Welcome To Idiopathy

1989

Director: Tim Burton

Starring: Michael Keaton as Batman/ Bruce Wayne

Jack Nicholson as The Joker/ Jack Napier

Kim Basinger as Vicky Vale

Music By: Danny Elfman, Prince

Idiopathy could not think of a better movie to review for its maiden voyage on the internet. Batman represents some of Tim Burton's best work, and was a great way to send the eighties out with a bang. The acting from Keaton and Nicholson is nothing less than phenomenal. Danny Elfman's soundtrack always sets the perfect mood and Prince's uplifting beats work well for scenes with the Joker, as well as the time the movie was made. The movie is, in short, a classic. So grab your cape and grab a seat while we revisit the movie classic, Batman.

(Editor's Note: This movie was reviewed while actually watching it. This would seem to make sense, but few critics and reviewers actually do the bulk of their writing WHILE watching the movie. The point is, the review follows the storyline. So feel free to print this page out and pop the movie in. Think of it as the poor man's version of movie commentary. Also be warned that this whole article is one big spoiler to those who haven't seen the movie!)

The movie catches your attention from the very beginning. The music has an eerie quality at first, which catches your interest. The pace steps up quickly as you try to ascertain what you are "flying" through. When Batman's symbol is finally revealed, you are almost psyched up, even though you feel you shouldn't be.

The following scene gives us our very first glimpse of the dark knight. The two hoods that ripped off the visiting family do a nice job of exploitation. You quickly learn that Batman is a mysterious vigilante that strikes fear in criminals and police officers alike. Batman of course drops into the scene right on cue. The hoods are quickly dispatched and he disappears just as quickly. This scene is a great opening to a great movie.

One thing viewers should pay attention to in this movie is the fact that not only is Harvey Dent black, but he is also Lando Calrizian. Fans of the comic books will obviously realize that this is all wrong. Fans of the movie series should also know this is all wrong. One has to wonder how Harvey changed skin colors between the first and third movies.

Moving on, we dive right into the backstory for the Joker. One thing I love in movies, especially comic adaptations, is integrated backstory. Instead of just outright saying, "This was the Joker before he became the Joker," we get to actually see what he used to be. Seeing the Joker as "common" criminal Jack Napier brings the character to life on several levels.

The only thing that bothered me about Jack Napier at the end of the film was his "lucky deck." Tim Burton seemed to want to make the cards important in some way. Watching the movie, you would half expect that they would play some small-yet-important role. They prove to be a throw-away item in the end. Tisk, tisk Mr. Burton.

Lieutenant Eckhardt is one of only two truly disappointing characters in Batman. In most iterations of the comic book, Eckhardt is far from the perfect cop. He is no more perfect here. The one thing about this character is the fact that he still ultimately knows the difference between right and wrong. Burton's Eckhardt is a crooked cop, helping Napier in turn for money. He ultimately turns on Napier and is shot for his efforts.

It may be said that he was working undercover to back Napier into a corner with the information he collected. Grissom (played by Jack Palance) is the man who ultimately tips off the police, however. In the end, Eckhardt is either a crooked cop or a really good liar. I vote for the latter. I also apologize to hard-core fans if I butchered the detective's name. Moving on...

Jack Palance, in the role of Grissom, impressed me greatly, on the other hand. Anybody who knows Palance's work knows that he is great at stealing a scene and having wonderful stage presence. This movie is no different. He has a rather small role in this film, but makes it feel much larger. It also serves to make a great movie even greater.

Alfred, Wayne's butler, is also perfectly cast. His mannerisms, attitude, and opinions in relation to Bruce Wayne are outstanding and nearly flawless. The one issue is his undying insistence later in the film for Wayne to reveal his identity as Batman to Vicky Vale. You can likely blame this one on Burton, though.

Speaking of Bruce Wayne, Michael Keaton has to be the best Batman to grace the big-screen, hands down. Keaton has Wayne down to a science in this movie. It is easy to see and understand that this is a man who is not used to dealing with people of the opposite sex in a romantic way. You can also feel the pain and darkness the man deals with throughout the movie. There is excellent acting to be had here, folks.

