That Man

I think Michael Keaton is the best actor ever cast as Batman. Everyone who's played the character since kind of imitates him. Well, who else would they imitate, Adam West? But the boldness of the decision to cast an actor known primarily for comedic roles resulted in a baseline complexity for the character. When Vicki Vale points out he's "not exactly normal" and he replies, "It's not exactly a normal world," it's an exchange not only supported by every frame of the film but one that seems to convey a deeper meaning. In no other film is Batman so weird. It's in his costume, too, especially as the film has aged. They may have been trying to make Keaton look like the imposing hulk Batman is in The Dark Knight Returns but to me he looks like teru teru bozu, little white dolls Japanese kids make to ward off rainy days.

They have round heads and a skirt of tissue paper or cloth. It's because, for whatever reason, Keaton's headpiece is very large and round in the movie so when he's running around with his cape unfurled and his arms down at his sides he looks sort of like a doll.

It's oddly cute yet also somehow spooky and perverted. But there's so much underlying kink in Tim Burton's best movies. Typically the villains are more interesting than Batman himself. I'd say this is the film version in which Batman succeeds in nearly being as intriguing as his foe.

But it's hard to compete with the Joker, whoever's playing him, and Jack Nicholson was the first actor to make people realise what a great role it is. If one looks at him now side by side with Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix, rather than as preceding them in a kind of evolution, it's a little easier to see what he brings to the table. His Joker is an older man's Joker, more self-possessed, less driven. It was doubtlessly Nicholson's own personality bleeding through but the impression his Joker gives is of someone who's been through a lot in his youth and is just happy to be in a place at the end of it all where he doesn't have to give a shit. Both Ledger's Joker and Phoenix's Joker seem like they've got something to prove, Nicholson's is just having a ball.