Hot Toys - Batman 1989 - Michael Keaton

[URMonkeyTron]

Oh my God, are you effin' serious? There is so much wrong with this statement, I don't now where to begin. The idea that there could be a clown kingpin of crime, or a DA turned insane half-man/half charred corpse, or a deranged psychiatrist who dresses as a scarecrow and drives people nuts with fear gas, or a plant woman who bewitches men with her spores, or ANY of that stuff is pretty far-fetched in a real world sense. You aren't going to be seeing any of this on the nightly news. It is based on comic books. So to talk of the Joker's transformation via a bullet, a betrayal, and some funky green chemicals as if it is too lowbrow for today's audience is absurd. Even when the movie first aired, nobody thought "Oh yeah, that's completely plausible, happens every day." It was a plot device, a convention that audiences accepted to get from "point a" to "point b" in the movie. And the scene with the back alley plastic surgeon and the Joker smashing the mirror is still awesome - whenever I see it, all I can picture are comic book panels with the dialogue: "Hee hee hee hee hee! A-hee hee hee hee hee! Ah ha ha hah hah HA HA HA HAW HAWWW!!!" scrawled in crazy lettering across them. And that's what 89 Batman was all about, being a dark, motion comic book.

Oh, and before you completely poo-poo the mystery green chemicals from 89 Batman, in the 1988 one-shot comic "The Killing Joke", the Joker's back-story involves a chemical-engineer-turned-failed-stand-up-comedian falling into a vat of chemicals during a crime gone wrong and being transformed into the bleached white Joker. Anything sound vaguely familiar? I think you'll find it was this comic that influenced Burton's Joker genesis storyline, much like "Batman: Year One" and "The Long Halloween" have been influences on Nolan's take on Batman. These movies are ultimately a retelling of the comic book tales that are their inspiration - and either your imagination can embrace these ideas or it cannot.

 

[jonny88]

Smarter is completely the wrong word. Dumber is more like it. Incapable of suspending belief, a total lack of imagination, always having to have things explained to them in remedial terms, simplified stories, etc. The remake industry is raking in the cash dumbing down the movies of old so that today's audience can understand them.

Yeah l agree with this. People these days have no attention span and are dumber when it comes to viewing movies. These days people complain if a movie is too long, or if it's a mystery they have a hard time following the plot. Then after the movie is over they say that movie was stupid. Movies are more boring these days because they are too simple. Thats why l enjoy a good movie with twists and plot changes, it's something different then what we usually get these days.

As for the Bat movies the difference, l think both were just taken in a different direction. Burton is about making things dark and creepy/mysterious and sort of the unknown in his Bat movies. Nolans Batman is all about action fir the most part. l never felt that Batman was mysterious in the new films and nothing was dark about them, maybe a little bit in the first but that was it. l still like the Burton Batman over Nolans, even though Burtons had some issues in my opinion.

 

[URMonkeyTron]

Nothing against the new movies. I enjoy them for what they are, but they just don't hold me like 89' does. I find the 3rd act of TDK to be a chore to get through.

 

[intothevoid]

Nolan's all about action?

Nothing was dark about TDK?

Were you watching the same movies as the rest of us buddy

Yeah l agree with this. People these days have no attention span and are dumber when it comes to viewing movies. These days people complain if a movie is too long, or if it's a mystery they have a hard time following the plot. Then after the movie is over they say that movie was stupid. Movies are more boring these days because they are too simple. Thats why l enjoy a good movie with twists and plot changes, it's something different then what we usually get these days.

As for the Bat movies the difference, l think both were just taken in a different direction. Burton is about making things dark and creepy/mysterious and sort of the unknown in his Bat movies. Nolans Batman is all about action fir the most part. l never felt that Batman was mysterious in the new films and nothing was dark about them, maybe a little bit in the first but that was it. l still like the Burton Batman over Nolans, even though Burtons had some issues in my opinion.

