Childhood’s End: “Batman”

For the final installment of the Childhood’s End series, I thought I’d do a movie most people have actually seen, Tim Burton’s “Batman.” Released in 1989, the film went on to become the highest-grossing blockbuster of the year, earning more than $250 million. 19 years later, “The Dark Knight” just about doubled that box office take, but in unadjusted dollars. As far as I’m concerned — and a lot of people may disagree with me on this — they nailed it the first time around. Every film since has simply tried reinventing the wheel with varying degrees of success.

“Batman” was a childhood staple for me. I know every line, every musical cue, every sound effect. Before I even got into comic books, I was into Batman. Hell, everyone likes Batman. He’s a character that doesn’t have that “geek” stigma attached to him. Why? He embodies the American ideal of frontier justice unlike any other funnybook character. He has the best costume, the best villains and the best car. For a superhero without powers, Batman has leapt off the comics’ page and enjoyed a level of unparalleled popularity in our culture for almost 70 years. What’s more, he’s clearly insane.

“Batman” gets a lot of spins on my DVD player. The film was made back when “style” meant art direction and costume design, not choppy editing and bizarro camera angles. Tim Burton is at the top of his game, crafting a comic book world that’s since been aped by pretty much every filmmaker from Alex Proyas to the Wachowski Bros. Though his original choice for Batman was Tom Selleck, Burton ultimately cast comic actor Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Keaton was a controversial pick, but his haunted and slightly unhinged performance suited the character and was for years regarded as the best actor to play the character. I still think his Batman overshadows Christian Bale’s.

What about the Joker? Today’s fans seem to be dismissive of Nicholson’s performance and prefer Heath Ledger’s take on the character. Still, the Bat-sequels of the ’90s each had to double-up on the rogues since Nicholson was such a tough act to follow. I personally like how Nicholson’s Joker has an arsenal of gadgets, from a 10,000-volt joy buzzer to a flower on his lapel that squirts acid. Burton’s film fully embraces the comic book source material and doesn’t run screaming from it like Chris Nolan’s approach.

I also appreciate how “Batman” doesn’t try to explain everything, as though rooting the character in something resembling our reality is even remotely possible. Come on. It’s fantasy. Besides, the more mysterious Batman is, the better he works as a character. As an audience, we should see Batman from the point of view of Gotham City’s criminal element, newspaper reporters and the police, who all regard him as some urban myth. Batman may not get a lot of screen time in the film, but his presence is felt in every scene.

I don’t want to sound too dismissive of “The Dark Knight,” which I very much enjoyed. I just think that the 1989 film has gotten a bad rap, and I’m not talking about Prince on the soundtrack — zing! Part of it is due to the inferior sequels; “Batman Returns,” however, has grown on me in recent years. Still, the original “Batman” holds its own — at least in my opinion — when measured against the great comic book films of the past 30 years.

-Brad Lohan

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