Batman

When I was a child, some of my earliest memories of going to watch a movie were with this one. I remember jumping about the theatre, trying to get to first row so I could watch it more closely, being enthralled by the action and scope the film has. I have re-watched it again and again as the years went by, and to this day, I still consider it the best Batman movie.
Now, a lot of people will give me shit about this, saying the two Nolan movies are better. And while I love The Dark Knight and get bored to tears with Batman Begins, I just can’t agree. This movie to me is everything a comic book movie should be about. Instead of taking a whole hour to give us a flashback about how Bruce Wayne became Batman (something that people don’t really give a crap about), our origin is sweet and just enough to keep the character being mysterious, the way he should be. The casting of Michael Keaton, the best Batman still, is genius in that sense, since you wouldn’t expect him to be this dark crime-fighter. This comes out during his Bruce Wayne scenes, where he’s charming, funny, and the type of guy who any woman could fall in love with. When he becomes Batman, he’s dark, mysterious and cool. Besides, Keaton can pull off a smirk like no other. On the other end of the spectrum, Jack Nicholson shines in the Joker role. While I will say that Heath Ledger made a scarier and cooler version of the Joker, I can’t deny that I love Nicholson’s performance. He really seems to be having fun with the character, making his quirky faces, going from one end of the spectrum of emotion to the other (mostly between calm and insane), and just really having a lot of fun causing chaos and destruction. His laugh is awesome, too.
The way the movie was made is more true to a comic book, as well. The time period seems to be a la-la land where it’s both modern and from the 1940’s, which goes well with the character. There is also something of a surreal tone with the locations. I mean nobody has seen buildings like the ones in this city, and that’s a good thing. And of course, you can’t go out without mentioning the great score by Danny Elfman. His music is what drives the movie, and in fact, sets most of the tone. It’s also very exciting and driven. The only bad thing with the score is the Prince stuff, but other than that, his music is perfect. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time.