Batman: The Movie

Starring: Adam West, Burt Ward, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin, and Lee Meriwether
Director: Leslie H. Martinson
Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr.
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox

I take comedy very seriously; it takes real skill to be funny on a regular basis. In this manufactured camp classic, every line of dialog, set, gesture, and costume choice are deliberate attempts to celebrate and ridicule the bizarre superhero comics of the fifties and sixties.

Every set is full of bizarre details in the background that require a pause button to take in; it's a staggering commitment to an aesthetic for a film created before vcr and dvd. The baroque nature of the humor yields new treasures with every viewing. Your second viewing points out the ridiculous pattern in the lining of the Riddler's jacket. Your third shows you that Catwoman's room is marked by a pretty pink ribbon and not a cat. It goes on and on.

Writing: The writing is tight. The plot is supposed to be ridiculous, the characters eccentric caricatures, and the dialog mannered and absurd. It's supposed to be exactly the opposite of hip, and it's as ironic as Stephen Colbert waving an American flag while the nation sinks into the sea.

Direction: Strong direction that works well around the budget constraints. It also helps that the film's aesthetic is supposed to look cheap so the director can dwell on the rubber sharks and cheap camera tricks that create the film's special effects.

Acting: Growing up watching with reruns of Adam West as Batman on basic cable has spoiled me. I grew up eating dinner in the living room with my little brother watching him and Burt Ward trying to foil Egg Head, False Face, King Tut, or some equally bizarre celebrity guest villain. It also makes me pissy when people my age only know him from Family Guy. The man has been doing brilliant comedy since my father was 5 years old. He can bring a mock seriousness to dialog that just floors me every time. Few things sound as equally serious and ridiculous as when Adam West says them, and Burt Ward provided the perfect foil for West. His voice is a comfortable old couch that my ears love to lay upon; it sturdily anchors the film as it bounces along waves of excess.

The excess comes in the form of the guest villains; we get some great lunacy coming from Romero, Meriwether, Meredith, and Gorshin. It's like watching the Harlem Globetrotters play; the ball goes from player to player so each can showboat rather than win the game. It's all about who can throw the most flair in front of the camera while looking a like a damn fool. Burgess Meredith is wearing furry gloves; he has muppet fingers, a monocle, and a cigarette holder. Gorshin is wearing a purple girdle, and Romero didn't shave his mustache. It lurks beneath his makeup crushing the suspension of disbelief with every closeup and well lit scene. It appears like they had a lot of fun filming this; I would like to think so at least. It just seems like a perfectly good waste of a rocket umbrella if you aren't enjoying the ride.

Editing: Nice abrupt cuts between wacky set pieces, and who could forget that gorgeous spinning logo. It's a tight film, and like the best comedies, it remembers that a good joke never overstays its welcome.

Soundtrack/Score:Crazy big band with blaring horns and wacky little musical ticks. A fun cartoony score that keeps things bouncy.

Self-Awareness: It plays it completely straight, but don't let that fool you. This film is self aware of every second of every frame.

Overall Rating: 5 stars because it's a perfectly executed comedy.
-Pete

Batman

Starring: Michael Keaton; Jack Nicholson; Kim Basinger

Director: Tim Burton

Writers: Sam Hamm; Warren Skaaren

Studio: Warner Bros.

This is one of those film's that gets copied often by people who forget what made the original work. Too many superhero movies that have followed Batman have just copied the dark atmosphere punctuated by black leather outfits and the opening. The extreme closeup of the Bat-symbol that results in the camera traveling around the corners of the logo like it was a maze has been rehashed endlessly. I can barely sit through the openings of most superhero films because they often begin with the extreme CGI closeup of Wolverine's nose hair or Blade's DNA. Anyway, there a number of great ideas in this film that the imitators just forget about while they copy/paste.

