Batman 25th Anniversary (BD) (Diamond Luxe Case) [Blu-ray]

Since this is my first review of anything Batman-related, I should share my history with this superhero since he's such a huge part of American culture. From the early 90's up until around 2000 or so, I was actually a pretty big Batman fan. I loved this Batman and Batman Returns, along with the Batman Animated Series during my years of fandom. However, after the turn of the century, my interest in Batman steadily declined as I moved on to other interests (like anime and death metal), but for the last several days, I see myself crawling back to him for reasons I'll state later.STORYIn Tim Burton's Batman, the story is that Gotham City is a cesspool of filth and crime. In the shadows of Gotham, a masked, caped crusader known only as Batman stalks the streets, beating and killing the scum. The Batman catches the attention of reporters Alexander Knox and Vicky Vale, who seek out the Batman and hope to get footage of him for a juicy story. Meanwhile, after a horrendous accident in a chemical factory, a dangerous criminal named Jack Napier turns into the colorfully-depicted psychopath known as the Joker.CHARACTERSThe characters, in all honesty, are a little of a mixed bag. Some are fleshed out excellently while some others feel just "meh." However, it's the two main characters, Batman (Michael Keaton) and the Joker (Jack Nicholson) that everyone focuses on, and I can certainly see why since the movie really is about these two freaks. Keaton's role as Batman/Bruce Wayne really shows his versatility as an actor since he does a great job portraying Wayne as a run-of-the-mill billionaire, but when he dons the Bat suit, he unleashes a truly intimidating feeling when he preys on Gotham City's criminals. I also commend Burton for portraying Batman as a man who has no agenda for nobility since in this movie, Wayne suffered great losses as a child and even as the years pass, the pain from that event hardly simmers, so he tries to quell his agony by purging Gotham City of its criminals. When Batman fights crime, he really does show off a sheer hatred for the criminals since in one scene at the Axis Chemical plant (prior to Napier's transformation into the Joker), Batman manages to tangle one of Napier's minions by the neck and essentially lynches him from one of the catwalks in the factory. Also, towards the beginning, when Batman confronts two criminals who robbed a rich family, he pummels one of them and tells his accomplice "I'm not going to kill you, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to tell all your friends about me." Also, unlike Christopher Nolan's spin on the Batman franchise, Burton's Batman isn't afraid to kill his enemies, which I personally like since it gives Batman a more menacing edge, thought all together, it's Batman's complexity that's making me come back to the whole franchise. Then there's the Joker. Of course, with Jack Nicholson behind the makeup, you know he's gonna nail his role perfectly. Nicholson really makes a great Joker because his take on the character truly gives out a feeling of insanity. Joker harms people just because he thinks it's fun, and keeping true to the comics, he adds a good amount of crazy gags to his crimes that adds more depth to the feeling of insanity (he's also one of the rare villains to be menacing and funny at the same time). In a scene where the Joker sets up a meeting with Gotham City's main crime bosses, he kills one with an intense electro-shock hand buzzer and after everyone is forcefully escorted out, the Joker talks to the charred skeleton and at the end, says "I'm glad you're dead!!" and unleashes a really creepy laugh afterwards. There's also scenes where the Joker doesn't really kill or hurt anyone that show how crazy he is. The best example of this would be when he and his henchmen enter the art museum after killing everyone (except Vicky) with the Smilex gas, goes around the museum defacing a bunch of paintings while dancing to Prince. Also, I love the fact that Burton decided to flesh out the Joker more than Batman because in the context of this film, it's very fitting. The Joker wants to be known throughout while Batman wants to remain hidden from the public so he can keep doing what he does. Now supporting characters, that's a little different story. While Robert Wuhl and Kim Basinger do quite well as their roles as Knox and Vale (respectively), I felt the characters themselves felt a little hollow and stereotypical. Knox felt pretty geeky and Vale at the end of the day, feels a little too much like the typical "damsel in distress." However, despite being on the stereotypical side, they were enjoyable to have on screen. It would have been nice to have seen other characters like Harvey Dent fleshed out better as well.APPEARANCEThanks to the vision of set designer Anton Furst, Batman is a visual feast. The gritty, Gothic, and claustrophobic vision of Gotham City is truly amazing and is a huge component to the whole Batman experience. However, unlike that Alex Proyas abomination Dark City, Burton doesn't depend entirely on visuals since he also has two of the most interesting (and entertaining) characters ever put on screen to bolster the fantastic visuals. The way Gotham City looks really does look like it's in a universe of its own since it takes place in modern times but the citizens of the city dress in a style from the 1920's-30's complete with trench-coats and fedora hats, and not to mention that the colorful characters (particularly with the Joker) add some more flare to the already amazing set designs.SOUNDTRACKDanny Elfman struck gold with Batman's soundtrack since after all, he did create the iconic Batman theme that would be a part of Batman and would even live on in the intros of the Batman animated series (if I recall correctly). Most of the scenes are powerful by themselves, but Elfman's ear-grabbing music really bolsters the emotional impact of the scenes throughout the movie. I'm not a big follower of Prince, but the scenes featuring his music feel really well-placed (especially the art museum scene featuring the song "Party Man").ACTION SCENESBatman really has some good action scenes to bolster the movie. One of the best is when Batman saves Vicky from the Joker and when the Joker and his henchmen chase them down, Batman manages to evade the Jokers crew in the Batmobile and causes the Joker's crew to fly into a huge traffic pile up on the streets. The other has to be with the final showdown between Batman and the Joker on top of the Gotham Cathedral. It shows that Batman isn't an unstoppable titan since he takes some considerable hits from one of the Joker's henchmen (though Batman would make him fall to his death in the bell tower) and it also shows the imposing strength of Batman when compared to the Joker.FINAL WORDIf you're looking for a really well-made superhero film with some interesting characters and a magnificently gritty universe that's strictly its own, then Batman should be in your collection if it isn't already.

