Batman '89: Scene by Scene

[JohnnyGobbs]

Glad to see you're still doing the commentary Homer. I'll add a mega-post for the scenes you have dealt with/will be dealing with, in a few days. Unfortunately, I've been a bit busy at work lately.

Keep up the good work Homer!

 

[Bnightwing]

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/7184-batmanvsdk

 

[Homer J. Fong]

I'll add a mega-post for the scenes you have dealt with/will be dealing with, in a few days.

A heads-up then: I'll have my post on scene 13, "Call Me Joker," up tomorrow.

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/7184-batmanvsdk

I agreed with most of what he said there, actually. I like Bale's "Batman voice" a bit more than he did, but it's particularly good to hear some praise for Ledger that doesn't come with bashing Nicholson.

 

[JohnnyGobbs]

That's cool Homer. I'll do a 'recap' of the scenes you've covered when I add my post. Thanks for the heads-up though!

 

[StylishHokie21]

12. Drastic Surgery

(Running time: 0:34:09 - 0:36:09)

See, this is what happens when you don’t pay for a decent plastic surgeon.

I have to admit, for most of my childhood, I couldn’t watch this movie, the reason being one Jack Nicholson as The Joker, of course. I’m sure he’d be very glad to know he scared the hell out of at least one young Bat-fan, because it wouldn’t be much of a performance otherwise. Obviously, at some point I got over it. This is still a powerful scene, though, perfectly staged to allow a superbly broad first stage of the character’s reveal (and rebirth). Again, Burton loves to reveal his characters when he can, and as with Batman, our villain is treated to a multi-stage entrance. This tactic would be used again with both The Penguin and Catwoman in Batman Returns.

It isn’t the meatiest scene, but the actors do quite a good job here, with Nicholson turning more manic as he rapidly unfurls the bandage, breaks the mirror, shuts the light, and walks out – cackling madly for the first time in the film. I do love the way he turns out the light; it’s not an overtly sinister move, but it comes off as such, although the surgeon here is let off more easily than anyone else Jack comes across – because, after all, he’s given him a new lease on life. Also effective here is the actor playing the bargain-basement surgeon (I believe his name is Steve Plytas), a pretty sympathetic figure for his brief screentime.

Now, the rest of this scene, to me, does not work. It’s nothing major, but the drunken “flirtatious” dialogue between Bruce (who comes off oddly smooth here, so that doesn’t fit) and Vicki feels stilted. The relationship needs to be accelerated for the purpose of the plot, and it’s clear that that element was the one that was worked on the least through the various drafts. If I’m wrong about that, and obviously I could be, I would be pretty surprised.

This scene made quite a fair bit of impact on its own, actually. Two series that paid homage to it come to mind straightaway: the Last Exit to Springfield episode of The Simpsons (Lisa smashes a mirror and cackles after seeing her new braces, terrifying her dentist), and the closing of Two-Face: Part 1 on Batman: The Animated Series (Harvey demands a mirror after his own scarring) Clearly, simple staging is often the best.

Agreed. This scared the hell out of me when I was younger and it's one of my favorite scenes.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

13. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63iuB-cSY7Q&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63iuB-cSY7Q&feature=related"Call Me Joker"

(Running time: 0:36:09 - 0:38:19)

Spoiler

El Payaso mentioned Psycho when posting on the last scene, and one of the things Psycho taught us (besides ‘never trust anyone with a stuffed owl hanging overhead&#8217 is that if there’s a shower scene, chances are the character in it won’t make it to the next reel. It’s an inherently vulnerable, and therefore compelling, position for a character to be in, whether it’s Marion Crane or Carl Grissom.

This confrontation between these two titans of overacting, Jacks Palance and Nicholson, is refreshingly lacking in subtlety. Just listen to the way Elfman’s cue literally screeches to a halt when the camera pans right and reveals Jack’s shadow behind Grissom. And obviously when you get these two actors together in a situation this grand, it should be pretty fun, and indeed, it’s one of the high points of the movie. (Also note that in this case, I definitely don’t mean “overactors” as a slight against either.) Then there’s the reveal itself, or should I say the second part of the reveal, with Nicholson stepping out of the shadow, face obscured but not entirely hidden.

