/co/, please forgive me but I have to be honest. I hate Tim Burtons Batman. It is absolute shit. It misses the entire point of Batmans character, what he does and why he does it. It is tacky, cliche, predictable and above all very formulaic. It is too juvenile to be a film for grown ups and too unimaginative to interest children.
Keatons performance is decent but he hasn't got anything good to work with. Nicholson steals the show simply by being Nicholson. The actor had no real interest in the character or the role and accepted it only on a massive pay check and with borderline crazy demands. It is perhaps his weakest performance, a far cry from Jack Torrance. While his Joker is occasionally threatening he is rarely funny and seems more like a silly lackey to some real Batman nemesis who remains hidden the entire film. The Joker, like Batman, is not true to character and is given a very Hollywood origin that is cringe-worthy in its cheesiness and predictability. Gough is acceptable as Alfred but beyond that the supporting cast are a joke. The tacked on love interest is dull, dull, dull and the standard comic fare that all the over side-characters exist for is forgettable, but thankfully shortly over.
It is one of Burtons worst pictures, although it is clear he did not have a great deal of control over the production. Nonetheless his cinematography stands out (Out of place, in such an otherwise typical, dull film) and it is his direction in the films climax that makes it the films only truly memorable scene.

The sequel was by far a more Burton-esque film and is better for it. Pic Related.