In the animated series, Batman is known as a pacifist. He does not kill, and I am not sure he has an officially-recorded canon murder; However, this Batman he is killing left and right, deliberately. I am not a fan of this version's Batman, even if he does a good job as Batman, because I am not fond of his Bruce Wayne. Regardless, it makes sense that in This Batman he kills, because it is more grounded and "realistic," as what would you expect from a 6 foot man, in a 200lbs armored suit, fist-fighting criminals, whereas in the animated series, he is a Grundy of a man and moves much faster with Much greater agility.Joker steals the show, and his performance is no laughing matter. The only problem with this film is outdated cinematography and camera angles, which is very noticeable if you are very cinematically critical, but the actual content is No Less than 5 stars: Period. The sets, the scenes, and the plot have great pacing and logical connections, versus in the animated series he just shows up, as well as scenes to let the Joker get his kicks. The runtime was appropriate, some excellent effects, and serious implications and consequences make this one of the best Batman movies to date.Overall an Excellent addition to the legend of Batman, worth watching if you are a fan of DC and especially Batman. Fool him once, shame on him. Fool him twice, shame on me. Animated Batman could take a lesson from this film.

Now near 25 years removed from its production, Tim Burton's original Batman has slowly lost faded into the background of the modern superhero film landscape. As newer - and admittedly wonderful - superhero movies such as The Dark Knight and The Avengers continue to dazzle and amaze audiences with spectacular special effects and genre-bending writing, the more people seem to forget the much more modest and serene Batman film. Which, I believe, is a grave mistake. For while it may not have had the technological advancements at the time to provide stunning effects and epic storytelling, Tim Burton's directorial effort in Batman is, without question, one of most talented and intelligent efforts ever made in film itself - let alone in the superhero genre.I'll forgo any plot description as I'm sure it's quite well known by this point and more importantly because the plot acts merely as a sandbox for much more brilliant achievements in acting, directing and cinematography.The first I'll touch upon is the cinematography. The beautifully rendered gothic landscape that Anton Furst creates in the sets and scenery of Batman is immediately evident upon first viewing of the film. But what is probably much less evident to most viewers, is just how much Burton and his production team borrowed from German Expressionism and the silent filmmaking of first three decades of the 20th century. As someone who's seen a fair share of silent films - and more importantly - films from that small window in the 1930s were sound was a new and somewhat mysterious concept for filmmakers, it's slowly become apparent to me that advent of sound has led to a deterioration of visual storytelling and acting. In short, sound has made today's filmmakers lazy. Instead of having to show their story, the subtleties of their dramas and characters, they can simply say it, and depends with a lot of visual setup and style.It is that silent film element that really makes Burton's Batman exceptional, and really unlike any other film made since the silent era. With Batman, Burton opens up the playbooks of Fritz Lang and Todd Browning and FW Mernau and instead of telling his story through dialogue or explicitly stated plot points, instead hones in on a myriad of visual elements to express the true nature and grandeur of Batman as a character.The first way in which he does this is to always show Batman from an outsider's perspective (generally, Vicki's perspective). This creates and element of mystery and darkness to Batman that harkens back more to characters like Dracula and the Phantom of the opera than it does Superman or Spider-Man. Again, taking a page not just from Batman's own roots as a creature of gothic horror, but also from the early cinematic works of Dracula and the Phantom. Burton even uses lighting to highlight and display Batman's subtle eye or facial movements - a trick derived quite directly from 1931's