It’s interesting the way Jack says “you set me up over a woman – a woman!” Not only is the fact that Grissom could value a woman he’s with that much (although it’s more about possession than affection) inconceivable to him, but despite his “relationship” with the same woman, Alicia, he still refers to her as “a woman,” not even by name.

Going back to the grandeur of the moment, Grissom tries to threaten his old right-hand, but the newly self-minted “Joker” steps out from the darkness and murders Gotham’s reigning crimelord. The scene closes with a simply brilliant union of performance and music as The Joker fires until no bullets are left, giggling and whooping as the score unleashes an insane waltz that will serve as one of two musical definitions for the character here. (I can’t ignore the way he raises his arms in victory to the non-existent crowd, either.)

Finally, this film and The Dark Knight connect in that…well, I don’t think any of us would think of The Joker as cold or logical, just the opposite. And yet, in this movie, his first action after he begins his ‘second life’ is to take revenge on the one who led to his “death” in the first place – pretty logical as it goes. And Heath Ledger’s Joker turns out to be a master manipulator despite lines like “do I look like a guy with a plan?” It’s another near-contradiction that makes the person more interesting rather than inconsistent.

 

[CFE]

I actually haven't gotten around to seeing War Zone yet. A "hyper-gratuitous" version sounds like it's missing the point, though.

you better believe it

 

[Shaolin Kenobi]

This scene still gets me... just awesome.
I think the finest Batman debut in film to date.
It was cool in BB, but this was just kick butt.
"I'm Batman".

 

[Shaolin Kenobi]

"Think about the future" would be another great title for this section.
It's an ominous threat on Napier's part AND it also serves as a neat lead up to "Call Me Joker"

 

[The Navigator]

I like this reviewing process.

 

[Bnightwing]

[YT]U1gJSRx87QM[/YT]

This kinda reminded me of 'No one is gonna mess with MY GUY SAL!' in MOTP

and you said it was like a waltz

Well if you didn't know Elfman entitled this piece 'Waltz of Death' and it is also played in the end when Joker danced with Vicky. (I love bein a score junkie)

 

[Homer J. Fong]

14. "Get a Load of Me"

(Running time: 0:38:20 - 0:41:01)

Spoiler

If you were thinking the odd, uncomfortable, brooding, wicker sculpture-collecting millionaire superhero was already becoming just a little more normal, well...not so much. It's a striking way to show us Bruce retreating back into his obsessed little world, having him wake up next to Vicki, who he's actually found himself falling for, and then getting up into a bizarre sort of sleep-exercise ritual.

And then it's back to Grissom's apartment where The Joker basically plays to a non-existent camera/audience (like when he punctuates the line "always brings a smile to my face" with a broad grin). But that's great, that's The Joker, it doesn't matter if there's an audience, and once he sees The Batman making headlines, he promises that Gotham will REALLY be his new audience now. Yes, Heath Ledger infused his Joker with some brilliant idiosyncratic touches (the licking of the lips, smoothing back of the hair, etc.) and I can't fault him, but just point out how excellently sinister and hilarious some of Nicholson's are - I mean, he ends his bit here by just going "whoop...whoop...HAHAHAHAHAHA!" What the hell is that? To quote Mr. J, I don't know if it's art, but I like it.

Anyway, the scene closes with an important point in Bruce & Vicki's relationship - her nearly-but-not-quite catching him in a lie. Keaton is an actor who's not easy to read most of the time, and that works to his advantage here, so it's not hard to believe she wouldn't press the matter further. But come on, Alfred, play along! Jeez, next thing you know, he'll just show up with her in the Batcave...

 

[Homer J. Fong]

Okay, well, it has been a while. I apologize for abandoning this thread for so long, but the last couple of semesters have been packed (plus, there've been various tech issues). Anyway, onward and upward...

