Dark_Knight_89
Super Freak
As an avid reader of Batman comics, I have always felt that Batman worked best as it's own story/world, completely separate to the rest of the DC Universe. I have never cared for any Justice League comics or any stories featuring Batman/Superman crossovers, Batman/Wonder Woman crossovers etc.
Having said that, I do like there to be a somewhat supernatural/unusual element to a Batman adaptation. I like Gotham City to almost be a character unto itself; a place that feels familiar, like it COULD exist on Earth, but there is something different/wrong about it. It's supposed to be city where a strange "Bat" creature prowls the rooftops, and people don't know whether he's real or not. Nolan's movies were too "real" or "grounded" for my liking. "Batman Begins" is the only Nolan Batman movie the feels like a Batman movie to me, whereas TDK and TDKR just feel like crime dramas set in Pittsburgh/New York City.
Burton/Keaton's Batman is nearly perfect. Tim Burton's very nature and affinity for all things dark and twisted suits the character of Batman very well. Everything is dark, dark, and then more dark. Burton respects the source material and yet puts his own stamp on it. Michael Keaton plays the duality of the Batman/Bruce Wayne character with such ease. His Batman is mostly silent, evil in appearance, and powerful in his implementation of "justice". The scene when Keaton's Batman makes his first appearance is hugely satisfying; two muggers getting edgy at their surroundings and nervously discussing the existence of "The Bat", only to then be confronted by the demonic sight of The Batman staring down at them. After firing their guns, the muggers believe that they have successfully defeated their foe, yet can only stare in disbelief as The Bat rises like an undead wraith to bear down upon them. The scene ends with Keaton's immortal utterance of "I'm Batman". Chills.
Michael Keaton's Bruce Wayne gives the impression that he is uncomfortable in his own skin, brooding when alone, and you feel that he is just waiting for the night to fall so that he can become his true self once more. Keaton is someone who you truly believe has the fractured, traumatised personality and psychotic tendencies that would drive someone to become a Bat at night and terrorise criminals. He enjoys it. He needs it. Keaton very much plays into one of my favourite themes of the Batman mythology; that Bruce Wayne is actually the mask and disguise used to hide his true identity - The Batman. Batman is all Bruce Wayne really is now.
Danny Elfman's score is absolutely incredible. A haunting and slow building sound that perfectly captures the character and the world in which he exists. Elfman's theme is as much a part of the Batman character as John William's equally amazing "Superman" theme is a part of Superman.
I have not seen a film that creates a sense of place as well as "Batman". Gotham City is shown as a grey and intimidating metropolis, infested with shadows and is essentially a character in its own right. It is familiar yet so different to any place we have seen before. Gotham City is a world unto itself, and its design serves as an homage to the bad neighbourhoods of the classic James Cagney gangster movies of the 1930s.
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