Batman

Gotham City is the gloomy futurist vision of New York, defined by political brutalization and social neglect and ruled by the unscrupulous industrialist Carl Grissom (Jack Palance). One of his hitmen, Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson), is becoming too dangerous for him so he arranges a hit on him. Napier falls into a vat of bubbling acid and emerges after plastic surgery: With his mouth permanently contorted into a devilish rictus grin, the "Joker" embarks on a campaign of revenge and plots to become the ruler of Gotham City. In BATMAN(USA 1989), his first major production with a star-studded cast, Tim Burton paints an apocalyptic picture of society where the Dark Knight is alone in his fight for justice in a declining civilization. Burton's glum adaptation, whose set is reminiscent of both Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, draws heavily on the original comics by Bob Kane, which were published from 1939. (Hans-Joachim Fetzer)