With Tim Burton at the helm, Batman went from being the campy, colourful TV series full of silly dialogue ("Holy horseshoe, Batman!" etc) of the 60s to a dark, malevolant beast set in a murky Gotham - in one respect closer to the comic book Batman than ever.
Whilst this movie has it's detractors (some say Michael Keaton doesn't cut it as a millionaire playboy - they're missing the point however, he's not portrayed as a millionaire playboy, unlike the Nolan/Bale version, he's being shown as a millionaire recluse; a role Keaton is perfect for), I love this portrayal of Bats. Burton managed to simultaneously make Gotham a horrible, dank place and still inject the movie with comic book colour and style.
Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the Joker is also fantastic - both darkly comic and gloriously over the top. Again, people that compare this Joker to Heath Ledger's version (from The Dark Knight) are missing the point - they're uncomparable, coming from different eras and different visions of the Batman universe. Whilst they're both awesome, Ledger takes the win IMO.
When this movie came out, it put the comic book movie on the map, and it still holds up well today - especially considering it's now 20 years old.
I love it.
My rating: 8.0 / 10
IMDB rating: 7.6 / 10
Running time: 126 mins
IMDB link
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