Dracula.The second method derives directly from Michael Keaton's own performance. Few seem to realize it upon first viewing, but Keaton turns in probably the most subtle and brilliant acting performances of any comic book movie before or since. In compliment to Burton's visual storytelling, Keaton mirrors the silent style of filmmaking by conveying the majority of his character's emotions through both facial expressions and emoting through the eyes. He rarely says much in the film - and his version of Bruce Wayne is characterized as an aloof and somehow emotionally immature man who is often overshadowed by the bombastic nature of Jack Nicholson's inspired performance as the Joker.But upon closer inspection, it's really Keaton who steals the show in Batman by portraying the character as both wholly sympathetic and always latently psychotic. This juxtaposition of emotional reliability and psychosis is metaphorical tightrope that is near-impossible traverse - in fact, even in the original source materials, most writers struggle to convey a proper amount of emotional resonance in their characterization of Wayne. Yet, astonishingly, Keaton manages to blend these to aspects together with incredible ease; he wears the persona of Bruce Wayne like a second skin, and purely through whispers and off glances both makes the viewer feel for Bruce Wayne, and remain ever terrified of Batman.Outside of these two most notable aspects, Burton (and Keaton, as through the happenstance of a writers' strike, ended up rewriting much of the script and dialogue with Burton on-set) weaves in numerous subtle character arcs and story beats that seem simple - and perhaps even poorly done at first glance - but through subsequent viewings can be deemed extremely intricate and expertly executed exposition. From Bruce Wayne's reclusive and awkward demeanor reflecting Burton's own thoughts on genius, obsession, and emotional pain - to the simply brilliant relationship built between Michael Gough's Alfred and Bruce - Burton continuously weaves a simple narrative bursting with psychological meaning and emotion.I'm certain most would call it absurd to refer to Burton's Batman as one of the best films ever made - and in truth, it does indeed lack some of the emotional or dramatic punch that a lot of the other great films of history do have - but when analyzed with a keen and disconcerting eye, the amount of intelligence and detail weaved into the execution of Batman far exceeds most of the directorial efforts in the history of American film. And, without question, Batman should be seen at least a few times by anyone interested in the classic silent and European methods of the early days of filmmaking, and - along with Blade Runner and Burton's followup, Batman Returns - should be considered one of the best tributes to that sophisticated and timeless style.

To me, this is the definitive live-action Batman. The Chris Nolan trilogy is good and deserves to be praised. But this movie is a lot more subtle and straight to the point. Batman is a creature of the shadow which Michael Keaton just masterfully plays to a T.And the fact that this movie has a steelbook case is just a wonderful bonus.

Ordered as for a nostalgia blastWas looking for Batman blu ray 2 disc so could get all the proper extras eg, behind the scenes, commentaries, music vids etc. Not an easy job to find ( so ordered new copy from Italy)Italian copy but can easily change everything to English sound versions and text. Get to hear Batman and Jokergabbling away in Italian or the other languages tooI bought brand new and came in perfect condition with all the proper extra's and in reasonable time5 stars for product and service and 5 stars for the film too

Batman is one of my favourite DC Comics characters and Michael Keaton I would say even now after 4 Actors still my favourite Batman with Ben Affleck a very close second. To the point I received this well within the time stated and not a scratch on the disc and works so very happy with the film and the seller too.

Still (in my oppinion) one of the best Batman movies ever, even with all the re-boot's, I enjoy this incarnation the most. Tim Burton's vision is simply marvelous.

It’s a French version with its packaging but the disc itself is all English. So, a little suss but i’ happy that at least it all works.