15. "Glad You're Dead"

(Running time: 0:41:02 - 0:45:06)

Spoiler

We start with a brief “honey, I’m home” moment as Alicia promptly faints (nice fall, too) at the sight of the new Jack. Nicholson’s slight head tilt and muttered “oh” is a nicely droll touch.

Next, it’s time for Jack to announce his takeover of Grissom’s operations. Now, The Joker uses this flesh-colored makeup at three points in the film, and I think this is the one where it works. It doesn’t serve a practical purpose, really, but as a stylistic touch, it’s great. It just gives the character – and actor – another opportunity for a great reveal, this time to the rest of the gang. The exchange where Antoine asks, “What’s with that stupid grin?” and Jack lifts his head up and replies, “Life’s been good to me” – that is a very memorable moment.

In my opinion, this is Nicholson’s best scene in Batman: I think it’s his funniest, his wildest, and his most sinister. In the way he speaks so amicably to Rotelli about going their separate ways, you can kind of see how he’s holding in not anger, but such joy – wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise, after all. And the joy-buzzer’s classic Joker, of course, nothing original about it, but the way the gag is done here is so delightfully cartoonish: the jolting sound effect, the wonderfully obvious dummy being burned, and one-liners being tossed around. Once everyone’s cleared out, we get a nice callback to the last moment between Carl Grissom and Jack Napier as The Joker embraces Bob and crowns him “my #1 guy” – in a funny, hyper-exaggerated Palance impression. Finally, if your villain standing beside a charred corpse and cackling, “I’m glad you’re dead” isn’t gallows humor, I don’t know what is. What an excellent demonstration of the Joker character; it really gets you squirming, because you’ve just laughed at something really horrible, but…well, it was funny.



16. Two Roses

(Running time: 0:45:07 - 0:48:06)

Spoiler

In a way, Tim Burton was born about 50 years too late, because he could have been a fine director of silent movies. He always attempts to tell his story as much through image as possible; dialogue is important, of course, but his films are all extremely expressive visually. Also, each of them includes extended sequences that rely heavily on musical score and include little or no dialogue. This is one of them, and it’s a good one.

Vicki’s decided that, after his suspicious brush-off, it’s time to do some digging into Bruce Wayne’s past. In a feat of amazing timing, she catches him just as he leaves the manor, and trails him to a street corner where he places two red roses on the ground (unknown to her: the spot where his parents were gunned down many years earlier). And all this is set to some beautiful and unusually subtle Elfman score. With the long time in between posts here, I haven’t seen any of this film in several months, so this was a nice reminder of how strong Michael Keaton really is in this picture: vulnerable and inscrutable at the same time, never really easy to read, but the necessary emotion lurking under the surface.



17.Vengeance - and No Press

(Running time: 0:48:07 - 0:50:50)

Spoiler

When you put together the convenience of no one (but Bruce) noticing the sudden surge in creepy marching mimes to the convenience of Bob snapping several high-quality choice photos of Vicki to his energetic, very public revenge here…this is a pretty good day for Mr. J.

This chapter gives us a fun look at The Joker as showman…entertainer…publicity ****e. In terms of plot, sure, the most important thing is that Bruce discovers here that Jack Napier is still very much alive. (He’s also clearly shell-shocked at being at the scene of another street-corner massacre, so close to where his parents wee killed.) Really, though, it’s all about the comedy, some of it dark (The Joker carefully stepping over several dead bodies on his way back to the car), some of it light (“Can somebody tell me what kind of a world we live in, where a man dressed up as a bat…gets all of my press?!”). One last note: The Joker’s look for this scene is…well, it was an interesting choice. I feel like it’s part Kabuki theater, part porcelain doll; perhaps I’m way off.

 

[JohnnyGobbs]

Awesome stuff Homer. Glad to see your commentary return. I'll treat this as an early Christmas present.

 

[Travesty]

Oh hell yea! I forgot about this thread, and I'm happy to see you getting back to it.

 

[returntovoid]

Great to see this awesome thread get revived.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

18. So Much to Do

(Running time: 0:50:51 – 0:54:18)

Spoiler

Wow, things do move quickly in this film, don’t they? I don’t mean editing or pace so much as timeline; I have to keep reminding myself that Bruce and Vicki have only been on one date, this is just the next day, and Alfred is already making a point of noting how much lighter things are when she’s around. That expedience is probably necessary (and, as I’ve said before, I don’t think Burton, Hamm, or Skaaren were all that interested in the romantic aspect of the story), but doesn’t Alfred just come off as the most desperate, unfulfilled matchmaker ever? Poor guy.

Nicholson taps into a fun childish energy in this next moment: the way he cuts up/remakes the photos in a manic fit of “creativity” (“Hard to stay inside the lines&#8221, the Tex Avery-cartoon way he notices Vicki in that picture (“Stop the press, who is that?!&#8221, the impulsiveness of just demanding a phone book, and the confidence of, “Well, of course she belongs to me now!” I like the way this movie plays with the angle of The Joker as frustrated artist (homicidal artist, but still) finally allowed to express himself.



19. Put on a Happy Face

(Running time: 0:54:19 – 0:57:53)

Spoiler

Wait, is this also supposed to be on the same day, or did it just take Alfred an inordinately long time to find the file on Napier?

Anyway, let’s back up. I’m having some difficulty finding something to say about this scene, because it simply speaks for itself. It’s The Joker at his peak: his giddiest, his most flamboyant, just beginning to roll out the ‘master plan’ (and achieving the implausible feat of poisoning a newscaster just before breaking into the show’s transmission to execute your perfectly-planned commercial – suspension of disbelief is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?). Nicholson’s delivery of his shtick is so effortless and energetic, and he was clearly perfectly suited to this role. To me, it’s not that Jack was just playing himself, but there was a lot of Jack Nicholson in The Joker already: the two just fit.

This scene was probably an inspiration to “Batman: The Animated Series,” now that I think about it. On that show, of course, The Joker could never be shown outright killinganyone. His victims were either seen convulsing in uncontrollable laugher (as Becky starts out here), or with a gruesome grin frozen on their face (as Becky ends up here). It’s an incredibly creepy image, and the way it’s employed here, I imagine it was powerful in saying, “This can be far scarier than The Joker just shooting someone.” (And it was – remember the scene with Arthur Reeves in the hospital bed in Mask of The Phantasm?)



20. Cosmetics Scare

(Running time: 0:57:54 – 0:59:33)

Spoiler

Short and sweet, this one. Scene 20 opens with an update from Exposition News on the rising death toll from The Joker's Smilex toxin, and I was going to open this section by noting how much more chaos and terror Nicholson's Joker seems to cause than Ledger's. Then I started rethinking that, and rethinking that, and so on. The Joker of The Dark Knight and the Joker of Batman wreak about the same level of havoc, but Heath's Clown Prince of Crime, for all his "Do I look like a guy with a plan?" and his talk of hating "schemers," is more coordinated, more manipulative. One version of the character has as much of a pattern as the other, but Burton & Nicholson's comes off looser and less focused, I think.

Not the most exciting set of scenes, hence the middling quality of the post, but the next few are very significant and packed, so I'll have my bit on 21-23 up shortly. 'Til then, have a great holiday!

 

[Homer J. Fong]

I apologize for my lengthy absences from this thread; between school and the screenplays I'm writing, it can be difficult to maintain. I'll have a post for scenes 21-23 up sometime tomorrow, though, and hopefully we can zip through the rest of the film in the next week or so. I've been writing these entries as I go along, rather than working from a master list, and obviously that's not the smartest approach. I will be creating one of these for Batman Returns, and that one will be more structured. and more regularly updated.

 

[JohnnyGobbs]

I apologize for my lengthy absences from this thread; between school and the screenplays I'm writing, it can be difficult to maintain. I'll have a post for scenes 21-25 up sometime tomorrow, though, and hopefully we can zip through the rest of the film in the next week or so. I've been writing these entries as I go along, rather than working from a master list, and obviously that's not the smartest approach. I will be creating one of these for Batman Returns, and that one will be more structured. and more regularly updated.

