ron Dean, Cillian Murphy, Chin Han, Nestor Carbonell, Eric Roberts, Ritchie Coster, Anthony Michael Hall, Keith Szarabajka, Colin McFarlane, Joshua Harto, Melinda McGraw, Nathan Gamble.
(English, Mandarin dialogue)

BATMAN BEGINS - Review

2009-02-18T05:34:00.000-08:00

Directed by Christopher Nolan; written by Nolan, David S. Goyer from a story by Goyer, based on Batman characters created by Bob Kane and published by DC Comics; photographed by Wally Pfister; edited by Lee Smith; production designed by Nathan Crowley; supervising art director, Simon Lamont; music by Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard; produced by Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Larry Franco. A Warner Bros. release of a Syncopy production; opens 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Running time: 2:20. MPAA rating: PG-13 (for intense action, violence, disturbing images and some thematic elements).

CAST:
Bruce Wayne/Batman - Christian Bale
Alfred - Michael Caine
Henri Ducard - Liam Neeson
Rachel Dawes - Katie Holmes
Jim Gordon - Gary Oldman
Dr. Jonathan Crane - Cillian Murphy
Carmine Falcone - Tom Wilkinson
Richard Earle - Rutger Hauer
Ra's al Ghul - Ken Watanabe
Lucius Fox - Morgan Freeman

In "Batman Begins," which re-ignites the bat-saga, Christian Bale is the new face of the bat-guy and his secret identity Bruce Wayne, following Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney in the latest movies, and Adam West on the '60s TV show. And Bale's is a grimmer, tauter, more serious face, swallowed up in the shadows of a darker, tauter, more serious movie. He's a wounded man hell-bent on revenge against the evil world that slaughtered his parents and scarred him.

The series fizzled out back in 1997, with the featherweight "Batman and Robin" -- in which Clooney drove the Batmobile and Arnold Schwarzenegger lamely cavorted as campy villain Dr. Freeze. Director-co-writer Christopher Nolan ("Memento") transforms it into one of the artier, more noir-drenched, psychologically tortured and memorable of all the recent big comic-book hero movies.
It's the best of the Batman series since director Tim Burton moved on after 1992: a violently kinetic, eerie portrait of a revenge-driven, two-faced hero -- frivolous playboy socialite Bruce Wayne by day and masked crime-fighter Batman by night -- waging pathological warfare against the fiendish master criminals who have turned Gotham City (partly re-created in Chicago) into hell on Earth. That horrific rogue's gallery includes brutal mob boss Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson), smarmy Dr. Jonathan Crane, alias "The Scarecrow" ("28 Days Later's" Cillian Murphy) and the Enron-style corporate snake trying to steal Wayne Industries, nefarious Richard Earle (Rutger Hauer). As if that weren't enough, the Joker leaves his calling card by the film's end.
Along the way, we see again that traumatic event, which, as imagined by Batman's creator, Bob Kane, started the character off in the '30s: the killing of little Bruce Wayne's parents by a stickup man and Bruce's consequent vow to become the scourge of crime. But Nolan and co-writer David Goyer (of the "Blade" series) have added something: a samurai warrior education sequence shot in Iceland -- one part "Kung Fu" and two parts "Kill Bill"-- in which stern mentor Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson) and deadly antagonist Ra's al Ghul (Ken Watanabe) teach and test young Bruce, setting him on the road to glory and infamy as Gotham's caped crimebuster.
That's the alliterative way Kane and his successors used to describe Batman -- a masked marvel and urban Übermensch who, I confess, was one of the heroes of my youth. It's one of the strengths of this movie that, despite the enormous risks Nolan takes in going for darker tones and Frank Miller-style noir touches, he's able to comfortably mix the tormented drama and revenge motifs with light hearted gags and comic book allusions, including a barrage of arch cracks and takes from Michael Caine as Wayne's truly unflappable butler, Alfred.

Bale may not be the best Batman; in a very grim movie, he's heroic/charismatic but often too humorless, at least until the wisecracks start flowing in the second half. But Caine is definitely the best Alfred. With Jeeves-like omnipotence, Caine's Alfred guides his master through introductions of the Batcave, the Bat-signal and the Batmobile ("Do you have one in black?" Batman wonders).Caine also heads a stellar troupe of Bat allies that include Neeson's iron-hard but ambivalent Ducard (with Caine, the movie's top performance), Katie Holmes as idealist love interest Rachel Dawes, Gary Oldman in a rare good-guy turn as Jim Gordon (a cop we know will make Commissioner someday) and this movie's equivalent for gadget-master Q of the James Bond series, Morgan Freeman as wry-faced Lucius Fox.

