Director: Tim Burton
Writers: Bob Kane, Sam Hamm (great name!)
Story: The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being the clownishly homicidal Joker.
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger
It is heavily debated which portrayal of the Joker is
better; Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger. I personally have no idea as to which
one I actually prefer. They both have fantastic aspects to them. Nicholson just
make him seem so dark. Even when he is about to get thrown from the top of
Gotham cathedral, he has the audacity to crack a joke about hitting a guy with
glasses. The character just feels really dark. Everything he does is utterly
despicable. He completely fried a guy without a shred of remorse. More than
anything you can tell that he takes full enjoyment in the pain and misery of
others. I will elaborate more on the Joker war in the Dark Knight review.
While Nicholson was excellent, I felt that Michael Keaton as Batman fell really short for me. There was very little character to him. All we really find out about Bruce Wayne was that his parents were killed and that he is Batman. The movie’s central focus definitely seems to be the backstory of the Joker. While this is true, it is terrible to not explore Batman’s backstory and character in detail in a movie called Batman. Keaton just felt rather boring to me.
The darkness of the movie was fantastic. It emphasised how sinister the Joker is. The scene with the mimes was borderline terrifying. Everything to do with the Joker in the movie just makes you shudder.
This early adaptation of likely the most famous superhero in existence focuses heavily on the Joker and does it gloriously. It is dark, sinister and quite frightening. While Batman as a character is rather underwhelming in the movie, the Batman movie is definitely a fun movie to watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment