Batman
1989
Stars: Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger, Jack Nicholson, Michael Gough, Robert Wuhl.
Director: Tim Burton.
Plot: The caped-crusader is the main character in this movie based on the popular comic book. Batman/Bruce Wayne(Michael Keaton) is a multimillionaire who is also the crime fighter Batman. Noone knows his well kept secret except his butler Alfred(Michael Gough). In a recent police bust, crime leader Jack Napier(Jack Nicholson) fell into a vat of acid and we think that he has died. There's also another story about photographer Vicki Vale(Kim Basinger) who's very interested in Bruce Wayne. She works with Alex Knox(Robert Wuhl) who tries to act real nice towards her and also wonders who's behind the mask. Next, we see a man getting bandages removed from his head. The man looks into a mirror and starts to laugh histirically. We get a glimpse of him and Jack Napier has now turned into the Joker(also Jack Nicholson). He returns to his gain and they start to wreck havoc throughout Gotham city. Meanwhile, Vicki and Bruce have started to form a relationship but he hasn't yet told her his hidden identity. The Joker and his gang create a chemical that when people use it, they start to laugh like crazy and eventually die. Noone knows what kind of perfume of cosmetic he's poisoning with the chemical so people continue to die. Batman has to stop the Joker and his gang from their chaos and also keep his relationship with Vicki.
My Thoughts: This is the first movie I saw from one of my future favorite directors. Tim Burton, like all his other films, does a great job making this film dark yet contain black humor in it. Nicholson's performance as Joker is one of the best characters I've seen in a movie. He's so psychotic yet he makes you laugh throughout the whole movie. Michael Keaton does a good job as Batman and he makes his character believeable. I really liked the character Alfred because he was always so nice to Bruce and tried to help him out in capturing the Joker. I thought Kim Basinger did a pretty good job with playing Vicki Vale but as I said, I think the Joker stole the whole show. One really funny scene is when he's having a meeting with his thugs and one of them disagrees with him so he just walks right next to his seat and asks the guy to shake his hand. The guy does and we find out that the Joker was wearing a deadly buzzer on his hand. The guy starts to fry and smoke starts coming out of his ears, while the whole time, the Joker is cracking up. It's a really funny and well directed scene. Also, since he's supposed to be a clown or be funny, he has many funny "toys". Another scene in the movie involves Batman flying in his bat plane and he flys right over the Joker. Before he passes the villian, the Joker pulls out a seven foot pistol that looks really silly and shoots at the plane, of course laughing the whole time. I've seen three out of the four Batman movies, and I thought this was a great movie but I liked the second one even more. You can read about my thoughts on Batman Returns too.
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