Doesn't portray every aspect of Batman, but still satisfying.
Batman the movie was a recipe for disaster.
You have Tim Burton, fresh from directing the quirky comedy "Beetlejuice," and you have Michael Keaton who starred in many comedy roles, including the wackiest character in "Beetlejuice."
Now I wasn't alive in the 1980's, but if I was, I'd be a bit worried about how this Batman would turn out. Luckily, Batman is a true classic, and although Tim Burton doesn't push all the right buttons, he gets it mostly right.
We'll start with the story. Batman is relatively new to Gotham City, the people, not to mention the press and the police, are still wondering what to make of him. Some criminals are scared, others don't care. Gotham City is in bad shape, as you can tell by the first scene of the movie. I'll praise Buton there. He definitely got the look and feel of Gotham just right.
The movie also tracks the origin of the Joker, which is told differently every time. In this interpretation, he is a gangster who falls into a vat of chemicals while confronting Batman. It's pretty straightforward, and it just sets up the rest of the movie.
Jokers plan is to flood Gotham with his deadly Joker Venom, it's up to Batman to stop him.
And that's just about it.
Jack Nicholson throws an awesome performance as The Joker, it's not totally fair to compare him to Heath Ledger because they both play the character differently.
Michael Keaton is also a great Batman, but Burton stuffed up when he decided to center the movie around Joker, and not the title character. Batman has barely any lines, and he appears in the movie not nearly as much as he should. Afterall, this is his movie. I felt that Buton got the character of The Joker right, but he failed to study Batman's character. His abilities aren't put to real good use here. The supporting cast is great too, from Kim Bassinger to the late Michael Gough as Alfred.
The music is breathtaking and stunning, I thought the costumes were well done for their time (rubber Batman XD).
The scenery and visual effects fit the movie nicely, they're all pretty gothic as you would expect.
The main problem is that Burton didn't understand the character well enough. Apparently he wouldn't have made the movie if it weren't for "The Kiling Joke." I don't blame him, that book is absolutely brilliant. But it's a character study of The Joker, not Batman. If Burton was trying to make a film about The Joker, he succeeded, but as it is, there just isn't enough Batman for my liking.
I feel like I'm dragging on, so I'll wrap up.
All in all, Batman is a great adaption of the legendary character. But Burton doesn't really have the broad understanding of Batman the way he really should have. It's not at all Michael Keaton's fault, he acts amazing as Batman. In fact everything about the world of Batman translates perfectly to the movie.
Except the title character.