Brilliant news Homer. I had feared that was it for this thread so I'm glad to read that you're reviving it. I apologise that my own responses have been lax. I would like to do a similar thread of my own smeday but like you I've been preoccupied of late.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the new posts, especially the Batman Returns scene by scene.

 

[returntovoid]

Finally, this thread is revived!!!!

 

[Homer J. Fong]

21. Museum Date

(Running time: 0:59:34 - 1:06:33)

Spoiler

“Wait a minute, Alfred – I’m not meeting her today.” Okay, so how exactly does that work? Does The Joker call Vicki, impersonating Bruce, and tell her about the date or move the date up? Does he send her a letter? Am I forgetting the logistics of this scheme? Here’s the thing, though: Burton’s two Batman movies have many a plot hole or leap in logic…and I don’t care. He never took the gritty, grounded approach, so that makes such things more forgivable. Plus, his movies work so well dramatically and that’s what counts.

All right, now onto this scene itself: The gas spreading throughout the museum is a great point of tension. It builds in a very chilling way, culminating in a series of still images heightened by their lack of music or sound, and then, rather than showing his entrance, cutting to The Joker beholding his handiwork. That first shot of Nicholson in this sequence used to scare the hell out of me. Actually, it still kind of does.

And now to the matter of Prince…The Prince songs that appear in the movie have taken a lot of crap over the years, and I’m not being a contrarian when I say I love the way they’re used – “Partyman” and “Trust,” at least, the others I could take or leave. Yes, they are blatant examples of forced synergy (between Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Records). Yes, they are very much of the 1980s (as is the whole movie). But Burton employs the songs in such a way that they don’t come across as cheap, “And when you’re buying the rest of your Batman merchandise, make sure to pick up the new concept album by Prince!” cross-promotion. He makes them on-point, they become synonymous with The Joker, with the mad-artist party animal side of the character. “Partyman” is great fun as underscore to this tour of horrible vandalism.

I enjoy the rest of this scene a lot – Nicholson is funny and engaging, and there’s some terrific dialogue (“I don’t know if it’s art, but I like it.” “I make art, until someone dies.” “I am the world’s first fully functioning homicidal artist.&#8221 – but there are two fundamental problems with it. The first is Kim Basinger. She’s not a bad actress, but she’s so uneven in this movie. It must be hard to even register in a scene with Nicholson when he’s at his scenery-gnawing height, but she just comes across as bored here, not registering any fear or tension at all.

The other problem is the flesh-colored makeup. When Jack used it to reveal himself to the gang, that was a stylistic touch that made sense, but when he says to Vicki, “You know how concerned people are about appearances. This is attractive, that is not. That is all behind me,” you have to ask, “Then why did you paint yourself in this disguise instead of meeting Vicki as you are?” The Joker is seen both in public and alone with Vicki in his usual appearance many times, so…? It’s so glaring to me.

Other notes:
-The note Vicki is sent with her gas mask was handwritten by Tim Burton.
-"The avant-garde of the new aesthetic" is a turn of phrase that amuses me. It almost makes sense, but not quite.
-The Joker is like one of those children who paints or draws, and when you actually see one of his works, all you can do is scream and shout, “Send it to Hell!”


22. Those Wonderful Toys

(Running time: 1:06:34 - 1:12:19)

Spoiler

That is, of course, one of the most memorable images from this film, one of the most memorable images of Burton’s career. It’s the equivalent of a really thrilling splash page in a comic book. The word ‘iconic’ is thrown around too much these days, but the shot of Batman crashing through the skylight is true iconography. Elfman’s music cue at that moment is, too. I don’t associate either of his Batman scores with old-fashioned, serial-style heroism, but that vibe is conjured here.

This is about as much fun as the movie gets. Obviously, it’s not all doom and gloom – this is more or less an adventure movie, it was a massive summer blockbuster, and The Joker is a lot of fun to watch. But you don’t watch Batman to escape into a lighthearted, lightweight romp. If you were to see, in isolation, a clip of Batman charging to the rescue into the museum, you might think this was a different kind of movie.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the scene isn’t as exciting as the introduction. There are two keys to a great action or fight sequence: always knowing where you are, and always knowing why. The chase sequence is decent, it shows off the Batmobile nicely, but the life kind of goes out of the scene after they leave the car and raise the shields. It feels like padding, and if the one-on-one fights that took place afterward were interesting and well-choreographed, that would be fine, but they’re not. The stiffness and bulkiness of that suit is very much on display. And Burton never has been much of an action director.