My personal favorite is how Batman is a mystery in this film; a central part of the film is the questions; "Who the fuck is this Batman, and why the fuck is he a Batman, anyway?" (Saying it like Jack Nicholson warms the heart.) It's not an origin film for Batman; it's about answering these two questions while Batman wars with the Joker. The film slowly let's the audience learn about the protagonist as we watch the rise and fall of the antagonist. It's about how they relate to each other, and how they might enjoy a parade together. Basinger's Vicki Vale doesn't work very well as the romantic interest, but she does good work as the audience's way into the weird world of the film. Her attempts to understand Batman humanize him in a way that wouldn't be possible given how cold this version of the character is.

The suit used for Batman creates the perfect image of the character; it creates the classic silhouette and blends into the night. The only problem is that it constricts the actor's movements to an insane degree. Batman can't crouch, look to his extreme left or right, or touch his toes. It forces the film to constantly work around the character's immobility while a middle-aged clown dances around him with a paunchy liveliness that molded black rubber doesn't allow. They work around quite well, but it leaves the film with a stiff, sterile Batman that's very difficult to engage on a personal level. It makes him quite spooky towards other character's, but he's very difficult to get into as an audience member. It's much easier to get lost in the Joker as he steals the whole show.

Writing: The dialog is often excellent. The Joker's lines are often quite funny, and almost every character gets something good to say. There is some great banter between the reporters, and Bruce Wayne gets some great weird dialog. The romantic dialog was not as good. Kim Basinger's got some terrible lines to make work, and she doesn't win that up hill battle. Otherwise, the plot is strong, focused, and full of great little ideas.

Direction: It's a mostly great looking film; some of the special effects integrate poorly though. The look of the film still holds up wonderfully; the massive dark monuments, retro fashions, and bizarre Joker fashion running madcap over the whole thing.

Acting: Jack Nicholson is out of control in this movie, and it's wonderful. He just takes the whole movie and puts it in his back pocket. He's doing impersonations of other cast members, re-enacting bits from the Wizard of Oz, dancing to Prince, playing with magazine cutouts, and going "boop boop" after killing other characters, but it works. His twisted glee is perfect for the character, and it keeps the movie light despite all that murder and mayhem. He received a cut of the gross for playing the Joker, which means Jack has gotten upwards of 50 million dollars from this one film. One scene of The Joker running away like a child imitating an airplane while making a farting noise earned him more money then I will ever have, and that fills me with a joy and jealousy that I may never actually deal with.

Michael Keaton does his best work out of that stifling rubber gimp suit and gives Bruce Wayne a quirky charm that makes his double life a kooky secret rather than the dark booming quest of the Nolan Batman films. His Batman is too damn stiff because he took Jack's advice and, "let the suit do the acting."

I would discuss the supporting actors, but it's really the leads' movie. The supporting actors do their best when they play off the leads or just get the fuck out of their way.

Editing: The editing is pretty damn good; that opening sequence actually gives the illusion of movement with the camera work and editing coming together perfectly timed to the music. Some of the effects do not integrate very well in certain scenes, and they have aged poorly as a result. Cutting back on some of the Batmobile, Batplane, and Joker balloons would have helped the film look much better, but that's probably just hindsight.

Sound: There are some very loud and slightly odd sound effects for things like bat-rope, Joker weapons, and batarangs, but it's all good.

Soundtrack/Score: I love the instrumental stuff, but the Prince music doesn't quite cut it. It's not bad, but it feels just a little forced. It's as if the Joker is throwing it in there just to really piss Batman off; it's also very obviously there just to sell the soundtrack. Also, the song that plays over the credits is fucking hilarious; Prince just goes nuts on this ballad about touching something that may or may not be his penis. That deserves a listen.

Self-awareness: This film is aware of what it can't be; it can't be Adam West and Burt Ward. It also is completely aware that being different from the sixties Batman does not require a humorless exercise in bleak darkness; when the film makes joke, it's funny in a dark and hip way. It also knows just how far to push the Joker and Batman's respective shticks so that they are larger than life rather than completely ridiculous on the screen.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 lines of coke for Jack

- Pete