Review – Batman

This first installment in the most recent series of Batman movies is, oddly enough, the least cartoonish of the lot. Indeed, everyone involved seems to be taking the whole thing way too seriously. Jack Nicholson does a good job as the Joker, perhaps a little too good; his character is a chilling psychopath rather than the somewhat buffoonish clown those of us who grew up with the Cesar Romero Joker were used to. On the other hand, Michael Keaton falls a little short of the usual legendary proportions of Bruce Wayne and/or Batman, seeming both too young and too short for the role (even with all the Bat-suit rubber bulges, which thankfully aren’t quite as anatomically explicit as later Bat-outfits). But for the most part he drops his usual manic approach to acting and plays his character pretty straight. Change is good, I guess, and overall the film holds its own, though probably not the ideal choice for family night viewing. Mildly amusing