Watching this movie in the past, I've always struggled to understand the character of Knox, the reporter initially working with Vicky Vale. There isn't much he does to further the plot or to explain events taking place. I have come to see him as little more than comic relief. Knox doesn't really seem to be necessary in retrospect. All the same, I find it hard to imagine the movie without him. At least Burton kept the humor to a bare minimum.

Many details of the movie seem to be overstated, yet understated at the same time. The enormous poster of Harvey Dent towards the beginning is a perfect example. An equally good example is the festival donation girl at the start of the party scene at Wayne's house. She has a big white sash that implores people to save the city festival. The basket she holds has two equally large white flags poking out of it. In both cases, you only see the bold statements for just a second or two, cutting their garish impact.

Commissioner Gordon was the other disappointing character of this movie. While he is "reformed" at the end of the film, he spends much of the movie wishing he could put Batman in jail. Granted Batman does not have a badge, but he DOES get the bad guys. I suppose he hasn't heard of citizen's arrest, either. The fact that he is a compulsive gambler is kind of troubling, as well.

At this point, I have to pick on Batman's control center in the Batcave. I cannot complain too much, given this was made in the late eighties. Still, I can't stop thinking that Batman has the ultimate home theater system. There are large televisions up the yin-yang...and that seems to be all that he has. Isn't the dark knight supposed to have some sort of super computer? I think Burton gave him a Nintendo and cable television instead.

Burton's overbearing nature can be seen again in the confrontation in the chemical factory. We all know that Batman is supposed to be the big hero that takes out the bad guys and stops Jack Napier before he gets away. Burton over-accentuated this by making the cops resemble graduates from the Police Academy series. The police seem unable of either aiming their guns or going past a swift walking pace. At one point, they even look bored as they fire at Napier, as if already knowing Batman will do their jobs for them. Burton comes off being king of the overstatement in this scene.

On the opposite side of things, kudos to Burton for the dinner scene with Wayne and Vale. This provides an unusual opportunity to see the "normal" side of Wayne. Alfred stepping in as the father/grandfather figure was an excellent touch. It tells the audience that yes, there was a time when Wayne was something passing for normal.

The scene in the boardroom is fantastic. Here you really get to see just how psychotic the Joker can be. Nicholson shines through with the perfect balance between lunacy and intelligence. The buzzer assassination of "Tommy" is a fantastic example of both the Joker's, and Burton's dark humor. Nicholson is to be applauded for the perfect Joker laugh, as well.

The fun continues in the News scene, in which we are introduced to the Joker's choice way of killing his prey. As the Joker says, "If you have to go, go with a smile!" More comedy is slipped in to the movie in the way the female news anchor starts laughing when the male news anchor is talking about a serious event. You can't help smiling when this happens in the movie, even though you know it's wrong.

The subsequent Joker commercial serves two purposes: exposition and transition. The commercial for "Joker products" quickly and efficiently explains what happened to the news anchor. It also outlines what it is that the Joker is up to. It also provides for a smooth transition from the news report back into the storyline. Batman fans should also take note that the Joker commercial gimmick has been used more than once on Batman: The Animated Series.

The phone message from Vicky Vale to Bruce Wayne is a perfect example of foreshadowing. By the start of the scene at the art gallery, we already know two things: The Joker tricked Vale into thinking that Wayne would be meeting her at the art gallery. It also tells us that Batman will be making an appearance at the art gallery as well.

Joker's romp through the art gallery is quite memorable. Who hasn't wondered what it would be like to just go to town on a classic painting? The Joker does it for us in an amusing way, and with an energetic song to boot! Love Prince or hate him, but his music just seems oddly appropriate for this movie.

After the fun and games in the art gallery, we are thrown into the middle of a good old classic car chase. This is also the first chance the audience gets to see the Batmobile. The original Batmobile from the first movie has to be one of the greatest movie cars of all time. In fact, all of the gadgets in this movie are great. There is even a couple of gadgets you might miss the first time around. I caught one I had not seen in the fifteen years the movie has been out while doing this review!

