Tim Burton saw the news Batman movie by Matt Reeves, and had a pretty dramatic reaction to it. Batman is a cinematic baton, passed from one director to another, each infusing his own version superhero movie with their own twists.
First, there was the Adam West Batman movie of the 60s, which was known for its comic-accurate ‘Kerpow!’ and “Biff!” and for Wests rather unflattering patio door. The character was then revisited by goth master Tim Burton, who took on Batman and Batman Returns in the late 80s and early 90s, starring Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne. Director Joel Schuacher nailed it action movie series, and then Christopher Nolan rebooted the property and created perhaps the most famous – and successful – cinematic version of the Batman story.
Now, Batman returns once again. Matt Reeves, who previously worked on two of the new Planets of the Apes SCI-FI movies, teamed up with Robert Pattinson to create the latest cinematic iteration of Batman. His film was his darkest and grittiest yet, exploring the underbelly of Gotham with one thriller movie inspired twist.
Now, former Batman director Tim Burton has hit back at Reeves’ take on the superhero. Speaking at the recent Lumière Festival in Lyon (via IndieWire) director reflected on the film and shared some thoughts about it. Most notably, he said the dark action film makes him start “laughing and crying.”
Burton said: “What’s funny now is that people go, ‘What do you think of the new Batman?’ and I start laughing and crying because I’m back in a time capsule, where almost every day the studios said, “[my Batman movie was] very dark, it is very dark.’ Now [my Batman movie] it looks like light fuss.”
The director’s comments accurately reflect how expectations around superhero movies have changed and how the cinematic landscape more broadly has evolved. When Burton made his Batman movie, he was coming off the back of Adam West’s version, which was as “dark” as possible. So, understandably, the massive change in direction raised a few eyebrows.
But, arguably, Burton’s darker take on Batman completely paved the way for where we are now with Reeves’ version of the story. It showed that Batman could work as a darker story, and so we ended up in a place where a Batman movie is now expected to be dark and gritty. For more Batman movie fun, check out our picks guide Batman 2 villainsand who should face Pattinson’s ballot box crusader.
