Keaton has had a resurgence in the past decade, Burton not so much. But they made some magic together.
Between Beetlejuice and Batman Returns, Keaton was Burton's best collaborator, before he began making every movie with Johnny Depp. The second Keaton Batman film is one I remember vividly seeing in theaters when I was 10 years old.
It scared me a little, but it thrilled me a lot. It was a huge hit, but not huge enough for the studio's purposes and it's mixed reception from the public didn't help either. Today, the darker, weirder sequel is hailed by some as the best (I still prefer the 1989 film, but love this one too). It's clear that Burton was using the capital he'd earned on the first film (and other hits like Edward Scissorhands) to inject more of his own sensibility into the material.
The plan had been for the Keaton-Burton team to return for a third film, but then everything fell apart. It was supposed to be called Batman Continues, and it would have featured Billy Dee Williams as Two Face, Robin Williams as the villain (most likely the Riddler), Marlon Wayans (!) as Robin, and Rene Russo as the love interest.
Apparently it was the studio, Warner Brothers, who shut that promising production down. They made Burton a producer, and brought in the infamous Joel Schumacher to lighten up the series. Keaton balked, famously turning down a $15 million pay day.
Having watched Batman Forever recently, I can safely say Keaton made the right decision. While nowhere near the debacle that Batman & Robin was, the first Schumacher film is still a bit of a chaotic mess. It's visually fantastic but careens from one over the top set piece to the next relying more on Jim Carrey's hijinks instead of investing in character and story.
Anyone who has seen Batman or Batman Returns can easily give you the backstory of Nicholson's Joker, DeVito's Penquin and Pfeiffer's Catwoman. Can anyone put Tommy Lee Jones' Two Face into any kind of context? Jones, normally a great actor, does little but cackle in Batman Forever, he feels very out of place and joyless in the role.
Billy Dee Williams was famously robbed of that role (which he had contractually signed on for back in 1989). Clearly Billy Dee wasn't the draw Tommy Lee was at the time, but I still think he would have brought a more interesting energy to a version of this movie directed by Burton. Especially since he, I believe, has always played good guys and his smooth persona would be a striking contrast with Carrey or better yet Williams' manic energy.
Speaking of which, I love Jim Carrey (most of the time), don't get me wrong-- and he has some genuinely funny moments in Batman Forever -- but as the movie grinds on and as he fully becomes The Riddler, he's more annoying than anything else. Producers clearly saw how memorable Nicholson's catchphrases were and so they stuff Carrey full of them. At a certain point he starts sounding like a bunch of trailer lines strung together.
Williams, might have brought a similar energy, but he has demonstrated in serious roles like he ones he played in Insomnia and One Hour Photo that he was capable of creating genuine menace. There is never a moment where The Riddler feels remotely threatening or formidable, he's like a gnat that Batman has to swat away.
I'm also disappointed that Burton was deprived of a proper trilogy. I am sure he would have hung it up after one more, clearly he was interested in being unshackled from the requirements of adapting an intellectual property like Batman. But I would have liked to have seen his vision fully realized in the way that Christopher Nolan was able to with his Christian Bale films.
Of course, I still cling to fantasies of Burton or someone bringing Keaton back to the franchise to play the aging Batman from the comic book series. He's still fit, is a fan favorite and more or less the appropriate age for it.
Meanwhile, I hope people will stop grouping Burton's work with Schumacher's. Burton made films, Schumacher made products. And I wish I could return them for something better.
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