‘I’m sucking up your IQ!’: what 90s Batman teaches us
The dialogue is corny, the heroes moody, the fights risible, but the Batman films of Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher paved the way. Catch them again on re-release
Remember when a big-budget superhero film was a rare and risky endeavour? When the genre attracted both bona-fide directorial visionaries and some of the most disastrous flops in movie history? If not, this week’s restored re-release of the original Batman films doubles up as a history lesson – not just in the genre that has come to rule at the multiplex but in blockbuster film-making in general.
The first two – Batman and Batman Returns – were directed by Tim Burton, and what’s striking from a modern vantage point is how easily they combine the defining traits of today’s rival studio monoliths. The wisecracking levity, since repossessed and hallmarked by Marvel, is all there in a deadpan millionaire-messiah who’s not unaware of his own absurdity (Michael Keaton was doing the smart-alec superhero long before it was cool, just not earning quite so much for it). But also present is the brooding mood and noirish production design that the DC franchise has sought to claim as its own.