CConn said:
People say Burton can't direct action scenes?
Yeah, I don't recall anyone ever saying that. Certainly he's not the king of action, he's no Spielberg or Cameron, but he's certainly good enough.
On his Batman movies, Burton used an old-fashioned style of action direction which of course seems very dated and somewhat slow compared to today's so-fast-you-can't-even-see-it action. Burton's style is more about the excitement of the moment, the hero overcoming the challenge, than adrenalin and spectacle.
Batman fighting the Joker's final thug in the Cathedral (the big guy who wipes the floor with him) is classic James Bond/Indiana Jones style fisticuffs; the hero against the seemingly invincible henchman. Watch Bond fight Oddjob or Indy fight the boxer by the plane in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Also notable;
- Batman fighting the Joker's goons in the alleyway, specifically (if Burton shot it and it wasn't second unit) the shots of Bats blocking the katanas with his gloves and boots.
- The runaway Batmobile-to-Batmissile chase in Returns.
- The gags (and that's used in the film production sense, not the joke sense) of Batman fighting the Red Triangle Circus gang were all terrific. The scene where Batman fires his grappling hook behind the clown's head, then pulls it back and hit him with the wall, is just plain cool, and the same goes for the Tattoed Strong Man scene with the dynamite ("Yeah, go ahead, hit me."), the fire-breather getting fried by the Batmobile, and so on. It's very James Bond-esque in the way Batman stylishly defeats each opponent by upping the ante.