Nolan is responsible for two unusually brainy movie thrillers: the brilliant jigsaw-in-reverse amnesia mystery "Memento" and the smart but pretentious Al Pacino-Robin Williams remake of Norway's "Insomnia." But though both Nolan's previous movies seethed with creepy tension, neither was especially funny. That's the major lack in "Batman Begins," which has its humorous side but doesn't ratchet it up in the manner the audience may expect. If "Batman Begins" fails to connect with a huge audience, that will probably be the reason.

Still, like director Bryan Singer, who went from "The Usual Suspects" to the "X-Men" series, Nolan is a fascinating, offbeat choice for a huge movie franchise such as this. Just as Bale turns Batman into a near-tragic obsessive -- a Scarlet Pimpernel with the soul of a Hamlet and Monte Cristo -- Nolan turns "Batman Begins" into something much closer to Miller's "Dark Knight" interpretation than the glamorous, slam-bang Hollywood jokefests into which the series had slipped by "Batman and Robin" time.

"Batman Begins" reverses the slide, at least on an artistic level. And, win or lose, we know one thing for sure: There'll always be another Batman, waiting to slip on another Bat-mask.

Batman & Robin (1997) - Review

2009-02-18T03:46:00.000-08:00

Produced by Peter Macgregor-Scott.
Executive producers, Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan.
Co-producer, William M. Elvin.
Directed by Joel Schumacher

Screenplay, Akiva Goldsman, based upon Batman characters created by Bob Kane and published by DC Comics. Camera (Technicolor), Stephen Goldblatt; editor, Dennis Virkler; music, Elliot Goldenthal; music supervisor, Danny Bramson; production design, Barbara Ling; supervising art director, Richard Holland; art direction, Geoff Hubbard; set design, James Bayliss, Dawn Brown, R. Gilbert Clayton, Keith Cunningham; set decoration, Dorree Cooper; costume design, Ingrid Ferrin, Robert Turturice; sound (Dolby digital/DTS/SDDS), Petur Hliddal; visual effects, John Dykstra; visual effects supervisor, Andrew Adamson; Mr. Freeze makeup design, Jeff Dawn; associate producer, Mitchell Dauterive; assistant director, William M. Elvin; stunt coordinator, Pat E. Johnson; second unit director, Peter Macdonald; second unit camera, Jamie Anderson; casting, Mali Finn. Reviewed at Warner Bros. screening room, N.Y., June 9, 1997. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 130 MIN.

Cast :
Mr. Freeze/Dr. Victor Fries ..... Arnold Schwarzenegger
Batman/Bruce Wayne ..... George Clooney
Robin/Dick Grayson ..... Chris O'Donnell
Poison Ivy/ Dr. Pamela Isley ..... Uma Thurman
Batgirl/ Barbara Wilson ..... Alicia Silverstone
Alfred Pennyworth ..... Michael Gough
Commissioner Gordon ..... Pat Hingle
Dr. Jason Woods ..... John Glover
Julie Madison ..... Elle Macpherson
Ms. B. Haven ..... Vivica A. Fox
Nora Fries ..... Vendela K.
Thommessen Gossip Gerty ..... Elizabeth Sanders
Bane ..... Jeep Swenson

Batman loses a bit of altitude and velocity in this fourth installment of Warner Bros.' hugely successful series. The villains, Arnold Schwarzenegger and especially Uma Thurman in this instance, remain the highlights here, as the rest of the gargantuan production lacks the dash and excitement that would have given the franchise a boost in its eighth year. Nonetheless, all the commercial elements are in place for B.O. that will follow in the flight path of the three previous blockbusters.

The series has remained aloft due to highly effective all-star casting of the baddies as well as refreshment and expansion of other talent in front of and behind the camera. George Clooney as Batman and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl are the new arrivals this time out, with Chris O'Donnell back for his sophomore appearance as Robin and director Joel Schumacher up to the plate for a second time as well.

Unfortunately, the operative word is bland, as the newcomers don't add much to the formula, leaving it to their nemeses to enliven the proceedings. Narrative drive and humor are also in short supply, which creates a serious sag in the middle when the novelty of the fresh components has mostly worn off.Initial suiting up of the black-caped duo constitutes the most self-consciously conspicuous fetishizing yet of the anatomically sculpted Batgear, this in preparation for their initial battle with Mr. Freeze (Schwarzenegger), a warrior bedecked in climate-controlled armor and equipped with an awesome frost-spewing gun that freezes everything in its sights.

