When this originally came out, I went with my (then) boyfriend and a group of friends on Opening Night. We bought the tickets first thing in the morning (at the theater, this was before the days of buying tickets online) and we waiting in line for almost 2 hours to get in (even with the tickets). I love Batman. I find him the most interesting (and hottest) of the super heroes. I was DYING to see this film. And, at the time, there was a ton of buzz about it. All kinds of tie-ins and even MTV had specials (thanks to the soundtrack by Prince) about the film. So when we finally got to see it I will admit to thinking it was good but it certainly wasn’t as good as the hype.
But it’s been over 20 years since I’ve seen it and since I adore the Christian Bale Batman films I figured it was time to revisit Michael Keaton’s Batman.
I was really stunned to find out that I enjoyed this film more than I think I did when it first came out. Michael Keaton is understated and sneaky hot. I enjoy the darkness of the film (in contrast to the Adam West Batman) and found Jack Nicholson sufficiently creepy.
Because of the turnover in the cast, it’s easy to not compare the Batmans but it is practically impossible to not compare Nicholson’s Joker to Heath Ledger’s Joker. They both were psychotic and scary but Ledger wins by a nose for his acting. Nicholson over-acted a bit more than I like. Ledger’s Joker felt a lot more realistic (as far as crazy men go).
Even with the new versions out, this one definitely stands the test of time.