The Director’s Chair: Batman

You know who I am…but you don’t know why I’m here!

I go wherever I want…whenever I want!

And with that out of the way, I’d like to introduce you all to The Director’s Chair!

Last week, we introduced the great Tim Burton and covered the late great Paul Reubens with his debut film, Pee-Wee’s Great Adventure!. What beautiful Burton film will we cover today…

Let’s find out!

Timothy Walter Burton was born August 25, 1958 in Burbank, CA. He went to CalArts and later even worked for Disney, as a concept artist, art director, and designer. As one would guess, he didn’t exactly fit the Disney mold, and none of his concepts were used. Could you imagine a Tim Burton version of The Fox & the Hound? Soon thereafter, he found his voice and amplified it with work that would transcend stop-motion animation. He was handpicked by Paul Reubens to direct his feature film Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, and allowed him creative input to bring Reuben’s small tv-show world onto the big screen.
Beetlejuice was next, but the true stamp of approval for Burton came with 1989’s Batman. This entry into comic book lore catapulted Burton to superstardom. His list of films afterwards are some of the most unique films ever, with each one feeling distinctly “Burtonesque.” Of course, this would eventually become detrimental, as critics considered it as more of a crutch than a trademark.

For my money, Burton is one of the greats, and even IF he falls back on his “look,” quite a bit, there is almost always something beneath the stop-motion. His movies focus on isolation, fish out of water, familial strife, father/son relationships, and as out of this world as his characters may be, there always seems to be some grounded sentiment towards their plights. But what about as a director? Let’s find out…

Specs:
Runtime – 2 Hours 6 Minutes
Release Date – June 23, 1989
Filming Locations – England, UK
Budget – $35 Million
Gross US & Canada – $251,348,343

Trivia: Rather than a salary, Nicholson chose to get a percentage of the gross, being unsure of what the future of the film would be. Dude took home $60 million because of it.
Rating: 8/10

This will likely be one of the more biased reviews posted during this project, because I have been a HUGE Batman fan since birth, damned near, and this film is a huge reason as to why. In 1989, I was three, and although I have no memory of that time in my life, I do remember a few years down the road, a beaten up VHS box with a cassette inside. White label, black letters, yellow outline, all caps, and I played the SHIT out of it! Batman was my life! I wish I could tell you that it’s been a while since I’ve seen the 1989 version, but it still gets heavy rotation, especially considering HBOMax is at my fingertips.

Burton did something that had yet to be done here. Superman had finished its four film run in 87 with The Quest for Peace, and the less said about that, the better. They do need to be mentioned a bit, though, because prior to 89, this was the epitome of superhero film. Batman changed it all. Dark, brooding, maniacal characters, more grounded in reality (at least by comparison), and not so tongue in cheek. Moreover, the Batman character itself had never been seen in any medium besides the comic as a dark character. Again, Burton changed all of that.

Batman is not without its flaws; some of the effects have aged really really badly. Joker hanging from the clutches of Batman’s hand will forever look weird. There’s a couple of punches you just know did not land. This may well be the first sign of Jack Nicholson playing Jack Nicholson. But other than that, this was a self-contained amazing film that would have done just as well standing on its own. Fortunately for us, we got a sequel that kicked a bunch of ass.

Batman, in my opinion, is a two person play, because Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson both steal the show and in completely different ways. Keaton is reserved, methodical, constantly in thought, careful, precise. Nicholson is maniacal, wild, crazy, haphazard, and just…a joy. And I’m talking about the actors, not the characters, if you understand what I’m saying. Such a beautiful tandem.

In doing this project, I’ve been learning a lot about the director’s actual responsibilities and how, although he is the master at the wheel, there are so many other people to give credit to. I hope that in learning this, I can notice more names than the last one that’s shown in the opening credits, because if there was ever a film that was built by a team, it’s this one. Gotham City looks amazing and so self-contained, there is no other world. In Nolan’s Batman, we open up the world a bit, and I love that for a bunch of other reasons, but here we get Burton creating an entire city, and using scale and angles to make it larger than life. From Bruce’s mansion to the fog-filled streets of Gotham, and even the dark wood Gotham PD, it’s all so…GOTHAM. Long time comic book readers will have already had a picture of what Gotham looked like. A Death in the Family had just come out. People wanted the gritty and dark Batman, and they got it.

I especially like how slow-moving the camera is when Bruce is on the screen as opposed to literally anyone else. Every extra second feels like it’s on purpose, as if we are allowing Bruce time to consider his next move, even if we already know what it will be. Then we head over to Joker’s bombastic nature, it’s all done with gusto and without ego behind the lens. He’s truly letting the actors do their job here, and that’s likely the best thing when Jack F’n Nicholson is on the screen.

This one, I can’t truly explain. It’s truly been my favorite for as long as I can remember, and I have no proper or logical reasoning or excuse as to why. Some could point to the bright paint defacing of an art museum, or the dark and barely red-lit exposure of Joker’s face, or even the first time we see the Batmobile, but for some reason, I can’t get over the wild scene with the mimes. You just knew some shit was going down, and it was so off the wall, all finalized with a freakin sharpened quill to the neck! Sick.

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We’ve got two more weeks with Burton! Which films do y’all think I’m closing with? Take a guess below!!

DUECES!