Initial set piece, in which Freeze unleashes his ice-skating goons on the winged twosome, is somewhat silly since the minions spend more time playing hockey with a giant diamond coveted by Freeze than trying to accomplish their mission, which is to kill the good guys. But the follow-up is pretty spectacular, with Freeze blasting off in a private spaceship with Batman captive inside and Robin clinging outside, followed by some radical air surfing back to Gotham City.

Like nearly everyone, including the heroes, in a Batman story, Mr. Freeze is a tortured soul driven to an extreme double life due to a past tragedy. In his previous life, he was Dr. Victor Fries, a brilliant scientist who, due to an accident, must now maintain his body temperature at zero. He is also a hopeless romantic who keeps his beautiful wife (supermodel Vendela K. Thommessen), the victim of a degenerative disease, in a state of frozen suspended animation until he can devise a cure for her.

In the meantime, revenge is the word, as it is for a nerdy horticulturist (Thurman) who emerges from a near-fatal incident in the curvy form of an outrageously sexy vamp, Poison Ivy, bent on destroying the human race for its offenses to all things green. The slinky Ivy needs only to blow some of her special love dust in the face of any man in order to subdue him, and a kiss from her is literally a kiss of death.
Back at Bruce Wayne's mansion, there are also problems, as the billionaire's beloved butler, Alfred (Michael Gough), doesn't appear well. But the old man is buoyed by the arrival from England of his niece Barbara (Silverstone), whose demure good-girlishness belies a secret taste for the souped-up motorcycles stashed in the Batcave.

Those bikes spur the silliest sequence in the picture, in which Barbara hangs out with a bunch of lowlifes at night prior to an utterly gratuitous motorcycle drag race that looks like something out of "The Lost Boys." The Bruce Wayne side of the story has always posed a problem in the current series, and this installment is no exception, as the at-home chitchat consists of this group of orphans discussing the need for trust and family, and Bruce/Batman having to throw cold water on Dick/Robin, who's hot for both Barbara and Poison Ivy.
Midsection is woefully low on conflict and incident, with Mr. Freeze temporarily in custody, Barbara lolling about and Poison Ivy failing to fatally seduce either Batface or Birdbrain, as she calls her adversaries. Things pick up when Ivy frees Freeze and, informing him that the flying rodents have pulled the plug on his wife (when she in fact has jealously done so), inspires him to join her in a partnership of Adam and Evil to freeze Gotham City and decimate the world's human population.Late in the game, Barbara transforms into Batgirl, to less than electrifying effect, to help her protectors fight the ultimate battle, which sees Freeze turning Bruce Wayne's powerful telescope into a giant ice gun with which he can spray the entire city. As the victims must be thawed within minutes or be frozen forever, Batman, Robin and Batgirl shift into high gear, resulting in a protracted sequence as thunderously numbing as the climax of any other $100 million action film in recent memory.

Ongoing technological advances have made the effects, if not the production design, even more grandiose than in the previous Batman outings, although not necessarily to more edifying or thrilling effect. Batman's abilities were never about special effects (he can't even fly, really), and shouldn't have to compete with things that morph in the night.

Physically, Clooney is unquestionably the most ideal Batman to date, but none of the series' screenwriters has ever gotten a handle on how to make the character as interesting as those around him, and Clooney is unable to compensate onscreen for the lack of dimension on paper. It is difficult to think of another superhero series in which it would matter so little who plays the part, and it is indicative of the ongoing flaw in the Batman franchise that the changes in leading men have so little impact on the films' popularity or effectiveness.

O'Donnell mainly conveys a boyish eagerness that must continually be channeled and tempered by his guardian, while Silverstone, in her first bigscreen appearance since breaking through in "Clueless," makes a particularly disappointing impression, as she brings no special flair or energy to her potentially choice role.
That leaves it to the villains. Schwarzenegger, painted a silvery blue and heavily encased, is forced to deliver every cool/cold/chill/
frigid/frozen pun in the book, but the Freeze character is so unusual and imposing that he easily holds the interest. But best of all is Thurman, imaginatively coifed in red tresses and green body stocking, a man trap who taunts her intended victims like a leafy Mae West and is assisted in moments of physical need by a hulking, obedient manservant, Bane (Jeep Swenson). Her performance has comic wit conspicuously lacking elsewhere in the picture.

