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I was dead excited about this one because it is a Tim Burton film and I needed to see what the Joker is like before I see The Dark Knight. The theatrical film Batman is the one in the franchise that I like to call "the original Batman". This film was a lot like seeing through the exact comic book adaptation because it was very dark and had a very good ensemble cast. Batman is a film that people would refer as the original version of The Dark Knight but they are very different stories and especially with totally different Jokers. This one is more about The Joker than about Bruce Wayne/Batman which is why I think Jack Nicholson leads the cast with Michael Keaton.
Jack Nicholson's performance as the Joker is just simply unforgettable and extremely terrifying. His Joker is very different compared to Heath Ledger's because Jack's is more fit for a comic book adaptation more than Heath Ledger's. We know about the Joker's past in this film because his name was Jack Napier before he became a new person. Heath's Joker never had a real name or any past at all. Jack was an older Joker whereas Heath was a younger one. Jack's Joker is a very close similarity of the Joker's personality and appearance from the comic book. Personally, I think Jack's psychological performance in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining lead to the Joker. Jack is not that kind of actor to be in a superhero film but he became even more popular than he already was when he was the Joker. All I can say is an extremely big thank you to Jack Nicholson and the late Heath Ledger for creating my all-time favourite film character. Jack and Heath's performances are both Oscar worthy performances but I think Heath Ledger's Joker is better because he's darker, scarier and more deadly. It is a bit of a coincidence that two of my five favourite actors have portrayed my all-time favourite film character. I love Michael Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne almost as much as Christian Bale. Nicholson+Keaton are the older Batman+Joker and Bale+Ledger are the younger Batman+Joker. Michael was at first a weird choice for Batman because he portrayed the extremely bizarre Beetlejuice 1 year before but he was actually really good. I liked Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale. She is a bit like Rachel Dawes because of her being the love interest of Bruce while Joker is enemy but only difference is that Vicki doesn't know Bruce is Batman whereas Rachel does in The Dark Knight.
Tim Burton directs this film really well with such dark qualities. He made Gotham not just any ordinary film but like entering a horror city or a real crime city especially when there is the dark knight and the dark clown there. Tim's scenery matches almost with Sweeney Todd and Sleepy Hollow. The script was very dark with a lot of eerie and tense scenes. Batman and the Joker didn't really have a real showdown rivalry like The Dark Knight Batman and Joker did up until the final one of course.
This is the second best Batman film after obviously The Dark Knight. It is my favourite Tim Burton Batman film, it is one of my favourite Jack Nicholson performances as well. I think it's my 6th favourite Tim Burton film after Sweeney Todd, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, Sleepy Hollow and Ed Wood. Batman is an awesome film that deserves to be one of the greatest films of the 1980s. Batman supported The Dark Knight to make it my third favourite film franchise of all time after Lord Of The Rings and Star Wars.
9/10
