• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments on Cult of Whatever
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • Nope: Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya

      REVIEW: “NOPE” wants to be more than it is, which is just good enough

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 22, 2022
    • Brave: Kelly Macdonald voices Princess Merida

      Ten years later, BRAVE remains Pixar’s most underrated film

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 21, 2022
    • A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Heather Langenkamp as Nancy

      A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 20, 2022
    • Where The Crawdads Sing: Daisy Edgar Jones and David Strathairn

      REVIEW: Where the Crawdads Sing deftly blends genres to good effect

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 19, 2022
    • Thor Love and Thunder: Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth as The Mighty Thor and Thor

      REVIEW: THOR – LOVE AND THUNDER is an adventure of mirth and sadness alike

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 9, 2022
    • Elvis: Austin Butler

      REVIEW: ELVIS beautifully mythologizes the King of Rock and Roll

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 25, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Elvis 1969 Bg

      Elvis's 40 Year Reign (1969-70)

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 3, 2017
      Music Blogs
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said “Nevermind” to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
  • TV
    Featured
    • Nancy Drew S03e01: Kennedy McMann as Nancy

      Nancy Drew S03E01 Review: The Warning of the Frozen Heart - Uh-oh!

      By Salome G
      | October 10, 2021
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • Roswell New Mexico S04e08: Michael Vlamis as Michael Guerin

      Roswell, New Mexico S04E08 Review: Missing My Baby – The truth hurts

      By Salome G
      | August 3, 2022
    • Riverdale S06e22: Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom

      Riverdale S06E22 Review: Night of the Comet – Ambitious…

      By Salome G
      | August 2, 2022
    • Evil S03e08: Katja Herbers as Kristen Bouchard

      Evil S03E08 Review: The Demon of Parenthood – Gold star ding-dongery

      By Salome G
      | August 1, 2022
    • American Horror Stories S02e02: Gabourey Sidibe as Jaslyn Taylor

      American Horror Stories S02E02 Review: Aura – Home sweet home?

      By Salome G
      | July 31, 2022
    • The Orville S03e09: Jessica Szohr, Adrianne Palicki and Anne Winters as Talla Keyali, Kelly Grayson and Charly Burke

      The Orville season 3 review part four (feature-length epics!)

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 31, 2022
    • Roswell, New Mexico S04e07: Jeanine Mason and Heather Hemmens as Liz Ortecho and Maria DeLuca

      Roswell, New Mexico S04E07 Review: Dig Me Out – Mystifying

      By Salome G
      | July 31, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
    • Mario Headphones

      The SNES Turns 30: A look at some of the system’s best soundtracks

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 22, 2021
    • Metroid Dread Poster

      REVIEW: Metroid Dread reawakens the old gamer in me

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 11, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • Wwe Payback 2017 Poster 2

      Your SO OF COURSE preview of WWE Payback 2017

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 30, 2017
      WWE Blogs
    Recent
    • AEW Forbidden Door 2022: Claudio Castagnoli

      ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022 kickstarted a new era with a bang

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 25, 2022
    • Vince Mcmahon Stone Cold Podcast

      Vince McMahon is out as WWE chief. First reactions here…

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 22, 2022
    • AEW Double or Nothing 2022: CM Punk vs Adam Page

      REVIEW: AEW Double or Nothing 2022 delivered an up-and-down show

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 30, 2022
    • MJF on AEW Dynamite 17th November 2021

      Getting AEW to the next level…

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 29, 2022
    • Raw 210501: Triple H and Stephanie McMahon

      May 21, 2001 – A (forgotten) date that will live in WWE infamy

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 20, 2022
    • WWE WrestleMania 39 Logo

      Your WAY TOO EARLY predictions for WWE WrestleMania 39!

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 20, 2022
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • Roswell, New Mexico S04E08 Review: Missing My Baby - The truth hurts
    • Riverdale S06E22 Review: Night of the Comet - Ambitious...
    • Evil S03E08 Review: The Demon of Parenthood - Gold star ding-dongery
    • American Horror Stories S02E02 Review: Aura - Home sweet home?
    • The Orville season 3 review part four (feature-length epics!)
    • Roswell, New Mexico S04E07 Review: Dig Me Out - Mystifying

    Batman 1989 was not Batman…until it was.

    By Matthew Martin
    | July 16, 2019
    Movie Blogs

    What does Batman look like?

    If I tasked you with drawing and coloring a picture of the caped crusader, but you were only allowed three colors to use, what three would you use?

    Blue, grey, and gold?
    Black, grey, and yellow?
    Black, black, and more black?

    Depending on your age you probably visualize a different version of the greatest comic book hero of them all (truth). Some might point to Adam West…

    Batman Robin Tv Series

    Others may think of Christian Bale…

    Batman Christian Bale Cillian Murphy Scarecrow

    Bruce Timm’s take is considered definitive by most, taking the basic look of Adam West and running it through a grittier, more serious filter.