 

[Ven]

To me its style vs substance... they're both epic in their own rights. Burton's Batman IS BATMAN. I mean sure he got a few things wrong but watching Batman escape from the joker through the dark deco Gotham. Then right after watching one of the greatest scenes of all time when hes taking vicki vale to the batcave with the descent into mystery on full blast. very comic book esque and gives you an eerie ominous feeling.

While Nolan's Batman IS ALSO BATMAN, of course has more of the crime/mystery element to it which is also essential to batman's character. His core existence is solve crime, because a crime that happened to him in his childhood. Nolan's movies are a bit more thought provoking and can be enjoyed by all sorts of people, not just crazed batman fans.

In the end I enjoy both for what they are, two completely different takes on the same character. I LOVED the imagery of Batman returns... Batman in a sleek batmobile riding through the snowy streets of gotham city. I also LOVED watching batman solve crime through forensics and trial and error.

 

[DiFabio]

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. Burton's Batman is held in high regard still today by those who saw it in 1989.

I didn't see it in '89, too young. In fact being in my early twenties I shouldn't even appreciate the film, but I do.


Oh and I don't prefer the Nolan films over the Burton films or vice versa like many on here. I like them both, almost equally for different reasons and similar reasons.

 

[superman1938]

So beautiful.

Is that a pic of the actual figure?!

 

[intothevoid]

Is that a pic of the actual figure?!

Yes, from a magazine scan.

Hence all of our collective bafflement about why it hasn't been revealed yet

 

[OMG]

Bad News!

Michael Keaton sculpt not included. WTF.

 

[CollectorNC]

It's like comparing apples and oranges with Burton's Batman and Nolan's Batman. Both are great and both are very different. Many Batman fans LOVE both, despite one being in a stylized world and the other being in a more pseudo-realistic world, but as others have said, even the events and characters in BB and TDK would never happen in our real world. Two different takes on the same source material, with Burton taking a outlandish, surreal look--an abstract painting, if you will--and Nolan taking a comic character and thrusting him into a police detective procedural, not unlike a CSI/Law and Order. Nolan grounded Batman in an alternate world that resembles what we are used to while Burton created an alternate world that someone else said kind of was not period specific; that it blended old cars and architecture with modern, stylized elements. I like them both but they are very different takes and I honestly don't think one is superior over the other because they are very different. All I know is that in 1989 after about 10 years of trying to get Batman off the ground, the movie created a whole generation of new fans and made old fans feel that Batman was finally justified with a big screen adaptation, much like Superman fans felt in 1978.

 

[CollectorNC]

Bad News!

Michael Keaton sculpt not included. WTF.

huh ????

 

[intothevoid]

Bad News!

Michael Keaton sculpt not included. WTF.

Wasn't expecting one... and I'm not interested in displaying a Keaton BW or a Batman without cowl so all good here.

 

[OMG]

huh ????

No Keaton sculpt on the DX batman set.

 

[CollectorNC]

No Keaton sculpt on the DX batman set.

Oh an extra Keaton Wayne head? I didn't think they would. As long as the chin/mouth look like Keaton. It would be a reveal in BR that would be appropriate for a Keaton head with a torn cowl.

 

[CollectorNC]

Although my dreams of a custom Mr. Mom figure will have to be put on hold....

 

[thenammagazine]

No Keaton sculpt on the DX batman set.

Still wondering if they'll even bother with a Keaton mouth. I'm guessing they didn't and didn't wanna get mobbed by convention fanatics, so they held off Batman's reveal.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Any other details OMG?

 

[CollectorNC]

Well, hell, no Keaton mouth, no 1989 Batman and an easy pass. I'll just love the hell outta the Nicholson Joker despite a few nitpicks I've read.

 

[URMonkeyTron]

Oh man, imagine if it turned out not looking like Keaton under the cowl. It'll be fun watching the posts that come from that. Maybe everyone can send complaints to Keaton's twitter.

 

[CollectorNC]

Oh man, imagine if it turned out not looking like Keaton under the cowl. It'll be fun watching the posts that come from that. Maybe everyone can send complaints to Keaton's twitter.

Is it a rights issue for Keaton's likeness??