Upon further review...Batman movie..

[burntboy]

I'm not sure how my opinion will be recieved, this being my first post, but like someone said earlier in this thread, everyone has an opinion so I thought that I would share mine.

 

I think Batman 1 was a great movie. Tim Burton took the legend that is Batman and ran with it. Burton was not trying to "stay true" to the comic book Batman of the time. Burton, as with all of his movies, used his own vision of what Batman was to make this movie. I believe Burton may have been exactly the right director for the first batman movie. As others have mentioned in this thread, when this movie was released, Super Hero movies were not well recieved by the general public (with the exception of Superman 1 and 2). If another director had made a "stay true" to the comic movie, I don't think that it would have been near as good as Burton's was.

As to some of the points others have made:

Casting:

Michael Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne - I have to admit this was a bit of a stretch, however Keaton pulled this roll off very well considering his physical differences from what everyone thought Bruce/Batman should look like. Bruce Wayne is a little crazy and imbalanced (don't you have to be to dress up like a bat and fight crime?) and Keaton acting as Bruce Wayne was definitely strange. I thought Keaton did well while in costume. He kicked major bad guy booty and I will never forget the scene early in the movie when he catches those thives on the roof. He snatches one guy off the ground.

thief: *scared as heck and dangling by his collar* What are you!?!?!?!?!?!

Keaton: *Snatches the thief face to face* I'm Batman.....

American movie clasic scene in my book.

Jack Nicholson as the Joker - I don't think you could have, or ever will find somebody who fits this roll better, Tim Burton movie or not. The Joker is the craziest homicidal lunatic in any comic universe, and who better to play this part than Nicholson? Nicholson was everything I have ever envisioned the Joker character to be. He was a certified raving madman with the wierdest sense of humor ever. Nicholson took this movie from so-so to the blockbuster that it turned out to be.

 

I'm going to stop now because I've written for more than I intended although I could go on and on on this subject.

 

Thanks for your time,

-bill

 

welcome to the boards - very nicely written piece, by the way. i pretty much agree with you but always had a problem with Nicholsons joker (although after reading your opinion, i'm going to watch it again and see how i feel about it).

 

interestingly, after watching the 2003 ALCS on ESPN yesterday afternoon, i decided to give the HULK another chance. i now realize that i must have been quite tired and snoozed during some parts of the movie when i saw it in the theater, as the whole absorbing man thing was lost on me the first time around. i actually liked it this time with the exception of the early pacing , which while done well was just too slow and nolte's over-the-top acting as dad).

 

i think i'll rewatch daredevil this weekend and see if i can appreciate that movie a bit more, as well.......

[uclapeterg]

The pacing for Hulk took me about 20 mins to get used to, but I was like "Ok, this is how fast this movie is going to go.." and was fine after that.