Click here to return to [Part I].
In the movie Metropolis (1927), human workers, indistinguishable from one another in their dehumanizing, identical uniforms, toil away on a gigantic machine of pipes and spraying steam. That machine, energized by the expenditure of their sweat and blood, powers the magnificent city above.
The Axis Chemicals plant in Batman (1989) bears a similar appearance, though not as symmetrical or simple as the machine in Metropolis. This is a steel jungle of pipes and tanks, billowing steam and chemicals which are no doubt detrimental to human health. This plant is merely a front company for Carl Grissom's mafia organization.
In the movie Metropolis (1927), human workers, indistinguishable from one another in their dehumanizing, identical uniforms, toil away on a gigantic machine of pipes and spraying steam. That machine, energized by the expenditure of their sweat and blood, powers the magnificent city above.
The Axis Chemicals plant in Batman (1989) bears a similar appearance, though not as symmetrical or simple as the machine in Metropolis. This is a steel jungle of pipes and tanks, billowing steam and chemicals which are no doubt detrimental to human health. This plant is merely a front company for Carl Grissom's mafia organization.
In Batman Returns (1992), this imagery reemerges in the form of Max Schreck's power plants, which actually steal power from the people of Gotham under the guise of giving it to them. In both Batman and its sequel, corrupt businessmen use these gigantic, machine-driven plants to maintain control over Gotham and its infrastructure, and to oppress the people in lower economic classes.
Jack Napier and his fellow thugs arrive at Axis Chemicals, only to find that the safe they are meant to raid is empty. Its a set up, a trap. Grissom has called in the cops, headed by the corrupt Ekhardt, who is already looking forward to using the money he'll score from this hit to replenish his stockpile of donuts and cigars. Jack only seems mildly miffed that he's about to be surrounded... one gets the impression that he welcomes the opportunity to kill a few people, so heck, why not?
Jack Napier and his fellow thugs arrive at Axis Chemicals, only to find that the safe they are meant to raid is empty. Its a set up, a trap. Grissom has called in the cops, headed by the corrupt Ekhardt, who is already looking forward to using the money he'll score from this hit to replenish his stockpile of donuts and cigars. Jack only seems mildly miffed that he's about to be surrounded... one gets the impression that he welcomes the opportunity to kill a few people, so heck, why not?
A shootout commences between the, uh, cops and robbers. Some tanks get punctured by bullets, and steam and sparks start flying around hither and yon. Gordon shows up and tries to take command of the situation, but he doesn't do all that much for the rest of the scene. Erkhardt wanders away either to escape or to kill Jack (it isn't entirely clear).
And of course, amidst all the chaos, Batman shows up. And starts kicking ass.
And of course, amidst all the chaos, Batman shows up. And starts kicking ass.
I have to say, the ways in which they worked around the functional limitations of Keaton's Batsuit are quite clever in this scene. Its obvious that the suit isn't very flexible and thus not well suited for combat, but the filmmakers manage to throw in enough cool moments that Bats never seems anything less than a badass. Its some good old school filmmaking ingenuity. In one of the best moments, Bats shoots a cable through a goon's shoulder and dangles him over a ledge. Gordon looks up and sees Batman for the first time, saying "Oh my God!" in amazement. Its a really effective moment.
Jack is scurrying away on an upper walkway. He'd probably be able to escape if he kept moving, but he can't resist the opportunity to kill Gordon, who he has spied below. Batman shows up and knocks the gun out of Jack's hand, then lifts him up by the collar.
One of Jack's thugs tells Batman to let him go or he'll kill Gordon. Bats sets Jack down, who grins and makes a crack about Batman's "nice outfit." Batman and Jack smile coldly at each other, as if each is thinking "yeah, you just wait, you are going to get yours..." Jack picks up his gun and spins around, but Batman isn't there anymore.
Bob runs off, leaving Gordon behind. Jack is near the exit, again having an opportunity to escape, but he takes this moment to shoot Ekhardt down below, reminding him to "think about the future."
Batman shows up again and Jack shoots at him. The bullet ricochets off of Batman's bullet-proof body armor and again off of a metal container, cutting across Jack's face and creating a nasty scar. Jack howls and tumbles over the edge, but Batman grabs his hand to save him.
Its worth noting here that Batman's intent is not to kill Napier. Batman's views on the acceptability of killing in the Burton films have unfortunately been misinterpreted by many viewers. Its because Burton is content not to beat the viewer over the head with exposition explaining Batman's character arc across both films, but rather leaves it to the viewer to figure out for themselves. I'll address this in greater depth later.
Jack is scurrying away on an upper walkway. He'd probably be able to escape if he kept moving, but he can't resist the opportunity to kill Gordon, who he has spied below. Batman shows up and knocks the gun out of Jack's hand, then lifts him up by the collar.
