Batman - The Movie
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Adam West, Burgess Meredith, Burt Ward, Cesar Romero, Lee MeriwetherDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 105 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-08-21
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of Batman - The Movie
Movie Review: Best. Batman. Ever.
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is simultaneously one of the best comic book movies and one of the best parodies of a comic book. This film is simultaneously silly and surreal. This film is simultaneously subversive and earnest. A young kid can watch this and think it is deadpan serious, a young adult can hoot and jeer, and a 40-year-old can simultaneously do both.
That is film can contain such paradoxes, and can remain appealing 42 years after its release is due to a variety of factors that all worked together. Set and costume design are excellent, writing and directing were spot on perfect, and the cast were all great. From a visual standpoint, few films can even rival this one's mimetic resemblance of classic comic books.
But the single strongest and most miraculous thing, that which holds it all together, is the sheer inspiration of Adam West's performance.
Bruce Wayne has a remarkable amount of screen time here, especially compared to any episode of the TV series. Note also that of 3 fight scenes (unless you count the part where Batman is punching the shark as a fight scene!), in 2 of them, Adam is dressed as Bruce Wayne. It is highly gratifying to see Batman, alone and outnumbered, outfight the villains without so much as a Batarang to aid him.
By means of some incredible, unknown energy, Adam West was able to convey a character who is compelling, intense, brave, noble, and suave. Yet, if one possesses just the slightest bit of insight, Batman is also completely ridiculous. Of the many, many hero parodies that came from the 60's and later, from Maxwell Smart, to Matt Helm to Captain Nice, only James Coburn as Derek Flynt is the only other with the potential to come across as a credible heroic lead. But Batman, unlike Derek Flynt, shows a few precious and very brief moments of emotional vulnerability.
Thus it is that this wonderfully-written and perfectly-executed character straddles the razor edge that usually separates parody from epic. Despite the absurdity of the character and the situations, Adam West, with his leading man good looks, super-cool manner, and heroic intensity causes one to simultaneously jeer at him and admire him. In all the annals of adventure, he resembles no one so much as Don Quixote.
Because Adam West's Batman, in the TV incarnation at least, was so influencial, because it so thoroughly skewered every heroic cliché, and because the TV show ultimately succumbed to the lowest of buffoonery, this film is singularly reviled by many Batman fans and comic fans in general. And yet, because this film so deftly places one foot knowingly in the world of absurdity and one foot earnestly in the world of the heroism, there are few better cinematic translations of comic book material.
To be sure, this film took huge liberties with the source material. But so has every other successful comic book movie. And most fail to capture anything of the spirit of the comic book. This is why this film continues to be hugely popular after all these years, why it is still one of the most watched films of the 1960's, and why it is vastly superior to a modern mess such as `Batman Returns.' I have watched this movie at least 10 times in my life, and there are many, many people who have seen this even more often.
This DVD is a decent package, and the featurette of Adam West and Burt Ward is OK, although it is a little sad to see how tubby Robin has become, and what a creepy guy Adam seems to be in real life. In the featurette they tell many stories that you might already know if you read any books or internet articles on the show. The interactive menu is cool and fun. There is a photo album from the series that is also cool. There is a horribly painful Batmobile featurette, wherein the car's creator, George Barris, leans against the car and confabulates wildly about it. I love the Batmobile, but this is truly sad and pathetic, to see this once great hot-rod king unable to even accurately describe or remember the truth or his most famous creation. My honest guess is that the guy had the beginnings of some form of geriatric dementia when this portion was filmed. Honestly, this portion should be expunged, out of respect for George Barris in particular and all senior citizens in general.
Summary of Batman - The Movie
Holy camp site, Batman! After a fabulously successful season on TV, the campy comic book adventure hit the big screen, complete with painful puns, outrageous supervillains, and fights punctuated with word balloons sporting such onomatopoeic syllables as "Pow!," "Thud!," and "Blammo!" Adam West's wooden Batman is the cowled vigilante alter ego of straight-arrow millionaire Bruce Wayne and Bruce Ward's Robin (a.k.a. Dick Grayson, Bruce's young collegiate protégé) his overeager sidekick in hot pants. Together they battle an unholy alliance of Gotham City's greatest criminals: the Joker (Cesar Romero, whooping up a storm), the Riddler (giggling Frank Gorshin), the Penguin (cackling Burgess Meredith), and the purr-fectly sexy Catwoman (Lee Meriwether slinking in a skin-tight black bodysuit). The criminals are, naturally, out to conquer the world, but with a little help from their unending supply of utility belt devices (bat shark repellent, anyone?), our dynamic duo thwarts their nefarious plans at every turn. Since the TV show ran under 30 minutes an episode (with commercials), the 105-minute film runs a little thin--a little camp goes a long way--but fans of the small-screen show will enjoy the spoofing tone throughout. Leslie H. Martinson directs Lorenzo Semple's screenplay like a big-budget TV episode minus the cliffhanger endings. --Sean AxmakerSimilar DVD Movies
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