![]() ![]() It's just a shame that the late-80s writer strike happened just a few days after Sam Hamm submitted his script to Warner. It may not be as mature as Nolan's work but it has an edge that no other recent comic-book movie has. The matte paintings are gorgeous and create pure escapism in a way that green screen digital mattes just cannot replicate. The smoke-blackened, cramped, and claustrophobic buildings look and create a very oppressive atmosphere, like a New York City that has not had planning permission for 200 years. ![]() Anton Furst's Oscar-winning design of Gotham City is, to me, THE aesthetic that all other attempts failed to match. I like that they acknowledge his intelligence and gave him a new edge by making him artistically gifted, but not much is done with it when it should have been a heavier driving force behind his insanity. Batman needs a counterbalance and I believe that Heath Ledger helped up Bale by accident Jack Nicholson is a "good" Joker too, not quite as iconic as Ledger's take on the character, but still a role that has defined his career. As Batman he's silent and imposing, the polar opposite of Christian Bale's overplayed attempt, which I don't think anyone was really impressed by. He's a rich, socio-phobic megalomaniac who has more money than sense and is often bumbling and clumsy, very different from Adam West's turtleneck playboy. Michael Keaton is the best Bruce Wayne in my opinion. Burton also retained a lot of the noir elements that have been present in the old Batman serials and many of the comic books. The original material is respected (to a degree), and the characters are deep instead of just campy. Tim Burton corrected all of that by giving us a dark, sinister and Gothic world with rich production design and a great score by Danny Elfman (who has made a career out of recycling the same old generic cues in nearly every movie he has scored). Up until this point the Batman series from the 1960s is how the vast majority of the audience regarded the Batman character and universe. The marketing team at Warner succeeded in immersing the public consciousness with the big-screen coming of the Dark Knight. This "grown up" rating gave it an alluring mystique as was always the case with such movies to my hungry, impressionable mind. Batman had a 12-rating in the UK, and was upped to 15 for video. My lot of movies that summer was restricted to Ghostbusters II and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, both of which I saw in Florida. I remember being in a car, driving up Lothian Road in Edinburgh and seeing a long line of people queuing at the box office of the Cannon Cinema (as it was then) and being jealous that I wasn't old enough to see it. People were queueing up around the block for hours (the literal meaning of a blockbuster). If you were around in summer 1989 then you'll remember that Batmania was EV-ER-Y-WHERE! You couldn't look anywhere without seeing the Bat Logo in some incarnation. ![]()
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