    Batman Mask Phantasm 1993 1

    As maligned and cinematic-universe crushing as it was, Batman v Superman gave the world a Batman that looked like he stepped right off the comic page…

    Ben Affleck Batman

    And then there’s Batman 89, which celebrates its thirtieth year this month, and which gave us this new look for the hero…

    Batman Michael Keaton

    The Tim Burton blockbuster revolutionized, the character and his look, as well as rewrote the script on what was possible for a summer tentpole film. It took the comic book movie genre, which to that point had consisted of the four Superman movies (only two of which were considered watchable) and paved the way for countless other movies that followed. Everything from Dick Tracy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Rocketeer, The Mask, The Crow, Men in Black, Spawn, Judge Dredd, and more, owe some measure of gratitude to Batman 89. Before the summer of 1989, pitching a film based on a comic property was considered a fool’s errand.

    After Batman 89, it was open season.

    What made the 1989 movie succeed so fully? I would argue it had very little to do with Batman. As a matter of fact, Batman 89 (along with its follow-up, Batman Returns) is the least “Batman” movie that’s ever been made. Yes, even more than Batman…

     

    Batman Suit Nipples

    and Robin.

    Say what you want about Joel Schumacher’s two-film Bat-fiasco, the movies captured the essence of the very worst Batman comics perfectly. Batman and Robin especially operate as sort of a bizzaro-version of the Adam West version. It’s not as effortlessly “in on the joke” as West’s TV show and movie were, but then again it’s not adapting the same Batman property that West’s franchise did. Adam West was 1960’s Silver Age Batman: Whimsical and surreal. George Clooney was 1950’s early Comics-Code Batman: All of the insanity, but none of the fun.

    What version of Batman did Tm Burton and Michael Keaton bring the world?

    No version that had ever been seen before. It wasn’t an adaptation at all, other than in the broadest sense. It was often compared to Frank Miller’s seminal The Dark Knight Returns, but Burton’s movie has none of the subtext, none of the history, none of the “this could be the last Batman story ever and I’d be okay with that” feel. Other than the fact that both Batman 89 and The Dark Knight Returns both stood in marked contrast to the bright and happy Superfriends/Adam West Batman, the two have nothing in common.

    It sounds like I’m bashing Batman 89, but let me assure you I am not.

    Batman 89 is an absolutely brilliant movie and is one I have watched more times than I can possibly imagine. Other than maybe the original Star Wars Trilogy, I don’t think there’s a movie I’ve seen more than Batman 89. When I was a kid my mother would drive me to our local video rental store every Friday and allow me to rent a movie, and every Friday I would rent the same movie: Batman. Every week: Batman. If ever Batman was not available, I would rent Batman: The NES Game instead.

    Batman 1989 Michael Keaton Bruce Wayne Kim Basinger Vicki Vale

    I loved Batman 89. I still love Batman 89.

    I just also appreciate that Batman 89 isn’t really a Batman movie. It’s a peak-Tim Burton movie.

    What’s great about Batman 89 are what’s great about every Tim Burton movie from the era. They are as follows:

    1. The music

    2. The set-design

    3. The inspired casting

    Batman 1989 Michael Keaton Bruce Wayne 2

    All three helped make this movie great and all three strut their stuff within the movie’s first ten minutes.

    To start with, the first thing you see in Batman is…the Bat symbol. But for the first three minutes or so you don’t even know it is the Bat symbol. It looks like the inside of a stone maze. But that doesn’t matter because it’s the music that first grabs you. It’s moody at the outset, with a hint of leitmotif before becoming a full-on march, driven by this recurrent “dunna-duh-duuuuh-duh.”

    I can’t do it justice. Here…

    Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

    YouTube privacy policy

    If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

    Perfection.

    Contrast that with almost every superhero movie these days which begin usually with a cold opening and little more than a quick fanfare and title card. Batman 89 opened like an EVENT.

    Once the credits ended, the first thing we see is Gotham, which looks like the love child of 1980’s New York and 1920’s New York, with some crazy Art Deco on steroids designs on top. The costumes, cars, sets; everything looks all at once to be modern and bygone. It’s a remarkable blending that works better than it had any right to, creating a fully realized atmosphere that has yet to be replicated in a comic book movie.

    After a mugging—framed and shot I am sure to make you think you were about to watch the Wayne’s get murdered—we meet Batman in all his new, black rubber glory. It’s one of the most effective superhero introductions (second only to Superman’s helicopter rescue in 1978) in that it tells the audience exactly what this new Batman can do and how the movie is going to present him.

    Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

    YouTube privacy policy

    If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

    Scoffers will mock the scene by pointing out that the first thing Batman does in the movie is get shot and fall down. True, but the point is to show that bullets won’t stop him. The sight of his shadow rising from the roof strikes exactly the terrified reaction out of the criminals that was intended. A quick batarang and menacing threat later and he was gone, leaving the criminal to tell all his friends about the terror that hunts bad guys.

