Batman (1989)
1989 Box Office receipts in the USA totalled a record five
billion dollars; Batman, Tim Burton's incredibly over-hyped
adaptation of the DC comic, accounted for roughly half of that.
With one hundred and sixty varieties of merchandise on the
shelves (including T-Shirts, coffee mugs, action figures and
separate soundtracks by Prince and Danny Elfman), it was
impossible to go anywhere without having a stylised Batman logo
shoved in your face.
The film featured atmospheric sets and Jack Nicholson in fine
scenery-chewing form as The Joker. This was no campy cartoon, no Saturday matinee serial with dialogue like "Pow!" and
"Shazam!" This Batman was serious stuff . . .
The streets of crime-riddled Gotham City are dark, wet, and crowded with underworld killers.
Batman now had an indestructible Batmobile - a voice-activated car
that James Bond would kill for - It could crash through anything, shield itself from bullets and bombs, and it
needed no fuel. In the air, there was the Batwing, and on the ground
he was a one-man army.
Unfortunately the film suffered from a lousy
script and a wooden performance by Michael Keaton in the title
role.
Still, Batman's runaway success ensured that a sequel
would be along shortly.
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