Batman Forever (1995) - Review

2009-02-18T01:40:00.000-08:00

Cast: Val Kilmer, Jim Carrey, Tommy Lee Jones, Nicole Kidman, Chris O'Donnell, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Drew Barrymore, Debi Mazar Director: Joel Schumacher
Screenplay: Lee Batchler, Janet Scott Batchler, Akiva Goldsman

Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Rated PG-13

It's not that the Batman series has run out of ideas by this point, it's just that the makers of Batman Forever have no idea where to look for inspiration. Tim Burton gives up the directorial reins to become producer, and hands them over to Joel Shumacher, director of middling entertainment like D.C. Cab and The Lost Boys. It's not the only major change, as Val Kilmer (Tombstone, True Romance) takes over the lead role as Bruce Wayne/Batman, making the hero at once more studly and less personable. The real problem here is that rather than try to replicate the elements that made Batman a popular comic book hero, the Batman Forever team instead try to replicate what they think made the first two films in the series popular. Yes, it's costumes, fighting, gadgets, and over-the-top performances for two straight hours, and almost any semblance to the DC comic book is merely token cosmetics.
Forever sees Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive, Eyes of Laura Mars) take the role of Gotham District attorney Harvey Dent, previously portrayed by Billy Dee Williams in the first two films. Half of Dent's face becomes disfigured in the courtroom, and when Batman tries to stop it, Dent incorrectly assumes that Batman is to blame for his injury. It also causes him to split personalities, and crack-up altogether, becoming a menace to Gotham known as Two-Face. Meanwhile, an inventor working for Batman's alter ego Bruce Wayne, Edward Nygma (Carrey, Dumb & Dumber), is upset at being let go and unleashes his latest invention, a holographic device that has the side-effect of stealing brainwaves, and with a new costume and more power, The Riddler is born. Dr. Chase Meridian (Kidman, Malice) is a psychologist who has a more-than-passing interest in learning about what makes Batman who he is, while millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne is chasing Chase. Lastly, Batman finds he may have a new partner when Dick Grayson (O'Donnell, The Chamber) enters his life, and like Wayne, he is also an orphan who wants to fight crime to avenge those who would do harm to others.Of course, the last introduction in the plot summary should tell you that Batman's faithful companion Robin is finally emerging, and proves to be just one of many missteps conceived of in Batman Forever. Robin has always been seen as a major weakness to the Batman mythos, and with the first two films performing so well without him, there is no need to bring him about at this late date. Secondly, casting the 25-year-old Chris O'Donnell as Robin is confusing, as Robin is a teenager, and in no incarnation should he be physically larger than the man who plays Batman.
Chase Meridian is the film's one new addition to the Batman saga, not having previously existed in the comic book or television show. Nicole Kidman is a good choice to play the role, given that she must be intelligent and provocative, yet there is very little for her to do but make goo-goo eyes at Wayne, and later, become the obvious damsel-in-distress. It would have been interesting to give Batman someone to finally care about, but as is typical so far in the series, the romantic lead is expendable.

Like Batman Returns, Forever continues the trend to have Batman fight two villains, which I feel is another mistake. The collaboration between the enigmatic Riddler and the impulsive Two-Face is never very compelling, and in the end, only The Riddler emerges as a truly worthy adversary. Part of this comes from Jim Carrey's self-acknowledged over-the-top performance, as well as Riddler's much more interesting modus operandi. Tommy Lee Jones is a fine actor, but should never be allowed to play psychotic villains. This marks his second manic performance in a row, coming off of Natural Born Killers, and in both films, he is grating and largely unappealing.

Val Kilmer would seem like a natural for Batman, as long as you can overlook the less-dark features. He exemplifies the handsome, cultured man that Bruce Wayne is supposed to be, while also having a mysterious, stoic presence perfect for Batman. Yet, his performance is awkward at best, primarily due to the terrible lines he has to deliver. Outside of the television show, Batman is just not a wise-cracker, and using lines like, "The Bat-signal is not a beeper" and "Chicks love the car," and with Kilmer's dramatic delivery, these lines cause more wincing than laughter. If only the script could have been written to play to his strengths...

Batman Forever has only the high production values going for it, continuing the impressive special effects and gorgeous Danny Elfman scoring. I can't quite give the film credit for the art and set design, as it just isn't as convincing as it had been under Burton's sure hand. Batman Forever is now padded with excessive baggage, with performances and characterizations that make the comic book, and even the campy television show, seem reserved by comparison. Note to Joel Schumacher: playing everything as loud and obnoxious as possible does not create amusement and thrills...it just makes everything loud and obnoxious.

