All about Batman

The Dark Knight (2008)

This movie was hyped to the point it became ridiculous, I mean in the end no movie can live up to the praises this movie got. So I was a bit scared to go and see it as I already knew my expectations were too high. Well it turned out it really was a brilliant movie. Not only is it probably the best super hero movie ever made, it's also one of the best action movies ever made and all together quite brilliant piece of work. But it surely isn't the best movie ever made, it's "just" a great movie. First the most notable, Heath Ledger as Joker. All those people who say that the hype about his performance wouldn't have been so big had he not died haven't seen this movie. It's truly one of the best performances I've seen in a while. Of course the character is brilliantly written and he's given enough time to build the character, but still his performance is simply perfect. The rest of the all-star cast do their parts really well too, thou they of course get shadowed by Ledger's performance. Didn't really understand why did Batman have to speak like a death metal band singer, it sounded a bit corny at times. But other than that Christian Bale did a great performance as well. Also very notable was Aaron Eckhart's performance as Harvey Dent, a big positive surprise. Won't go into details about the story, there's so much happening in this movie that the two and a half hours didn't feel overly long. And it's not just a long thrill ride full of action, the movie genuinely raises good questions and brings out surprisingly deep emotions. That's very rare for these kind of super hero movies and that combined with the great cast and direction makes this one a masterpiece.
98%

This is a good opportunity to quickly review the rest of the Batman movies too.



Batman Begins (2005)

At first I wasn't too happy about the idea that they brought Batman from the "fantasy world" into the more realistic environment. But this movie does it so well I couldn't help loving it. It didn't feel like it was destroying Burton's vision, it just took another point of view on things. Christian Bale as Batman was a great choice and the rest of the cast was quite brilliant also. The beginning with all the training and establishing the motives took a bit too long and tended to drag things on for too much. But once Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham the movie really kicks into another gear and the somewhat dull start doesn't matter that much. I liked the action that it wasn't just a CGI mess, even though there is some of that also, but as most of the real action is towards the end the movie feels quite short on it. All in all a worthy remake and a solid good movie.
81%

Those were the "new generation" Batman movies, here's the older saga.



Batman & Robin (1997)

Oh boy, would be easier to say what didn't suck in this one. Uma Thurman was quite good as Poison Ivy. The rest is just horrible crap. It tells a lot about this movie that Schwarzenegger hasn't played a worse role on a worse movie, and as everyone knows his "talent" as an actor and some of the crap he has made, you can get the point.
5%



Batman Forever (1995)

An all-star cast, one of the most versatile super heroes ever and one of the biggest franchises in the history. What could possibly go wrong? Well they put Joel Schumacher as the director. I mean this movie is a lesson about how to fuck up a great plan. The only good thing about this one is the cast who all do quite an ok job, twenty percent to them. Rest is just a bad excuse for a movie.
20%



Batman Returns (1992)

Burton's second continued the saga and gave us same brilliant stuff that worked in the first one and even more. Even thou there's not a single performance as good as Nicholson's the cast is just stellar. Danny De Vito is the ultimate Penguin. There's more action, more drama, more comedy, more Batman. Brilliant sequel.
90%



Batman (1989)

I fell in love with this movie when I first saw it. I was a big fan of the comic book and this movie brought it to a level I didn't believe was possible. Tim Burton's vision is even today something stunningly beautiful, dark and weird. The cast was brilliant with Jack Nicholson as the most notable. I remember spending all my money as I went to see this so many times at the theatre. It doesn't bring that kind of a feeling anymore, being even unintentionally campy at parts. But still it's a masterpiece that will stay precious to me.
94%

That's it for the Burton/Scheissemaker saga. I'm not going to review the cartoons or the TV-series here as they aren't movies. But the old Adam West Batman TV-movie belongs here and I'll put the Catwoman spinoff here too.



Batman (1966)

As a Batman movie total crap, but as a campy fun trip quite brilliant. Bad acting, bad plot, badly made, great fun.
70%



Catwoman (2004)

Even thou it's not a Batman movie, I'll put it here too as it's a spinoff from one of the most famous characters of Batman. Pitof has made some brilliant movies with Jean-Pierre Jeunet as a visual effects supervisor. Too bad he's not a real director as he focuses on the look of the film too much and forgets what crap he's giving to us. This movie looks quite good, but it stinks too much to enjoy it. Halle Berry is quite good as the Catwoman, but the character is so hollow that it gives her very little to play with.
12%