June 23, 1989 : Batman Opens

I remember vividly where I was on June 23, 1989. I was at Edmonton's Capitol Square theatres downtown, watching the opening evening show of Tim Burton's Batman. I was just as jazzed by the trailers and marketing as everyone else, and looked forward to the film's opening with great anticipation. Did the first Caped Crusader reboot reintroduce the character and mythology in a fresh new dark? Yup, it did. Did Sam Hamm's script make a lot of story sense? No, not really. But did then-newcomer Tim Burton propel the proceedings with enough artful momentum (with help from late production Anton Furst)  that we didn't care? You bet. And did Mr. Jack Nicholson knock it out of the park with his Joker, unfortunately somewhat neutering Michael Keaton's Batman/Bruce Wayne in the process? Pardon me while I squint and get all nasal: You bet your ass, man. And the one thing we get from Keaton's somewhat blah performance is that it opened the door for Ben Affleck to succeed when Batman v. Superman comes out on May 6, 2016...you can bet on it!

Happy 25th, Burton Batman!

MTMG