The Batman franchise may be lucrative for Warner Brothers but it's become too polluted for its own good. It's time to give the Batcave a cleaning before it drowns in its own guano.

Batman Returns (1992) - Review

2009-02-17T03:30:00.000-08:00

Starring: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Michael Murphy, Cristi Conaway, Andrew Bryniarski, Pat Hingle, Vincent Schiavelli
Director: Tim Burton
Running Time: 126 minutes
Genre Action, Crime, Fantasy, Romance, Thriller

The 1992 sequel to Tim Burton's dark vision of Bob Kane's iconic comic book hero only got darker and better than the original, with the Dark Knight facing off against two villains in what would become the best "Batman" film of the franchise. This isn't necessarily a good thing, even considering what happened to the series once no-talent hack Joel Schumacher took over the reigns, because even Burton's manic brilliance is washed over with campy special effects and an incessant use of B-movie humor. Still, no one can deny the highly efficient tripartite formed by Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfieffer and Danny DeVito, whose amazing performances opposite one another help to carry the film past subtle mediocrity.

Keaton returns in his last hurrah as millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, and his superhero alter ego Batman, who has devoted his life to protecting the city of Gotham from its growing list of drug-store criminals and comic-book villains. It's Christmas time in the gloomy metropolis and Batman is called into action when the annual lighting of the tree is cut short by a band of circus misfits working for the mysterious Penguin (DeVito). The Penguin, banished to the cold underground sewers by his parents at birth, quickly aligns with industrial bigwig Max Shreck (Christopher Walken) and makes a run for mayor while planning his sweet revenge on the city that originally turned its back on him.
Meanwhile, lowly secretary Selina Kyle (Pfeiffer) is experiencing a little change of her own after taking a fatal fall into the snow-covered alley. It's true she was caught snooping around hidden computer files that indict her boss of shady business ethics, but everyone deserves a second chance, right? Nine chances to be precise, and now she's adopted an alter ego of her own, prowling the streets of Gotham as the leather-bound Catwoman and stirring up her own pot of trouble until she is confronted by Batman, the enigmatic hero with whom she falls in love.

The relationship between Batman/Bruce Wayne and Catwoman/Selena Kyle is probably the most interesting element in the script -- since their dark histories both yielded alternate egos -- but it's horribly sidetracked by the main story of the Penguin's rise and fall from freedom, which unnecessarily eats up a big portion of the film. Regardless of the commonplace script of "Batman Returns," the acting is superb throughout. DeVito and Pfeiffer are the true stars as the respected villains, and even though Keaton makes a damn good Batman, he's painfully dreadful as Bruce Wayne. The audience should probably laugh when they see the relatively short Keaton playing Batman, yet he demands an overpowering respect behind the mask. Still, as the suave playboy Wayne, Keaton comes off as a deadpan geek.
To say Batman himself has an almost superfluous role would be unfair, but he certainly doesn't seem to be Burton's main focus. While we get to see the origins of both Penguin and Catwoman, the background of the pointy-eared one's true identity Bruce Wayne is again left out of the picture. As a result, Batman - unlike Superman or Spiderman or even the Hulk - is a tough character to care about. His dark side makes him in many ways a more interesting superhero than any of those others, but it's an aspect that Burton devotes little time or attention to.

Both Pfeiffer and DeVito are absolutely superb, and Keaton, despite the limitations of his role, looks in hindsight like the perfect choice for the part (especially having seen the dismal attempts of Val Kilmer and George Clooney in later abominations). Another massive plus point is the marvellous score provided again by Danny Elfman.

"Batman Returns" will forever be the best of the original four Gotham City adventures thanks to the gothic atmosphere created by Burton, but it doesn't live up to the current level of excellence that Hollywood has recently shown to our favorite superheroes. While the film offers plenty of exhilarating action and features one of the best acting trios of the decade, it still falls short of what moviegoers have come to expect from one of the biggest comic book icons of our time.

Two-Disc Special Edition DVD Review:

The two-disc special edition of "Batman Returns" includes a commentary by director Tim Burton, cast and crew interviews, and part four of the extensive "Batman Anthology" documentaries. Also featured on disc two of the set are costume and special FX featurettes, a music video by Siouxsie and the Banshees, and profile galleries of the film's heroes and villains.

