Batman | Full Movie | Movies Anywhere

The movie is underwritten, but it has so many unpredictable spins that what's missing doesn't seem to matter much. It's mean and anarchic and blissful.

Batman tries to span the uncharted area between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Blue Velvet, which is worthy of notice. That it fails may be because of Tim Burton's lack of narrative cohesion.

Batman, despite the disconcerting mood changes, remains a forceful, visually hypnotic movie with enough pulse-pounding action and seething tension to nail most audiences to their seats even if they feel cheated in the end.

There is real boldness and wild humor in Tim Burton's gloomy, sinister version of the ultimate in comic book noir. Burton is a former animator with so much genuine daftness and visual ingenuity that even a clunky corporate machine can't quell it.

It's halfway between an opera and a comic book, but it chooses the worst parts of each. It hasn't the comic book's antic rhythms, but it hasn't an opera's depth of passion.