Batman (1989)

I had never watched this iteration of Batman before and I had rather high expectations of a film, which had garnered critical acclaim and had won an Academy Award. Barring a fantastic score by Danny Elfman and an interesting tonal shift to the brooding origins of the Batman from the comics, this film has not quite lived up to my expectations.

Starring Michael Keaton as the titular character and a quite crazed rendition of the Joker by Jack Nicholson, the film strays away from its source material, to highlight low-life crook Jack Napier's descent into the Joker eventually resulted in the famed "Battle of the Freaks". Whilst these individual performances were superb, this film has suffered over time, due to the technological limitations of Batman's scenes, with the fighting choreography harking back to the slapstick days of Adam West's Batman in the 1960s. Although the performance of Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale can be lauded, the performances of Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Dent fell way below of expectation and the film largely relied on the stronger performances of Jack Nicholson and Michael Keaton. The film was also beset by poor lighting (unsurprising from a Tim Burton film and would be more suitable in a Game of Thrones episode) but if you increase your brightness settings, this may help. I would say that although the film has suffered from the ravages of time, and is beset by questionable character performances, poor lighting and Batman's limited ability to spread his own wings, the film can be applauded for reinvigorating an interest in superhero movies, eventually culminating in the rise of Marvel movies in the 21st century.