eamon-hennedy

One Friday night, in April of 1990, a young boy, around five years old, sat down to watch a film. This was a film that he had been anticipating seeing for almost a year, his eagerness to see it augmented by a love for an old 1960's television series and a comic book he always had his mother buy him. When he watched this film, in the company of his aunt, he was a changed boy. That old television series would never be the same, his love of the comics would be cemented throughout his childhood and his list to Santa Claus that year would feature every piece of Batman merchandise under the sun. The film (if you hadn't guessed) was Tim Burton's Batman and to this day remains one of my favourite films of all time. Yes, Christopher Nolan's reboot is a work of genius as well, in many ways an exclusive piece of work from that director in the same way this and Batman Returns are to Burton, but, and it may be the rose tinted glasses I wear anytime I watch this film, or the fact that I was very young and the film represents a rite of passage for me, this film will always be my favourite of the Batman movies. Sure, Nolan's are more realistic, get better reviews and universally popular, but there's something about the inherent Gothic quality of Tim Burton's direction and style in this film, the psychotic humour and quirkiness of Michael Keaton's rendition of Bruce Wayne and Jack Nicholson's tendency to got over the top that he ends up pretty much higher than he really should that I really respond to. Then there is the batmobile. Yes the tumbler is good and it turns into a batpod, but let's be honest, Anton Furst's design for the Batmobile in this film is sleek and cool as hell.

The look of the film is quite simply wonderful. Gotham City is truly a wonderful looking hell hole of Gothic proportions. The art deco architecture, the smoky, noir like back alleys, Bruce Wayne's beautiful mansion and hi-tech batcave, the Notre Dame like Cathedral, Burton and production designer Anton Furst have truly made Gotham into a living, breathing and plausible city and none of it was filmed on location, instead using the whole of Pinewood Studios to create their vision of Batman's world. Yes, Nolan may have used Chicago, but Burton's Gotham has imagination, although thankfully he never allows it to become as ghastly as Joel Schumacher.

Then there is Michael Keaton. I'm not going to compare and contrast Michael's performance with Christian because actually I think there are many similarities, but focusing on Michael Keaton he brings a lot to the plate as Bruce/Batman, a lot more than many of his critics claimed at the time. What I love the most about him is how much of an emotional mess his Bruce Wayne is, incapable of claiming his love to Vicki, his inability to tell her he is Batman and his constant need to push her away makes this version of Batman a very complex individual, but one that is layered with some beautiful humour and a possible psychotic undercurrent ("You wanna get nuts? Come on, let's get nuts"). If a brooding nut job is going to dress up as a bat, I can really guess it's this one. Sure you can tell when he is or is not wearing the suit in the action sequences, but he has where it counts and his is a performance you can never forget. Just look at that haunted look as he remembers the reason he became Batman.

As for Jack Nicholson. Well, people still talk about him to do this day and it says something about how memorable a performance it is when nearly twenty years later it's still viable enough for comparisons to Heath's rendition in The Dark Knight. Heath's maybe the anarchist, but Jack's is a cackling killer, a psychopath with a grin who may not have the relevancy of the current incarnation, but is just as dangerous, mainly because Jack's Joker is funny when he is at his most psychotic. This adds up to a nice comparison with Keaton's Batman as the two characters through fate and destiny become the architects to each other's origin tale, a lovely storytelling stroke that Burton mines for all its worth.

I suppose its wrong to compare the movie to The Dark Knight as both are vastly different films set in extremely different universes (I feel really bad now, I really love The Dark Knight), and I guess my love for this film is offset by, as mentioned earlier, nostalgia, but I love this film, I just love it for the dark look, the gadgets, the action sequences, the effects and the Batmobile. My God is that the greatest car to appear in a film, or what? I guess you could say my love of films really started here.

Yes, I know, the title to this review is a quote from Richard Donner's Superman The Movie, but there's a reason for that, and I am going to get to it, so bare with me.

In a summer dominated by the darkness of, well, The Dark Knight, it may be hard to remember than a month of or two before it we were all basking in the universe of another comic book character, a multi millionaire, too, and, what a coincidence, a character who uses his quite considerable wealth to turn himself into a superhero. All similarities end there (don't worry comic book fans, this is not a review of compare and contrast proportions). For as The Dark Knight falls into a darker and darker pit of despair, terrorism metaphors and increasingly dark plot twists and even darker cliffhanger ending, Jon Favreau instead creates a world of blue skies, brightly coloured costumes (well, for the hero anyway), witty dialogue and, above all else, a lovely atmosphere of fun. Iron Man is, pure and simple, unadulterated fun, amazing when you consider that a good half hour of the film takes place in war torn Afghanistan, with the lead character in the hands of characters who are essentially terrorists. Of course, if the film was in other hands, this would lead to many a darker moment, probably using the comic book genre and lead character as a means to explore modern day warfare in the war on terror. Not Favreau. God bless Jon Favreau because what he chooses instead to do is have fun, lots of it.

I have a confession to make. I didn't get to see this film until recently. At the time of writing I only watched the movie on DVD for the first time the night before. Another thing, I loved The Dark Knight. I levelled some mild criticism at its darkness, but loved the movie nevertheless, but here, we get something that is positively giddy, funny and very, very enjoyable. I can't believe I missed it on the big screen, because this is great, and as a sci-fi adventure/comic book adaptation, it's got everything that I love to see in a Hollywood blockbuster of this nature. Imaginative action, funny dialogue, humour whilst retaining an ability to keep the film serious so it can remain engaging and great acting. The latter is particularly impressive. I know it has been said by many elsewhere, but let it be said again, primarily because I want to say it, Robert Downey Jr is fantastic. If played right this should be a comeback of John Travolta/Pulp Fiction proportions. He was always an actor that I liked (please check out Hearts and Souls if you have a chance) and here he brings that cheeky, comedic quality he always has, but filters it through a wonderfully engaging heroic complex. Quite simply he plays Tony Stark in such a way that you want him to be a hero, you want him to make the right choices and by God you want him to save the day. There are no Christian Bale style brooding moments here. Tony Stark is a lot like the movie itself, it's a hell of a lot of fun.

I still haven't mentioned Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges or Terrence Howard, but they all put in good work too, particularly Gwyneth, the will they/won't they chemistry between her and Robert is lovely and played almost in a 1940's screwball comedy way. Did I mention she is gorgeous throughout, not that it's important. She is though.

And the final scene is brilliant. I want another one and I want it now.