That Batmobile, though…Terry Ackland-Snow led the design team for the Batmobile, and again, it is iconic. I know it’s always the version I imagine, and I compare every other interpretation to it. It’s sleek and stylish, but there’s something threatening and perverse about it. It’s the perfect vehicle for the Burton/Keaton Batman.

Other notes:
-You think the oft-quoted "Where does he get those wonderful toys?" line is the real reason Nolan decided to make Batman Begins? He just wanted to know himself?




23. Not Exactly Normal


(Running time: 1:12:20 - 1:16:24)

Spoiler

This scene is part of the reason I started this thread in the first place. It’s a little silly to dissect a movie one scene at a time, but you can do that with a movie like this. You could pull certain individual scenes out of this movie (and the following three) and see that they work unto themselves. This “Descent Into Mystery” sequence is a prime example.

And "Descent Into Mystery" was cause enough for an Oscar nomination for Danny Elfman, but no, he did not receive one. His rich, grandiose anthem carries this section, and the film takes more time than your average blockbuster would to luxuriate in the music. That's no slight against Burton, who's never composed an uninteresting frame outside Planet of the Apes, or Keaton, or Basinger, who I actually have praise for now, because she does well with the difficult task of holding our interest by just looking curious and bewildered for a couple minutes.

The time spent in the cave is emblematic of much that I love about this movie: the incredible atmosphere and texture, the fact that the element the lighting shadows most is Keaton's eyes, the tremendous Presence of Michael Keaton. There's no subtlety at all to the parallels being drawn between Batman and The Joker, they come out and tell you the psychological angle: "Some people think you're as dangerous as The Joker." "He's psychotic." "Some people say the same thing about you." It works, though, I have no complaints.

Other notes:
-When Vicki notices the bats and Batman responds, "They're great survivors," that's a nice, elegant little line. Doesn't scream Memorable Quote, but it's good.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

Scene 24-26 post will be up later tonight or early tomorrow.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

24. "A Name to My Pain"

(Running time: 1:16:25 - 1:18:13)

Spoiler

This is what we call a ‘placeholder.’ This scene is only here to tell viewers that The Joker’s compounds have been exposed and to further the Batman/Joker and Bruce/Vicki relationships very slightly. Neither Batman nor Batman Returns are about plot, we all know that. Is there anyone who describes this movie by saying, “It’s about a superhero who tries to stop a killer clown from poisoning cosmetic products?” I doubt it. It’s about tone and characterization. Those are the reasons Burton took on the project and those are the factors that stand out.

Other notes:
-Again, Alfred holds an abnormal amount of persuasion over Bruce's love life.




25. Not Quite Telling Her

(Running time: 1:18:14 - 1:21:04)

Spoiler

Michael Keaton’s portrayal of Bruce Wayne was never more awkwardly relatable than in this scene. From the single flower he pathetically holds as Vicki opens the door, to the fumbling way he asks, “May I come in,” not knowing quite how to start off, to the obvious struggle he’s going through to lead into telling her “I’m Batman” (“You know how a normal person gets up and…goes downstairs…eats breakfast, kisses somebody goodbye, and goes to a…job – you know?” ) It’s like he doesn’t have any solid foundation for saying what a normal person does, so he has to guess. It’s an odd, uncomfortable, and funny thing to observe. And of course just as funny is the mouthing of “I’m Batman” when Vicki walks away.

The problem, though, is that I don't believe this Bruce would be so eager to tell her now. If I really felt their romance, if it really struck a chord as something they both had to take a chance on because it could be something great, then the accelerated speed of it and the idea of Bruce telling her his secret at this point would work. But there's a much more interesting and believable romance to come...

