[Dr Kain]

Batman - This movie was my introduction to Batman when I was at the age of 7. As a child, it was also the first VHS tape I ever bought with my own movie and was a movie I watched religiously as a child. As an adult, it is still an incredible movie, it does justice to the comics, but is far from perfect. It has a lot of excellent atmosphere around it as Burton was able to perfectly capture the look and tone of Gotham City. The bat suit in this movie is hands down the best bat suit ever done in live action to this day. Keaton plays off an incredible Batman, but his Bruce takes a few big missteps. He has the look of Wayne down, but there are times when he just fumbles the role, especially when it comes to Vicki. I also do not like that he does not change his voice between Wayne and Batman. Jack Nicholson does an excellent job at playing Jack Torrence wearing the Joker's clothes, but like Keaton's Wayne, I don't full feel like Jack is Joker. He has the look, but something feels off about his personality. I do like that they kept to the origins established in the comics of him falling in the chemicals, but two of the movie's biggest downfalls is he being the one who killed Bruce's parents and his demise. I feel they both take a way from the movie immensely. Another misstep the movie has is with Gordon and Harvey, as they appear to be there just for the sake of being there rather than being a part of the universe Burton was creating. In fact, that is the only thing this movie is missing, giving us development of the other characters. I understand it is a Batman movie, but if no one else, Gordon is an intricate part of Batman's life. Here, you could just give him any name and it would change nothing because he adds nothing. The same goes for Dent. The Batmobile kicks all kinds of ass, and like the bat suit, it is still the best Batmobile on screen to date. Bassinger does a good job as Vicky even though she has the wrong hair color. Knox is pretty much pointless too. Finally though, Elfman's score is freaking fantastic. Easily the best Batman movie score to date. Overall, the movie's aging is a mixed bag. Some areas have aged quite well, others not so much. Nevertheless, it is an incredible movie that as I said gets the Batman character nearly right, has an extremely well done Gotham, and a phenomenal score. I am torn as to whether I give it an 8 or a 9/10.