One of Jack's thugs tells Batman to let him go or he'll kill Gordon. Bats sets Jack down, who grins and makes a crack about Batman's "nice outfit." Batman and Jack smile coldly at each other, as if each is thinking "yeah, you just wait, you are going to get yours..." Jack picks up his gun and spins around, but Batman isn't there anymore.
Bob runs off, leaving Gordon behind. Jack is near the exit, again having an opportunity to escape, but he takes this moment to shoot Ekhardt down below, reminding him to "think about the future."
Batman shows up again and Jack shoots at him. The bullet ricochets off of Batman's bullet-proof body armor and again off of a metal container, cutting across Jack's face and creating a nasty scar. Jack howls and tumbles over the edge, but Batman grabs his hand to save him.
Its worth noting here that Batman's intent is not to kill Napier. Batman's views on the acceptability of killing in the Burton films have unfortunately been misinterpreted by many viewers. Its because Burton is content not to beat the viewer over the head with exposition explaining Batman's character arc across both films, but rather leaves it to the viewer to figure out for themselves. I'll address this in greater depth later.
This whole sequence is pretty clearly inspired by Detective Comics #168 and by Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, which Tim Burton has in the past remarked is his favorite comic book.
Jack's hand slips, and down he goes into a vat of green chemicals. Everyone assumes that he is dead, and Gordon sends the cops up after Batman, who escapes using a smoke grenade and his grapnel gun.
In these stories, the Joker is the criminal known as the Red Hood, either intentionally (DC #168) or because he was a hapless, spineless failed comedian who was pressured by thugs into the role (The Killing Joke). He falls into a chemically polluted river and becomes the villain we all know and love to hate. Here they've cut out the Red Hood bit, but much of the rest of the scenario is similar.
Cut to Vicki Vale and Alexander Knox. I love how cluttered the newspaper offices are. There's random pillars everywhere, a dusty haze over the whole place, and hard white light coming through the windows. It seems like a stuffy place that would oppress, not encourage, creativity and imagination. It works well in context given that Knox's ideas about the "Batman" are thoroughly squashed here.
This scene establishes that Vicki has a date with Bruce Wayne. Knox says Wayne is a stiff... a rich stiff, but a stiff nonetheless. Its not hard to see where he's coming from, given that Keaton's Wayne is quite reserved and standoffish, not much like Bale's spotlight hogging, comically exaggerated Wayne. Knox is implying that Vicki is just interested in Bruce's money, but there's not a clear indication of that here, and at any rate what sustains her interest in him for the rest of the film is not his bank roll but the mysterious sadness in him that her intuition detects.
This scene establishes that Vicki has a date with Bruce Wayne. Knox says Wayne is a stiff... a rich stiff, but a stiff nonetheless. Its not hard to see where he's coming from, given that Keaton's Wayne is quite reserved and standoffish, not much like Bale's spotlight hogging, comically exaggerated Wayne. Knox is implying that Vicki is just interested in Bruce's money, but there's not a clear indication of that here, and at any rate what sustains her interest in him for the rest of the film is not his bank roll but the mysterious sadness in him that her intuition detects.
The scene of their "date" at Wayne manor accentuates that dynamic. Bruce and Vicki sit far apart from one another at a comically long table. There's an element of awkwardness to Bruce - though he at length catches on to what's wrong with this set up (and quite coolly turns it into a joke which makes Vicki laugh), its almost as if we are witnessing in the interim a slow reawakening, a readjustment to societal norms. Bruce is such an inward character, absorbed by his own memories, alone in that huge manor and cave, that when the outside world breaks in like a light through a window, he can't shift gears immediately. It takes him a moment to find "normalcy." Vicki has a humanizing effect on him, she brings him back toward reality.
That imagery continues when they move to a breakfast table. Its a more intimate setting, but notice the subtle use of lighting in this scene (see the above picture). It strikes a chiaroscuro between the characters. Vicki is angelic - the light particularly reflects off her golden hair, and she's sitting in the brightest part of the frame. Its almost as if she is the light source in this room. Bruce, meanwhile, is sitting partly in the light and partly in a dark corner. As Vicki talks about her happy memories of her family, Bruce can only look on with a polite but sad smile. Alfred is his only family, he tells her. He says he couldn't find his socks without Alfred - not only a wealth joke, but in some sense a metaphor for Alfred's importance. Finding your socks is an everyday, normal thing for a person to do. Without Alfred there wouldn't even be a shadow of normalcy in Bruce's life.
The film cuts to a dark basement, where Napier is getting facial reconstruction surgery from a shady criminal doctor. When he sees his face in a mirror (the mirror motif returns!), Napier snaps. The first time we saw him look in a mirror, it indicated his vanity - here, it indicates his madness, the destruction of his former self. He laughs eerily and exits. I love the way he stiffly staggers out, like a sort of Frankenstein's monster. Its a frighteningly effective scene, and a powerful introduction to the Joker character.