I don't know why the set piece at Vicki's apartment is separated into two chapters on the DVD/Blu-ray; they really are one long scene.




26. Dancing with the Devil


(Running time: 1:21:05 - 1:25:23)

Spoiler

If you adapted this Batman into a stage production, this scene could be kept totally intact. It feels like a play, in the best sense: it's all about the interplay between actors. It's interesting, this segment doesn't advance the narrative all that much, but it's hard to imagine the film without it. There is one major story contribution this scene makes, but the real fun is watching Keaton and Nicholson play.

Also interesting is - well, of course, we all know NOW what that major contribution is, it's captured in the above pic, it's Bruce realizing, by that incredibly odd question, "You ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight," that Jack Napier/The Joker = the hood who killed his parents. But at this point in the film we don't know what that look means, that's still to come. Keaton has that great gift of inscrutability as an actor; in most of his performances, you're often left to think, "What is going on with this guy? What is he thinking?" That quality served him so well as Batman.

 

[returntovoid]

23. Not Exactly Normal


(Running time: 1:12:20 - 1:16:24)

Let me add something, when Batman replies to Vale "Well, it's not exactly a normal world. Now is it?" that to me says a lot about the character of Batman, I mean it's not normal to have your parents shot to death in front of you at age 10, not normal to face evil that can't be bought or reasoned with but they just want to watch the world burn and not normal that some people murder or rape other people.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

27. Don't Get Personal

(Running time: 1:25:24 - 1:27:18)

Spoiler

Again, this is a short scene that serves a very straightforward purpose – for Vicki to learn that Bruce’s parents were murdered right in front of him, when he was just a child, in that alley where she saw him earlier. And the best thing about it is called out in one of Vicki’s lines: “Look at the look on his face. It was the same in front of city hall.” Charles Roskilly, who plays the young Bruce, doesn’t have as much material as Gus Lewis in Batman Begins, but the look on his face is enough, it’s very evocative.

Kim Basinger and Robert Wuhl are really good together, and that’s something I tend to forget in between viewings of this movie. It’s just unfortunate that by this point in the film, Knox isn’t needed. Once the Bruce-Vicki relationship starts, his character kind of fades and he’s just left to tell Vicki how worried he is about her.


28. Gauntlet Thrown

(Running time: 1:27:19 - 1:29:26)

Spoiler

Okay, a while back, I posted in the Dumbest Batman Movie Moments thread, and I mentioned this scene. If you read my post on the Museum Date scene, you can guess why. There is no reason for The Joker to again be wearing the flesh-colored makeup, unless you think that his saying “I have taken off my makeup” when he really hasn’t is clever. (It’s not.) It’s a contradiction, and an obvious one that I find incredibly distracting, for this character who claims to be beyond appearances, and is frequently seen in the most public venues in his usual guise, to be painting himself this way.

However…Viewing this scene again for this post, I’ve thought of an actual reason for it, one I should have come to many viewings ago.

Moving beyond the grease paint (and if I had an album, Moving Beyond the Grease Paint would be the title)...I love the dialogue in this scene. (“He was a thief, and a terrorist. On the other hand, he had a tremendous singing voice,” for example. Nicholson’s comic timing is superb. Plus, that line’s made even funnier by the incongruity of imagining Jack Palance of all people having a tremendous singing voice.) The screenplays of both Batman and Batman Returns don’t get enough credit for those films’ success, but there are some fantastic moments.

There are also several fun smaller touches throughout this scene: Joker appearing on the screens to the right side so that Dent and the Mayor’s reactions are visible on the opposite side, Joker forcing the wipe that pushes them out of frame when the Mayor says “We are not prepared to make any deals,” his little “I challenge you to fisticuffs” hand gesture on “big dukearoo,” the fact that in the still frame Bruce pauses on, his eyes are closed. It’s a fun bit of grandstanding for the character. I do enjoy the way the film plays the idea that Gotham regards Batman and The Joker both as real unknown entities, and they can’t totally put their trust or mistrust in either of them.