Batman (1989) - Review

2009-02-17T01:55:00.000-08:00

Length: 126 min

Rated: PG-13
Release Date: 1989-06-01
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Billy Dee Williams, and Jack Palance

Directed by Tim Burton
Produced by Peter Guber
Written by Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren

Reviewed by Nate Yapp : 2004-04-12 00:00:00

Geez, it's been ages since I've seen this one. Batman was the one and only film I ever caught at a drive-in theater...so, consequently, I saw very little of the movie. Now, 12 years later, at the tender age of 18, I watched it again with my roommate Chris. It wasn't quite what I remembered it to be, and frankly, not as much as it could have been.

We open on a decrepit part of town...hooker and hoodlums populate the street. Director Tim Burton is trying early on to paint a picture of the darker side of Gotham, the side Frank Miller (writer of the now-legendary "The Dark Knight Returns" comic miniseries) would demand if he made the movie. A couple and their little boy walk out of a theater. Failing to get a cab, they walk right into the Bad Part of Town (although, it doesn't look they were ever in a particularly nice area to begin with). Could this be Mr. and Mrs. Wayne with their boy Bruce? Nope. A few subtle hints indicate otherwise. But soon enough, they're mugged. As the goons divy up the cash, a man in black rubber (whatever happened to good ol' spandex?) swoops in and deals out a heap of justice. One of the felons, while receiving his whuppin' sputters "What are you?" The black-clad avenger brings the crook right to his face and snarls, "I'm BATMAN."

Thus, we get a great set-up for a costumed hero movie...a set-up that never quite delivers. A telltale hint of trouble ahead is that Jack Nicholson (as main heavy The Joker) is billed above Bat-actor Michael Keaton. It would seem like a star thing, but the weight of the flick falls the order of the cast. The Joker get way more screen time than Batman and his alter-ego Bruce Wayne. We get to understand (as much as a comic adaptation allows for, barring stuff like Ghost World) just how insane this clownish nutcase is, but we never once get in the head of the Bat, the title character and supposedly the focus of the film.

The lack of proper balance between the two main characters is one of the big problems in the script by Sam Hamm and Walter Skaaren (the former is mainly responsible for a lot of comic book adaptations and the latter didn't really work again after this one). Another one is the romance between photographer Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) and Bruce Wayne. Not at any point in the film does it really feel necessary (which is a damn shame, because some of Keaton's and Basinger's scenes together are really good). The same goes for Robert Wuhl as reporter Alexander Knox. I really hate to say this, but halfway through the film I started thinking about how nice it was in Batman Forever where everything seemed to fit right into the (admittedly cheesy as hell) plot.

Obviously, we're not looking at a doomed film, though. When your script isn't great, you have to rely on the director, the actors, the music, and the production design to pull everything together. Typically, this would result in the kind of style-heavy action flick that John Woo and Michael Bay would later specialize in. Under the deft leadership of Tim Burton, style is definitely still in, but the film instead feels like a Modern Gothic drama with explosions. He brings in his own vision of Gotham while still remaining true to the original... He even includes one shot that is a subtle homage to the cornball 1960s television series without actually ever (and I mean EVER) descending to that show's level of camp. He makes the whole movie grand without hitting grandiose.

And holy Great Peformances, Batman, the actors are great. Michael Keaton does a great job being a badass protector of the night and his Bruce Wayne, although a little off-putting on occasion, has some great underplayed comic moments. Early in the film, I wondered if Jack Nicholson was the right choice to play the Joker, but he quickly grew on me... This guy was madcap while still retaining a homicidal edge (while Jim Carrey was great as the Riddler in Forever, I never believed he'd be able to kill somebody). The supporting cast (Basinger, Wuhl, Michael Gough as faithful butler) all do equally capable work. Even Billy Dee Williams is good.

Completing the package are Danny Elfman's score and the Oscar-winning production design by the late Anton Furst. Elfman perfectly captures the darkly heroic nature of Batman, and the sets in the film are as succesful in their understanding of what Gotham City is. The city is as bleak a metropolis as, say, Detroit. The setting for the big climax, a massive cathedral, is the only set that wholly screams of Burton's touch, but that's alright. It works for the high crescendo the movie had achieved by that point.

Much like the Dark Knight, Batman the movie doesn't always achieve its goals, but it strives forward anyway, doggedly trying to do its job. To say this crusade isn't entertaining would be a fallacy. While Burton's infinitely more wintry and Gothic sequel, Batman Returns, has a better Caped Crusader/villain balance, this is probably not a film that comic book fans should miss. The DVD is fairly cheap, but the transfer is middling and there aren't any features. You may just want to rent this until something better comes along.