The basement setting itself heightens the tension. We see shots of unsanitary, painfully sharp surgery instruments. The walls are muddy. Random equipment is lying around. There's insufficient light for the doctor to work with. Its very much a horror movie setting. I love the way the scene appears to be setting up ensuing violence. You think Joker is going to kill the doctor in the end, but he doesn't. By not climaxing this unease in the scene itself, the scene propels our sense of dread and suspense forward so that we anxiously await Joker's next appearance. Violence will ensue, but not here.
The basement setting itself heightens the tension. We see shots of unsanitary, painfully sharp surgery instruments. The walls are muddy. Random equipment is lying around. There's insufficient light for the doctor to work with. Its very much a horror movie setting. I love the way the scene appears to be setting up ensuing violence. You think Joker is going to kill the doctor in the end, but he doesn't. By not climaxing this unease in the scene itself, the scene propels our sense of dread and suspense forward so that we anxiously await Joker's next appearance. Violence will ensue, but not here.
Cut to Carl Grissom's office (and apartment?) where Joker makes his entrance up that screeching elevator. The way Joker is introduced here is brilliant and suspenseful. Imagine watching this for the first time, not sure exactly what the Joker is going to look like, and experiencing this scene as his face emerges ever so delicately from the shadows and the darkness.
What's terrific is the way in which Nicholson effects a strange mixture of both anger and glee. "You set me up over a woman. A woman!" yells Joker, before chuckling: "You must be insane." Keaton's Wayne consistently displays a mix of sorrow and anger in this film, and Nicholson's Joker is the opposite. The former is saddened by tragedy, the latter has embraced it as the only thing worth enjoying. Anger and glee aren't normally meant to be mixed together. Its his combination of the two that makes Joker so compelling and frightening.
Bruce and Vicki get drunk and sleep together, and I don't mean that as a euphemism as they are fully clothed in bed. Vicki wakes in the middle of the night and sees Bruce hanging upside down like a Bat, seemingly in the midst of a relaxation / meditation exercise. Its another scene emphasizing that, while Vicki has a humanizing influence on him, he's still torn away from her by the darkness that confronts his mind at night - and by the truth of his real identity as the Batman.
Back in Napier's apartment, Joker greets his own lover, Alicia, who faints at the sight of him. Its a comedic scene, but its also another one in which Nicholson (albeit more subtly) effects a mix of glee and anger. Its precisely because his lover faints at the sight of him (an insult to his appearance, over which he remains vain) that he brutally scars her later in the film. Its a way of inflicting his own tragedy upon others.
By becoming the inflicter of tragedy, painting his face onto the faces of others, Joker thinks he can somehow rise above it, and rather than allowing tragedy to break him, can instead treat it as a sort of cosmic practical joke. Its a way of attempting to exercise control over chaos, a strange paradox, for the only way to do so is to attempt to become the manifestation of chaotic tragedy itself. Meanwhile, Batman attempts to master chaos and tragedy by defeating it in the assertion of order and fear. Both are ultimately self-defeating and in some sense irrational quests, but nonetheless identifiable and sympathetic to us as the audience because they both arise from broken, suffering humanity.
By becoming the inflicter of tragedy, painting his face onto the faces of others, Joker thinks he can somehow rise above it, and rather than allowing tragedy to break him, can instead treat it as a sort of cosmic practical joke. Its a way of attempting to exercise control over chaos, a strange paradox, for the only way to do so is to attempt to become the manifestation of chaotic tragedy itself. Meanwhile, Batman attempts to master chaos and tragedy by defeating it in the assertion of order and fear. Both are ultimately self-defeating and in some sense irrational quests, but nonetheless identifiable and sympathetic to us as the audience because they both arise from broken, suffering humanity.
Joker talks to Bob and calls him his "number one guy." Again, he's just inflicting what Grissom did to him onto another person. Again, he's gleeful about doing so. Bob, meanwhile, has a strange sort of loyalty to Joker. He doesn't seem afraid of him. Perhaps in his view this is simply a more eccentric version of the old Jack that
he knew. At any rate, Bob's naivete will result in his downfall later on in the film. Bruce told Vicki that he couldn't see her again for awhile, because he'd be out of town, but Alfred inadvertently contradicted that story, arousing Vicki's suspicions. She follows Bruce to Crime Alley, and sees him place roses on the spot where his parents died. Keaton's acting in this scene is subtle but fantastic, showing a range of emotions from weariness, forlorn longing, and sadness. Again, he can't be with Vicki because this place, and what happened here, is always present in his mind. Any happiness she might possibly offer is swallowed up in his rage and pain.
Continue on to [Part 3].
Continue on to [Part 3].