much impact, which it probably would.) BATMAN is a celebration of form over story.Keaton's Batman is serious and broody. His would-be girlfriend, Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger), provides a plastic beauty. The chemistry between Keaton and Basinger never becomes believable. Batman is too cerebral to care, and Vale too untouchable to really get involved. Regardless of what transpires, their love appears like little more than unconvincing flirting.The show drags along until Jack Napier, played by Jack Nicholson in one of his lesser performances, tangles with Batman and loses. The resulting accident destroys Napier's looks so he comes back as The Joker, a guy with a clown's make-up. ("Wait 'til they get a load of me," he brags.)The Joker gets most of the film's few good lines. "The pen is truly mightier than the sword," he proclaims after killing someone by throwing a pen into his throat.Other than the comic book story and the sets, the only other things else worth seeing are Batman's toys. Chief among these is his gadget laden Batmobile.If Franz Kafka had ever made a comic book, it would undoubtedly resemble this version of BATMAN - dark and depressing, but holding a certain undeniable fascination nevertheless.BATMAN runs too long at 2:06. It is rated PG-13 for its cartoonish violence. My son Jeffrey, age 8, liked it, but not nearly as much as his favorite, BATMAN FOREVER. As much as I admire the technical details of the film, I cannot recommend the movie, but I do give it ** for its visual impact.The Gotham City created in "Batman" is one of the most distinctive and atmospheric places I've seen in the movies. It's a shame something more memorable doesn't happen there. "Batman" is a triumph of design over story, style over substance - a great-looking movie with a plot you can't care much about. All of the big moments in the movie are pounded home with ear-shattering sound effects and a jackhammer cutting style, but that just serves to underline...
