20 years on and still the better Batman movie

Rating: 10/10 (29 June 2012)

Yikes, cant believe this film has reached its 20th anniversary! I was only 5 when this hit theaters but I do remember watching this many times on videotape. Anyway, I'm here to give the new revised review of this amazing film. Looking back at the batman movies, this one comes off as rather unique. Its not your atypical comic book movie in that it doesn't just have loads of action with one fight scene after another. not that it doesn't have its fair share of exciting action scenes, but its more about the characters and how they relate to each other, almost like little character studies. there's a reason why the tagline for the movie is "the bat, the cat, the penguin". the movie is all about these 3 characters. One thing that strikes me is the emotional level this film achieves. Its quite amazing what Burton did with the characters, particularly the 2 villains. In the comic books, they are very 2-dimensional characters. Catwoman is just a hot chick who likes to steal things, and Penguin is just a little roly poly guy who wears a tux. If there were ever 2 characters that were in dire need of a face lift, its these 2. Tim Burton gives them both a rather incredible amount of depth and pathos. Penguin is a deformed guy who years after being dumped in the sewer, seeks revenge not only against Gotham city, but more specifically, its children. Talk about a disturbed individual. Catwoman on the other hand was a quiet put upon woman treated badly by her employer, who eventually tries to kill her. This makes her go into a fit of rage, a sequence in which Selina totally lets loose in her apartment, which is quite a powerful scene and which also shows why I love Michelle pfeiffer. Very, very talented actress. Its in this moment she becomes cat woman. Sure beats the hell out of the comics version. Then there is Batman, once again dark and brooding Michael Keaton, born to play this part, who has seemingly no life beyond waiting for that big bat in the sky to call him to duty. During the course of the movie, all these characters go in and out of each others lives, betray each other, love each other, fight each other. The 3 leads are superb together, and the casting for this movie is PERFECT. I mean cmon, who else could possibly play the Penguin? Seriously? But besides the action scenes and the amazing visuals that Burton does so well, there is something about this movie, a kind of sad feeling, especially during the climax. These aren't just your typical run of the mill comic book villains and heroes. These are deeply hurt, deeply scarred people who inhabit this dark wonderland of Gotham city. The penguin acts and behaves like your usual crazy super villain, but at the same time you realize, why is he targeting little kids as his aim of his revenge? Because he himself was thrown into the sewer as a small child and now wants to reenact this on the children of Gotham. Hes hurting. Catwoman and Batman are both messed up which makes them perfect for each other, but they can never truly be together because of the very things that draw them together. The ballroom scene between Selina and Bruce is one of the best scenes in the movie.
What can I say, Tim Burton is a master of visuals, a true genius of dark filmmaking. Such is his talent of creating an amazing and creepy atmosphere. He is, as far as I'm concerned, the only guy fit to direct a batman movie. He just gets it. The nerds and basment dwellers who judge a movie simply on how accurate it is to the source material are just narrow minded haters, especially since its popular right now to hate on the older films in order to "prop up" the newer movies. the comics by the way, are not the Bible. characters and origins are constantly changing and being re-envisioned by different artists writers. one minute penguin is a tux wearing, snooty, intelligent human being, the next hes a monstrous, bulbous, disgusting slob with claws/"flippers" and long greasy hair. nothing remains the same for too long in the comics, so when it comes to comic books, nothing in set in concrete. its more up to personal taste, and i believe that burton took the source material and simply added to its greatness. he took the characters and made them so much more compelling then they ever were in the comic books. isn't that what the films are supposed to do?
Its really quite sad to see people and the weird crazy internet culture having this massive hard-on for Christopher Nolan's boring, bourgeois bland take on the character. heath ledger did not deserve the Oscar, and was the worst version of joker I've ever seen. Out of all 6 batman films made, none of them I believe have the same kind of raw emotion of this particular batman film.
I also like the film also because it deals with outcasts, of which I feel very much an outcast in many ways so I can relate to it. Heck even here on IMDb I am an outcast, as I hate movies that most people seem to love and I love movies people seem to hate! I hate the new Batman's. I think they are dull lifeless garbage. Does that make me Mr. popular or what? But I stick to my thoughts and wont bend just to make some stupid shmoe happy. So there's always this tension with people because my tastes are different. Lets face facts here, most modern versions of thing's suck, and that includes the new batmans. the original 3 are the best, simple as that.