Batman (1989) was bad and helped me to appreciate just how great the Dark Knight trilogy was for comic book movies. The plot was simply uninteresting and the action was dull. I wasn't a fan of the production design either, too much goddamn smoke everywhere, plus the special effects and sound effects were just so bad. I'm not entirely sure what people mean when they say the movie's "dark". Sure, aesthetically it is, but the actual content isn't really that dark. I guess everybody was just comparing it to Adam West. Keaton seemed so mechanical as Batman, and barely seemed to have any personality at all as Bruce Wayne. As if to compensate though, everybody else's acting was so over-the-top; this wasn't even just Jack Nicholson (though how anybody can think he's better than Heath Ledger is beyond me), everybody's performances were overly theatrical and exaggerated. The whole movie just lacked subtlety. The musical cues and camera movements were all so obvious. Did you see that facial expression he made? Did you notice this was a dramatic moment?? Did you?! It's like a movie reenactment of a stage production of Batman.