Batman At 80 - The Tim Burton Years

Of course, if Batman is now 80, this makes the first of the Tim Burton Batman films thirty years old. Yep, Batman (1989) was released to coincide with the Dark Knight’s 50th birthday. 

What’s Good About This One?
If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t completely bowled over by the first film. I liked the look and feel of it (especially the Batmobile design), I really liked Danny Elfman’s theme and I enjoyed Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of The Joker. There was something overall about it though that didn’t quite elevate it into the realm of one of my favourites. Sure, I liked it but it wasn’t going to hit the list of films that I endlessly and obsessively rewatched (mainly comedies but a fair few sci-fi/fantasy ones too).

Skip forward three years and Batman Returns comes out. This one clicked. There was something in this one that just came together for me in a way that the first one almost did but didn't quite. Yes, alright, on one level, it was Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman that was appealing to 16 year old me (as briefly mentioned yesterday) but it was more than that. Danny DeVito’s revolting portrayal of the Penguin, chomping on raw flesh and dribbling black bile; a supervillain team up between Catwoman and the Penguin; Christopher Walken as….well, let’s face it, Christopher Walken*. All of the elements this time round combined into something more than the sum of its parts and really worked.

Once this came out on VHS, it was repeatedly watched. Once Tim Burton left, however, but the franchise continued, my interest declined. Batman Forever was a film that I wanted to like more than I did (Jim Carrey at the time seemed fun but Tommy Lee Jones was playing a version of the character Two Face that seemed to have no bearing on the comics) and Batman And Robin is a misfire on every possible level that is best consigned to the rubbish bin of history. No, really, chuck it out and forget about it (worst film I’ve been to the cinema to see).

The other side effect of a definite liking for Batman Forever was that it finally kindled an interest in picking up the comics. And pick them up I did...


* It’s such a subjective thing. There are some actors who get away with just being versions of themselves and I find it endlessly watchable or delightful - Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken, Jack Nicholson - and yet there are others who do it and I find it intensely irritating (sorry, Hugh Grant, I’m talking about you...with the possible exception of Paddington 2 and The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists!)