10 Famous Movies That Ruined The Reputations Of Classic Films
7. The Dark Knight Makes Tim Burton's Batman Look Camp
Marvel are now the superhero kings of the cinema, but before the triple-whammy of Blade-X-Men-Spider-Man brought the genre to box office dominance it was D.C. who were leading the charge. Ish.
Their attempts to make their biggest heroes into movie properties following the general trajectory of most movies series - great start followed by slowly decreasing budget, quality and reception - but for the time that was pretty admirable. By the late-eighties Superman had been and gone, so the company moved onto Batman, producing a film that not only captivated audiences, but shaped how films would be marketed/merchandised to this day.
But for all the waves it made at the time, two things have stopped Tim Burton's Batman ageing well. One is the effects - they aim high, but are unable to stand up against the computer revolution that hit a few years later. The other is Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. These two films have more in common than just the villain, with similar subplots and set pieces, which serves to make the very of-its-time Batman feel like a campy version of Nolan's realistic take on the hero.
The sequel, Batman Returns, holds up much stronger than Batman. The intervening three years certainly led to improved visuals and Burton seemed to know the limits of what he was doing. Could it also be helped by not having a direct Nolan parallel?