Directed by: Tim Burton
Starring: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger/Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny Devito, Christopher Walken
Released: 1989/1992
Watched: October 30th, 2015/November 6th, 2015
Thoughts Before: At some point in my youth my mother made an awesome decision to show me all the great movie series. She wound up kind of dropping the ball (still haven't watched Back to the Future for example) but overall I ended up experiencing a ton of fantastic movie series'. The first series we went through was Batman, and damn, what a disappointment. I'll get to that over the next couple of weeks, but the first movie was fantastic. It was one of the first times I was subjected to the greatness that is Jack Nicholson. His Joker is one of my favorite portrayals of the character (don't worry Mark Hamill, no one can top you), even Heath Ledger's Joker couldn't compare (though I think he did great too). This movie still stands up, Tim Burton's vision shines through and really helped this film stand out. Returns on the other hand feels as though they turned the Tim Burton aspect up to eleven. It isn't the worst of the series, but definitely sets up the soon to come massive disappointments to follow. At the very least Catwoman is always entertaining in this movie.
Thoughts After: Batman is still a pretty good movie, Michael Keaton isn't a very good Bruce Wayne, but his Batman works well enough for the time. His awkward cowl restricting his movement is much more obvious watching this as an adult. Jack Nicholson, while I was a little let down by his performance according to my memory, is still the star of the show. His hi-jinks fit the character well, and Jack Nicholson plays mental illness like a fiddle. There isn't much more to say about this movie. It's an origins film without being an origins film, which I greatly appreciated. Worth watching.
Returns on the other hand is more like Batman in name only. Catwoman is insane, Penguin is insane, Christopher Walken is insane, Batman is kinda insane. This one plays out a lot more like a cartoon overall. Catwoman keeps falling out of buildings, and it's really weird that she never dies from it. In fact, at the end she basically electrocutes herself, but is teased at the end as still being alive. I wonder if they bothered showing her "die" eight times or not? I didn't care enough to actually keep track. Penguin (who after watching It's Always Sunny is now just Frank pulling some idiot scheme in my mind now) doesn't do much, he just shows up and tries to become the city hero because... he was abandoned? I don't really know. Basically Christopher Walken is just using him for publicity/fame/money/whatever. It was hard to care about this movie. It wasn't terrible, but it also was not Batman. Kind of worth watching, but I don't really recommend it too highly.
Bonus Round: We didn't watch anything in particular, but here's some weird fun facts! All four of these Batman movies are canon with each other! I think... See, Alfred and Commissioner Gordon are played by the same actors throughout the entire series. Harvey Dent in the first movie is played by Lando Calrissian, he shows up in the next movie. Actually, maybe it's not Harvey Dent in this movie universe? Things are about to get terribly more wacky.
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