29. Sad Memory; Getting In

(Running time: 1:29:27 - 1:33:51)

Spoiler

Now this is one of the most interesting points of comparison between Batman’s screen interpretations: the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne. If you do a Batman movie or television series, you will have to do a version of this scene at some point. For me, Nolan’s works best, as in it’s the most visceral, the hardest to watch. Burton’s vision of it, though, is the most visually engaging. It has the look and feel of something worn by the haze of seeing it in your mind’s eye countless times. It doesn’t look like a memory, really – in fact, it’s the most dreamlike of all the screen versions of this moment (even more than Schumacher’s, which was actually a dream). Slow motion is used very well here, and subtly. I’m not usually a fan of the device, but it works in this context.

And then there’s Hugo Blick as the young Jack Napier…This actor has to strongly resemble Jack Nicholson, and there aren’t a lot of teenage actors (now or then) who come close, but on that level Marion Dougherty made a great choice. He is a striking physical match, striking enough that I wonder if that smile was manipulated by any makeup of his own. That voice, though…I assume it’s his real voice, because if it’s not, why use it? But it sounds altered, it sounds like an effect! Nicholson had a pretty high-pitched voice when he was younger, and that’s really easy to verify (just go watch The Little Shop of Horrors – actually, do that anyway, it’s a fun movie), so Blick’s bass-heavy delivery is jarring. I almost wish they’d brought Christian Slater in just to dub him over. His moment onscreen is still a chilling highlight, though, largely because “You ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight?” is such an unique, idiosyncratic turn of phrase.

When Bruce snaps out of it, gets out of his own head, and looks back at the image of Joker on his monitors, the shot lingers in a way that's clearly meant to say, "Of course! He looks exactly like that kid! The smile, the arch of the eyebrows, how could I not have seen it earlier?!" And that's the reason I was talking about above. If Jack had gone on TV looking like he ordinarily does, you wouldn't have had that effect. Not that I love it, but there is some reason at least.

When we think of radical changes made in comic book movies, what do we generally think of first? The Penguin being a gross sewer mutant. Galactus being an evil giant cloud. The entirety of Catwoman (if you consider that a comic book movie). And The Joker being the guy who killed Bruce Wayne’s parents. I, for one, think that was a stroke of genius. This movie is all about the connections and parallels between those two figures, and the picture has such a grandeur about it, so a revelation on the scale of “the villain essentially created the hero, and therefore led to his OWN creation” lends the piece more of an operatic sensation. And that is very clearly fitting. The idea of “true to the comics” has always kind of baffled me, and what I mean is like…which comics? Even by 1987-89, when this film was being produced, Batman had been a presence in comics for so damn long, that the question is not, “Do we stay true to the comics,” but more like, “Which comics do we stay true to?” Which era? Which style? Which influences? This film chose its era: the first year or so, the time when the character was being developed, the time when he had the most mystique about him, and the stories were fun but also edgy and macabre. What matters is not whether any issue ever showed The Joker killing Thomas and Martha Wayne, what matters is that it makes sense in the context of this film, and it does.

We come out of this effective sequence to one that doesn’t fit at all. If something can be both pivotal and perfunctory, the dialogue between Bruce and Vicki here is. According to Sam Hamm in a DVD interview, it was a hasty addition/rewrite, and it seems like it. It is important that these two have a scene like this, but no one wants to hear Vicki saying, “I gotta know: are we gonna try to love each other?” No one wants to hear Bruce saying, “It’s just something I have to do,” and Vicki whining, “But why?” in response. He comes off annoyed with her, and we definitely are.

If you’re reading this, you surely know that Sean Young was originally cast as Vicki Vale, but had to drop out after being flung off a horse. Her interview excerpts on the second part of the Shadows of the Bat documentary are pretty poignant and make you really sympathize with her for losing the part. The problems with Vicki in this movie are mostly not Kim Basinger’s fault, but I can’t help but wonder what Sean Young would have been like in the role.

To close out my lengthiest post in a long time: "But he's out there right now. And I gotta go to work." How cool is that?!

Other notes:
-It's amusing to me that the two most controversial elements in this movie come one after another.