THERE is probably not much that has not been said about Batman (Pearl, 9.30pm), but some of it is worth saying again. There is no Boy Wonder in it, but there is a ridiculously over-the-top and overpaid Jack Nicholson as The Joker (aka Jack Napier). Michael Keaton is Batman (aka Bruce Wayne) and Kim Basinger, before she went bankrupt, is the love interest.
Director Tim Burton's Gotham City is a crime-ridden, debris-strewn, sunless, architecturally incoherent metropolis, desperately in need of a saviour. Rumours that he based it on Mongkok are untrue.
The city is in the grip of crime boss Carl Grissom (more over-the-topness, this time from Jack Palance). Ace photographer Vicki Vale (Basinger) is intrigued by reported sightings of a giant vigilante bat. She meets enigmatic millionaire Bruce Wayne, not suspecting that he is Batman. Wayne is quite taken with the lovely Vale, but is distracted by the evil antics of Grissom's top henchman, Jack Napier, alias the Joker.
It was perhaps inevitable, considering the hype that surrounded it on its release in 1989, that Batman would fall a bit flat. Despite its interesting grim tone and undeniably striking visual, Burton and his big name cast simply fail to entertain. Its obvious intention to portray Batman and the Joker as a couple of psychotics, one promoting good and the other evil, does not come through.
Keaton, who tries to be moody and macho but has all the appeal of plywood, is hopelessly miscast. Nicholson is hopelessly full-blown. His best moment comes when he pulls an incredibly long pistol from his pants.
Batman had great potential, but made little of it. Nevertheless, it was easily the biggest - and biggest-grossing - film of 1989, a testament more to its massive marketing campaign than its quality. JACK Nicholson is less manic in Five Easy Pieces (Pearl, 2.00pm), a film he made in 1970, before he was big box office bucks.