*Originally published on 5/13/09
With Nolan's The Dark Knight having broken several box office records. I couldn't help but look back at Burton's first Batman film, which also happened to be a huge blockbuster that pit the caped crusader against his maniacal nemesis.
With 20 years between the two films, it may not seem fair to compare them. Burton's film was a product of the 80s. This is evidenced by the presence of Prince's music on the soundtrack. Were it not for that simple fact, I think the film would've held up much better over time. I know, Prince is a musical legend, but it doesn't really fit in a Batman film.
We're presented with two very different Gothams in these films. Nolan's is gritty and based on what real cities this corrupted by crime would look like. Burton's is also gritty, but it takes a gothic fantasy like approach to the city. I, personally, prefer Burton's take on it. I know, that's mostly because it's the Gotham I grew up with, but it just pops more.
As different as these two movies are, I was surprised to realize how similar they are. Both feature a Batman who's been active in Gotham for some time and has built something of a reputation among the citizens and criminals of Gotham. The mob plays a prominent part in both, only to be shown up by the arrival of a lunatic in clown make up who calls himself The Joker. Well, that's unavoidable, given how things are in the comics it's natural that the escalating war between the two characters would come across as similar.
Both films also feature Harvey Dent as the crusading district attorney trying to clean up the city. He gets a heck of a lot more screen time in The Dark Knight, and becoming Two-Face doesn't cause his ethnicity to change, but as Harvey he is the same emotionally balanced idealist who won't cower when faced with a deadly criminal mastermind in both films.
The Joker is a showman, and it's only natural for him to try to steal the show. In both films, he succeeds. This is helped by two dazzling performances by Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger respectively. In fairness to TDK, Bruce was fleshed out very well in Begins and TDK was more of an epic ensemble piece. He still got shafted and had the spotlight stolen from him.
There are some striking differences as well. The motivations for the Joker are very different. In Burton's film, Joker is ticked that Batman is stealing all his press. Nolan's Joker is an anarchist who just wants to watch the world burn. Both enjoy killing people and have a dark sense of humor about it. Jack's is a bit more over the top. It's a blend of the darker psychotic Joker and the cackling goofball lunatic of Ceasar Romero's Joker.
Gordon is also different. One has to take into account, that by TDK, Gordon and Batman have already worked together and, as such, have a tighter relationship. Even in Begins, he was more open to the idea of Batman offering his own form of assistance. When Gordon first sees Batman in Burton's film, he wants Batman captured just as much as Napier.
Whichever film you like better is a personal preference. Both have their pros and cons. One of these days I'm going to watch both films back to back. I think it would make for an interesting double feature. Much like Manhunter and Red Dragon, we have two films that take the basic concept and story only to create two drastically different products that have an air of similarity due to drawing from the same pool of inspiration.
No comments:
Post a Comment