(Spoilers to those who haven't see the movie.)

This movie brought the caped crusaders to life on the silver screen and back to live action after nearly three decades. It was published by Warner Brothers and directed by Tim Burton. It stared Jack Nicholson as Jack Napier and later The Joker and Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman.

This movie though have since been upstaged by Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" is still very popular.

The story revolves around Batman striving to clean up the streets of Gotham City because he believes that the Gotham Police department is too corrupt to do the job. In the process Batman inadvertly gives birth to The Joker when he helps stop a robbery at Axis Chemical Factory and has to deal with The Joker's many attempts to bring anarchy and chaos in his attempt to run Gotham into the ground.

Michael Keaton's performance in this dark movie won over many skeptical fans who were convinced he couldn't pull off the role. In the movie he does a surprisingly good job of capturing Bruce's inner turmoil and his attempts to hide it behind the guise of a rich playboy. As Batman his first line gives birth to the famous phrase "I'm Batman!".

Jack Nicholson's performance as The Joker is pretty good though nowhere near as psychotic as Mark Hamil's or Heath Ledger's perfomances. His dialogue is rather humorous and believe it or not but some of the jokes Mark Hamil perfected have their origins traced to Jack. Jack also has a better costume design then Heath Ledger, at least when he has the chalk white face.

The design of the costume like in Christopher Nolan's films is competly black but this one doesn't give off the appearance of a bullet proof suit at first.

The Batmobile featured in this movie is arguablythe most memorable and eye catching Batmobile of all time as it's sleek roadster design, numerous gadgets, and rear booster put it on par with some of the Bond Cars as a vehicle that's as effective as it looks.

The movie is pretty dark but thanks in no small part to The Joker there's a good deal of humor in the film as well. And the movie ends on a high note with Batman standing on the roof of Wayne Manner looking at the new Bat Symbol.

Overall this movie prides itself more on action then an actual story but there's an actual plot that you can follow with some breathing room between scenes.

In the end this movie is deserving of all the prize it recieves and is the second best Batman movie of all time. Unfortuantely the next three movies in the Burton/Schumacher series are not as well recieved.

This movie scores a 10 out of 10. The only downside to it might be the fact that The Joker is revealed to ulitmately be the man who killed Batman's parents when in the comics and other media this isn't the case.

This movie's lasting legacy is serving as the inspiration behind the greatest t.v. show of the early to mid 90's. Batman The Animated Series.

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RE: Batman '89.

A lot of people in this group really, really like Tim burton’s Batman movies. A lot. So much that I had to go out and grab myself a copy of both "Batman" and "Batman Returns." I had to see if this movie that commands such a loyal fanbase would be as great as it had been made out to be. So, Well, I watched "Batman" and now here I come with my review. Surprisingly enough, this was the first movie that was ever reviewed in this group! So I guess that this makes this kinda a reply. Anyway, here goes.

"Gentleman! Lets broaden our minds!"

I have really mixed feelings about this movie. Feelings that strangely enough are pretty well summed up by a scene in the movie. At one point, the Joker crashes an art museum and runs into photographer Vicki Vale. He notices that she’s brought her portfolio, and takes a look. As he thumbs through the pictures he dismisses them "crap...crap...crap...crap...crap" but then he gets to one photo and stops, he lights up, and makes this proclamation.
"I don't know if it's art, but I like it!"

]
That's exactly, to a T, how this movie makes me feel. For the most part, I think it has problems; some small, some large, but there are parts so great that I forgive all the flaws. You could really stop right here, and know that I like the movie, just not as much as most it seems, but if you want the details you'll get them.

I have given a name to my pain, and it is "Batman."

As I have said, I think there's a lot wrong with this movie, and mostly it comes down to some characters and the ending. There's a bit more, but most of it is caused by this. Before I get into my issues, I’ll give a quick rundown of the plot.

Basically, this movie is about a guy in the mob named Jack Napier, who’s seeing his boss’s girl. His boss sends him on a one way suicide mission to the chemical plant and while there he runs into Batman. Batman ends up dropping him into a vat of acid, and when he emerges he becomes disfigured. he kills his boss, takes over his criminal empire, and then begins his plans to run Gotham city into the ground and get revenge on the Batman. Batman obviously has to stop this from happening. Also, a news reporter and a photographer named Vicki Vale try to make a story on Batman, and Vale becomes involved with Bruce Wayne.

Ok, that's out of the way. So what's my problem with this movie?
For starters...
I think this Batman sucks. I really don't like him at all. In all he has 3 main issues,
1.) Batman just kills people. And I don't think he should. Granted, you may say that in the 80's batman certainly did kill people, but I'm not a fan of it. If batman kills people, he's just The Punisher, he's less heroic. This is a personal preference, but it was still jarring for me to see that he was introduced by having two thugs talk about how "the bat" threw a guy off a five floor building. Doesn’t sound very heroic.
2.) Bruce Wayne is lame. in 89 ‘Batman’, Bruce Wayne is a reclusive hermit who never talks to people at the parties he throws, has a very hard time talking with women, has never been in the newspaper despite being freaking rich (apart from the time his parents were killed, but that's it.) if someone told me that this Bruce Wayne was Batman, I would believe them. "Yeah, he did seem pretty weird." At one point Vicki asks the reporter to check on Bruce’s past, and whenever he gets the information he prepares her by saying "I think your friend Bruce is really messed up." I more than half expected him to say "I think he may be batman" right after, but he didn't.
3.) Batman makes a lot of illogical choices that could or do get people killed, such as...
1.) Tells Vicki Vale to hold onto a grappling hook that rockets her up into the air as he drops down to fight crime, counting on her not to lose her grip and fall several stories to her death.
2.) as Bruce Wayne reveals that he knows the Jokers identity to the Joker (giving the Joker a major clue as to Batman’s identity) and tries to get into a fight with him, relying on a small metal plate for bulletproofing, and assuming that not only would the Joker shoot the small metal plate instead of his head, but would also shoot him with the world’s smallest pistol as opposed to the world’s largest (which the joker uses later) \
3.) Fly’s around in the batjet for a few minutes before grabbing the smilex filled balloons in the finale when he could totally do it sooner, causing dozens to die a horrific death by poison gas.
So yeah, I really don't like this Batman.