    The opening scene captures the “man in suit” aspect of the character really well, even better than “better Batman movies” do, which make the hero so ninja-like and skillful it defies belief. This Batman is just Michael Keaton, all 5’10 of him, wearing a bulletproof suit and using simple tech to hogtie and punch people. It works though. It works, and in particular, Michael Keaton works, when no one said he would after the casting was announced. It works because this Batman is a deranged man, walking the line between mild-insanity and full-on Joker insanity.

    Batman 1989 Michael Keaton Bruce Wayne Sign

    So while Batman 89 was not, in 1989, very much a “Batman” movie, it was so humongous, so monumental, and so genre-defining, it rewrote many of the rules that made Batman “Batman.”After just ten minutes of film, Batman as everyone had known him was gone, and a new Batman was born.

    Batman 89 wasn’t Batman in 1989 but by 1990 Batman 89 was Batman.

    Happy thirtieth.

    Share this article:

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit

    Tags

    BatmanComic Book Movies

    COMMENTS

    Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

    Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

    Subscribe
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    Notify of
    guest
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    guest
    7 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    KeeperofUnicorns
    KeeperofUnicorns
    3 years ago

    I keep forgetting that Tim Burton used to be an ace director before he got all weird. I’m a fan of the Batman franchise. I’ve seen them all and enjoyed watching them all.

    0
    Reply
    Salome G
    Salome G
    3 years ago

    Nothing but respect for MY Batman

    0
    Reply
    Bigfoot
    Bigfoot
    2 years ago
    Reply to  Salome G

    Ditto. The franchise has evolved into a legend. Never mind about the costume that he wore because he was a badass no matter what he wore. This reminds me to re-watch the old versions of Batman.

    0
    Reply
    Thatcher
    Thatcher
    3 years ago

    No matter who the director is, the villains are more interesting and better cast than our hero in these films. And Batman and his love interests always appear awkward together.

    0
    Reply
    Stargazer
    Stargazer
    3 years ago
    Reply to  Thatcher

    I can’t agree more with what you said. The villains of the Batman franchise gave Batman the popularity it has right now. Without these types of villains, I highly doubt Batman would be that popular today. He may be like Green Lantern if Batman’s enemies were not that bad, or great villains, so to speak.

    0
    Reply
    Arabella
    Arabella
    3 years ago

    It is interesting that Tim Burton was the director as I wouldn’t have pegged him. I remember him as the director of Batman Returns though.

    0
    Reply
    Gavin the Binge-Watcher
    Gavin the Binge-Watcher
    3 years ago
    Reply to  Arabella

    I thought Tim Burton’s versions of Batman were the absolute worst. I thought Michelle Pfeiffer did a good job portraying Catwoman and she had lots of funny moments, but Burton turned Danny DeVito’s character into something gross.

    0
    Reply

    You might also like

    • REVIEW: TeenTitans GO! to the Movies is best DC film since the last animated one…

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 29, 2018
    • REVIEW: Aquaman is a shockingly great time

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 16, 2018
    • Batman (Mask of the Phantasm) is still awesome, twenty-five years later…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 20, 2018
    • Batman: Arkham Knight – A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
    • Batman: The Killing Joke Review – One bad half of a great movie

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 9, 2016
    • Batman v Superman (spoilerific review): For better or worse, the DCEU is here

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 25, 2016
    • Don’t Compare…because DC isn’t Marvel, and that’s a good thing.

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 26, 2015
    • Of gods and pretenders: Why a world distrusting Superman makes perfect sense…for now

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 22, 2015
    • Review: LEGO Batman is the most purely fun DC movie ever made.

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 13, 2017
    • The narrative road to Batman Arkham Knight

      By Tom Farr
      | April 3, 2015
    • Review: The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 23, 2015
    • Remembering Superman: The Movie, forty-years later…

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 20, 2018

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    Movie Topics

    Recommended for you

    • REVIEW: “NOPE” wants to be more than it is, which is just good enough

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 22, 2022
    • Ten years later, BRAVE remains Pixar’s most underrated film

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 21, 2022
    • A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 20, 2022
    • REVIEW: THOR – LOVE AND THUNDER is an adventure of mirth and sadness alike

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 9, 2022
    • REVIEW: ELVIS beautifully mythologizes the King of Rock and Roll

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 25, 2022
    • REVIEW: Jurassic World Dominion – Here we go again…again

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 12, 2022
    • REVIEW: Top Gun Maverick is a sequel that soars!

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 27, 2022
    • Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Read the Book Instead: The most disappointing book-to-film adaptations

      By Oliver Johnston
      | September 20, 2021
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2021 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter
    wpDiscuz