Burton continues to flip-flop between the good and the bad in the ensuing fight scene. It is the only vaguely cartoonish part of the movie. At one point, Batman seems to barely touch a bad guy and he simply flies backwards as if hit by a battering ram. Another bad guy is dispatched by the world's gentlest karate chop. Luckily, the scene is short enough to have a nil effect on the rest of the movie.

Wayne goes to tell Vale about his secret identity at her apartment. Am I the only one concerned about how easily he gave in to Alfred's demands to come clean with her? Despite this, it sets up a classic scene between the hero and the bad guy. The funniest part is, Joker does not know Wayne is Batman, and Wayne doesn't know the Joker killed his parents. The final touch is Wayne's inability to reveal his identity, and his discovery that Jack Napier killed his parents.

As far as I can tell, Burton means well, but he can't help but rush to get things done in a movie. We have Vale seemingly wonder into the Batcave while Wayne is sipping back some tea. Should the Batcave be so easy to access? Wayne did not seem overwhelmingly bothered by the situation, either. You would think that he would have jumped up, demanding how she had gained access. This disturbing trend ultimately continues in Batman Forever when both Robin and the Riddler gain seemingly easy access to the Batcave.

The final scenes make up for whatever flaws Burton may have carelessly tossed into the film, starting with the priceless parade scene. Here we see the embodiment of greed that seemingly ruled the eighties. It also continued to show the Joker's cunning by making the parade balloons into a delivery system for poison gas.

The Batwing proved impressive as well. Despite the fact that the movie was made before computer graphics imaging was a common cinematic tool, Batman's personal jet fighter comes off looking quite realistic. The way it twists and turns lends credence to the possibility that the Batwing actually existed. And who can forget the famous shot of the Batwing hovering in front of the moon. It is now the most famous shot from the movie.

What goes up must come down, and the Joker does it in style. The super-long revolver he uses to shoot down the Batwing is THE perfect gag in the whole movie. Batman pounds the crap out of everything around the Joker, and yet one shot from the Joker's revolver takes him out. This is yet more dark humor from the master Tim Burton.

The large, gothic cathedral was the perfect place to finish out the movie. You have a classic good guy going after the kidnapping bad guy chase followed by an even more classic man-to-man final battle. The Joker's move to drop one of the bells down the tower is a convenient way to keep things between him and Batman. It should be said that Commissioner Gordon seems to give up far too easily, however.

The last scene is arguably the best fight scene of the movie as well. The Joker's henchmen are dispatched by Batman in the most amusing ways. The cartoonish aspect is not present however, allowing for full enjoyment of the action. Even the fight between Joker and Batman seems perfect in its execution. It is full of realizations about who each man is, and is full of shock value. The shot of Joker dead on the ground is almost poignant in nature.

Idiopathy gives this movie a solid eight out of ten Milk Duds. This movie is all about telling a story, and doing it amazingly well. It still manages to entertain the audience with plenty of action. For the more discerning viewer, comments about the decade in which this movie was made are quite present.

Despite all this, there are certain things in the movie that are either overstated or seem pressured into being. For hard-core fans, some details are just outright wrong. Tim Burton simply needs to find better ways to get characters to a certain place or in a certain frame of mind. He seems to force them there. Despite this, the movie is watchable time and again.

If you haven't seen it, crawl out from under your rock and go rent it. If you are a fan of the movie, go out and buy it already! DVD collectors take note, this movie is most commonly had in a bundle with the other Batman movies, some of which are not that great. You have been warned! Otherwise, watch and enjoy! This movie is worth your time.

JUST FOR FUN:

Here are some great quotes from this classic film, spoken by Jack Nicholson as the Joker. Why are they here? Why, just for fun, of course!

"Nice outfit." ~ Spoken when Jack Napier first encounters Batman.

"Wait 'til they get a load of me!"

"This town needs an enema!"

"...A little song, a little dance, Batman's head on a lance..." ~ Joker's answer, when Vicky Vale asks what he wants.

"Where does he get those wonderful toys?"

COMING NEXT MONTH:

Next month, I'll take a look at another great movie from the eighties, Goonies. I'll give the play by play on what makes this movie memorable, as well as look into the possibility of a sequel! Stay tuned, boys and girls.