I wish there wasn't more, but there is.

Vicki Vale and Bruce’s relationship is totally crap and forced, and makes Disney relationships look more plausible. After a single one night stand with a guy who blatantly lies to her face for no real reason and also is a very peculiar man, they’re in love! It’s pretty crap.
The police play little to no role in this story, to the point of absurdity. At the end the joker announces that he will be hosting a giant parade at the center of town, clearly telling everyone where he’s going to be and when he’s going to be there. And not a single cop tries to stop him. I would have set up the mother of all ambushes to try and get this guy. In the Nolan movies, the police at a bare minimum attempt to do stuff. Sometimes it doesn’t work (flushing bane out of the sewers in TDKR), sometimes it kinda does (commissioner Gordon’s faked death that ends with him capturing the joker). But they at least try!

But all of this, the lame batman, the lame love story, all sins are forgiven whole-heartedly because of 3 things.
1.) Burton, at a bare minimum, makes the best looking Gotham, because he bothers to make it look like a unique city. While in the Nolan Batman movies it started out looking interesting, then a little less, then eventually became just Manhattan. Burtons city looks like what I would think Gotham should look like. A weird, gothic, concrete grey hell.
2.) One little moment that I blow way out of proportion. This will not make the movie for anyone other than me. It’s time for a story of a down on his luck reporter, Knox.

Not the hero Gotham deserves, but the one it needs right now.
Knox was just a reporter for the Gotham Tribune, chasing a story on the batman, when fate found him standing on main street feet from a parade hosted by Gotham’s latest villain, the Joker. Not a single cop stood in the joker’s way, despite how he had announced where he would be on live TV. The batman was also nowhere to be found, making this lead a bust. Knox was about to leave, when the joker made this announcement.
“And now is the part of the night where I relieve you of your useless and failed lives!”
All the balloons began leaking poisonous smilex gas, sure to kill everyone in attendance, and no one was there to stop them. No one but Knox.
Armed with a painters mask, a baseball bat, and a sense of duty he charged the balloon holders, assaulting them with a righteous fury and scattering them to the winds, causing them to release the balloons. His actions must have saved hundreds. Sadly, Vicki Vale hit him with his own car, fleeing for her life and leaving him for dead, and thus leaving the fate of the city in Batman’s hands. Knox almost died, but he would have died a hero
3.) We all know why people like this movie. It’s pointless to keep everyone waiting for this long to say it.
Jack Nicholson is incredible as the Joker. He friggen rocks. And we all know that jack Nicholson rocks as an actor in general (can’t think of a movie that I don’t like him in), but I didn’t expect his turn as the Joker to be this good. I went in thinking ‘yeah, Jack Nicholson is good and all, but Heath Ledger has him beat here.’ I’m not sure if I think that anymore. I think they are equal. I think they are both great perfromances.
I almost want to say that I like Jack Nicholson’s better, because of one thing. I think that Jack Nicholson had a ball while playing this part. I think he was having a great time, and it really shows. He plays this part with such enthusiasm, I’d think he’d be smiling the whole time (you know, if he wasn’t already). While Heaths role is great, and well played, I can’t imagine him having a good time doing it.
I also just like this joker’s character, apart from the performance. This guy has fun, this guy is smart, and one more thing that really sets him apart. In ‘The Dark Knight’, the joker asks Harvey Dent, ‘do I look like a guy with a plan?’ He says this, but you know that he does have a plan. ‘89 Joker doesn’t have a plan, he just has a goal. At one point he sees a photo of Vicki Vale, and immediately decides ‘I’m getting that girl.’ And that’s how a major subplot starts. There is no plan, he just does whatever the hell he wants to do. I like that. Bless you Jack Nicholson, you saved this movie. I rooted for you all the way.

In all, it was pretty ok. Id say 3.5 out of 5 does nicely. I look forward to ‘Batman Returns.’

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4568990 I love Batman 89 and it is one of my all time favourite movies along side with Batman Returns. According to the movie novelisation of Batman 89 the reason why the police did not stop The Joker's parade was because The Joker had poisoned the police's coffee supply making most of the police sick. The only ones who were not sick were the ones who came with Commissioner Gordon during the final battle between The Joker and Batman. I like the idea of having Jack Napier AKA The Joker as the killer of Batman's parents because it gave a more personal history and connection between Batman and The Joker. And Batman killing The Joker in the end of the movie gave closure to the death of Bruce Wayne's parents. I am planning on writing a story based on Batman 89 in the future called Princess Surprise which is about a demented pony named Pinkamena Diane Pie who gets dropped in a vat of chemicals by Mare Do Well, transforming her into Surprise The Clown Princess Of Crime. I shall look forward to see the Batman Returns review