Warner Bros. Pictures
It cannot be denied that the DC Universe had a turning point with the premiere of Batman, in 1989, a tape that we revisited in our retro review.
The decade of the 80’s was characterized by the redefinition of the DC Universe with Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the incursion of stories like The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke, while in the cinema Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Comics delivered us in 1989 a film that became a watershed like Batman, whose retro review we present below.
Directed by Tim Burton, the Batman mythology made its way to the big screen in a more serious way in a film starring Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, and Kim Bassinger.
Prior to the release of Batman, the immediate precedent with superheroes in the cinema was the Superman saga, which amazed the world in 1978, so the task seemed daunting.
In the plot, Batman has emerged as an urban legend, which leads a crusade against crime in Gotham City, when a sinister mobster, now known as Joker, terrorizes the city, only the Dark Knight is the only one who can stop him.
A 1989 watershed on many fronts
Tim Burton’s Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren’s story not only introduced Batman to a new generation of fans, it also marked his distance from the 1966 series starring Adam West.
With a grim atmosphere, Burton plunges us into the psyche of Batman, whose portrayer, Michael Keaton, does an extraordinary job, defining a split personality, both as Bruce Wayne and Gotham’s hero.
But it cannot be denied that Jack Nicholson is in charge of being Batman’s great headache, and gives us a memorable performance, where the funny and sinister side of Joker is defined, a villain whose madness is his modus vivendi.
Kim Bassinger, meanwhile, gives us the romantic interest of Bruce Wayne and Joker. Vivky Vale presents herself as a great photojournalist whose hunger for challenges does not stop her in her quest to bring the best Batman postcard, which leads her to cross the paths of Bruce Wayne and Joker.
The Batman mythology in a new perspective
Burton made it clear that the Batman he portrayed on the big screen is the one we knew in the 1940s, and in the 1970s and 1980s, in the pages of Batman and Detective Comics, leaving aside the wackiness of the series of the 1980s. 60.
The production design, added to the amazing vehicles used by Batman, such as the Batmobile and the Batwing, plunge us into a grim Gotham, where society cries out for someone to protect its interests, both from the police they fear and from the corrupt. and the gangsters.
SMASH Verdict ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Batman from 1989 redefined superhero cinema and was the spearhead for the new productions that to date have been made by various studios.
Tim Burton was able to deliver a story attached to the nature of the Batman, without neglecting the details that defined the mythology that Bob Kane and Bill Finger presented in 1939 in the pages of Detective Comics #27 (May, 1939).
Burton’s vision, added to the performances of great Hollywood icons such as Michael Keaton, Kim Bassinger and Jack Nicholson, make Batman a jewel that lasts over time, from which current filmmakers can learn.
Source: SMASH