It was on June 23rd, 1989 when a rather unknown director by the name of Tim Burton released a film that would forever change the way comic book films are made. He took one of DC's icon characters, the Batman; a character that had been played as a campy adventurer for about 30 years at that point, and turned him into a film version of Frank Miller's Dark Knight.
Gone were the blue and gray tights of old. In it's place was solid black leather. This Batman didn't crack jokes or drive around during broad daylight or hang out with a funny kid sidekick. No, this Batman only worked at night, he was dark and tortured and he beat the living hell out of any criminals dumb enough to operate in his city. This was Batman as he's known now. Sure, people today may be all up in arms about how awesome Batman Begins and the Dark Knight are, and they are (I'm not going to knock them here), but those films would never have ever been made if it wasn't for Tim Burton making one of the best god damned comic book films of all time.
Honestly, I think that most (if not all) of the great comic book films that we're enjoying today all owe a great deal to Burton and what he did with Batman. He proved that a dark hero could work and could make a ton of money at the box office. He proved that you can make an edgier, more adult themed hero and audiences would line up in droves to see it. You didn't have to make every comic book superhero into a kids film. It's a lesson Hollywood took to heart, and it wasn't too long after this that we started to see more and more comic book getting turned into big hollywood blockbusters.
Yes, Heath Ledger's version of the Joker is cooler and is closer to the comics version of the character than Jack Nicholson's is, but you absolutely cannot say that Nicholson's Joker isn't a great villain in his own right. He's got so much style. He's more of an artistic version of evil than Ledger's force of pure chaos. And I'm sorry, but I'll take Michael Keaton's Batman voice over Christian Bale's anyday. As as far as cool Bat-Gadgets go, nothing (and I mean NOTHING) is cooler in my mind than the Batmobile from Tim Burton's Batman.
Just look at that thing. No Batmobile before or since has ever come close to looking even remotely as cool as that thing. It's got a fucking jet engine for god's sake. That there is pure beauty in automobile form.
The impact of Burton's Batman film on my own life cannot be overstated. This one film is solely responsible for my getting into Batman comics as well as DC comics in general. Before this movie came out, I was a huge Marvel Comics fanboy. All I read was Spider-man, Captain America, the X-men and stuff like that. As far as the 11 year old Pat was concerned, DC comics was crap. Then I saw Batman, and suddenly I couldn't get enough DC comics. I started with the Bat books, of course, but that eventually led me to Superman and the Justice League and many others. If it wasn't for this film, I may not have found the greatness of the DC universe until a much later time in my life, if I ever found it at all.
The 1989 Batman film is one of those important steps in my life that led me down the path to be the Geek that I am today. While I may not care for Burton's recent work, I can never and will never deny the fact that his career has had a powerful affect on my life. Burton's Batman film was also my introduction to the Director as well, and it is because of this film that I followed his career and was introduced to things like Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands and the Nightmare Before Christmas which helped to develop my sense of self as I was going through middle school and high school. I'll admit it, I basically became a goth for a while during high school due to Tim Burton and that other comic book film The Crow. I'm not ashamed to admit it.
It's hard to believe it was 20 years ago this week that young Pat was going to the theater with his brother to go see this amazing film. It really was a lifetime ago, and it feels like it. There's not much else I can say here really other than . . . Thank you Tim Burton for making one of the greatest comic book films of all time.
Oh, one more thing. Tim Burton's Batman also had the damned coolest soundtrack of any comic book film ever. The entire thing was done by Prince, and it led to the most bizarre and insane and awesome music video ever . . . The Batdance.
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