The Complete Filmography of Jack Nicholson

Nowhere near as good as the original.

Even in the face of Christopher Nolan's truly awesome new Batman film franchise, Tim Burton's movie remains one of my favorite comic book films, and a great interpretation of Batman. Michael Keaton's Batman is second only to Christian Bale's, and Jack Nicholson makes a truly spectacular Joker. Love it!

Although this is a supremely silly movie, it does convey a pertinent moral message that resonates particularly loudly today. Specifically, it reminds me of the holy war (yes, I said holy war) raging between the Muslim forces of the East (the Martians) and the Judeo-Christian forces of the West (the humans). Like the Islamic extremists, the Martians are hellbent on laying their enemy to utter waste, and like we in North America and Europe, the lily-livered humans depicted in the film are liberal, overly tolerant, overly open-minded apologists who cannot comprehend the reasoning behind their enemy's hateful, destructive behavior, and continue to try to reason with them and to appeal to a better nature that simply isn't there. ("What purpose does this serve?!" Pierce Brosnan's intellectual character cries helplessly, as the Martians incinerate the entire US Congress.)

It isn't a good movie, but it carries a good moral message for our times. That message is: stop trying to relate to these fanatics as human beings, and wipe them the hell out already!

Good flick. I was kind of bothered, however, by the lack of sympathy and understanding Nicholson's character received from all the other characters. He has obsessive-compulsive disorder, and naturally this inhibits his ability to pursue a healthy, constructive social life. Yes, he could be a real prick at times, and no, his OCD should not be a catch-all excuse for inexcusable, offensive behavior, but nor can he be expected to function like a "normal" person. Healthy social interaction is extremely difficult for him, and that needs to be understood and accepted by anyone who would wish to be his friend.