Batman (the original Keaton / Joker one)
I decided to give this another whirl over my cynicism regarding the sudden ‘nostalgia surge’ for Keaton re-playing Batman in the Flash.
All of these comments I read on YouTube and elsewhere saying Keaton was an ‘amazing actor’… that there was a ‘big hoohah’ over his casting etc but he showed everyone up by being great, ‘surprising Jack Nicholson’ with how great his acting was… it smells a lot like a very well-engineered marketing campaign to me to promote his recent role reprisal.
Anyway, the film is mostly how I remembered. Better in some ways, far worse in others. Thoughts in no particular order…
It’s funny that Batman does this ‘raise arms up and pose thing’ a couple of times. Very theatrical
He also gets shot a couple of times and the henchmen do the whole ‘hey who is this’ - just a bit odd it happens twice.
Nobody in this universe really seems to know who Bruce Wayne is.
The Harvey Dent stuff goes absolutely nowhere - did they just forget him? Even if it was setting up a role for the sequel, kind of lame how meaningless his scenes are.
The best thing about the film, other than the banging music, is probably the fun ‘flirty / friend / professional’ dynamic between the reporter (Knox?) and Bassinger. Also, the scene setting with the dirty cop bribing did make Gotham feel a really seedy place… beyond just the visuals. So good job on those bits.
I do actually generally quite like how quirky Keaton’s Bruce Wayne is - his weirdo / awkward behaviour of not introducing himself immediately sets a funky tone. He eventually loses his appeal slightly from the scene the includes his ridiculous, awful nonsense monologue to the Joker culminating in threatening him with a fireplace poker. There was no incentive for him to do that? The “let’s get nuts!” line is awful / cringe.
Alfred just lets Bassinger into the bat cave. What a jerk.
Nicholson’s joker may have been great evolution coming from the silly villain in the 60s TV show but he’s mostly annoying now once he becomes the joker. He just chats absolute **** to himself, or makes silly noises such as “oooo”… there is one moment when he leaves a scene and just blows a raspberry. Umm. Not really intimidating nor that funny.
The end portion of the film with the bell tower is a huge anti-climax and rather boring. A very underwhelming showdown with the joker and really a lot of needless build-up too.
There are some great iconic moments that do stand the test of time, such as the brilliant “………. I’m Batman” near the start and also that shot of the bat-plane in front of the moon. Very cool.
Overall, more watchable than it is good - the general atmosphere, visuals, music and ‘quirky Bruce’ set-up are the highlights, whereas the ‘major conflict’ of Batman vs. Joker that is supposed to be entertaining and the main draw is actually a little dull.
6.5/10