Review
Beetlejuice fans had to wait 36 years for the release of the movie’s sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and for the most part, it was worth the wait. The film also marks the return of Michael Keaton to his best work, ing a mixed bag of movie roles over the past decade since his heartrending performance in the Oscar-winning true-story drama Spotlight. Of course, Keaton’s part in Spotlight couldn’t be more different from the role of Betelgeuse in Tim Burton’s classic franchise. Between them, however, these two performances illustrate the depth of his acting range.
Whereas Keaton appears in Beetlejuice and its sequel as a darkly-comic bio-exorcist with a wit as wicked as his intentions for Lydia Deetz, his character in Spotlight is earnest, tragic, and deadly serious. Walter «Robby» Robinson is a reporter for The Boston Globe heading up an investigation into the sexual abuse systematically carried out by Catholic priests in Massachusetts during the second half of the 20th century. Keaton plays the role sensitively, as a reporter profoundly committed to his work but with his own journalistic mistakes to account for.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Is Michael Keaton's Best Movie Since Spotlight In 2015
The 2 Movies Couldn’t Be More Different, But Keaton’s Performances In Both Are Fantastic
Spotlight deservedly won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2016, as its engrossing portrayal of how the American Catholic Church’s biggest sexual abuse scandal was uncovered is a masterclass in handling difficult subject matters with the care and attention to detail they warrant. The 2024 horror-comedy sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was never going to be up for major Oscar prizes, but nonetheless, it’s Michael Keaton’s best movie since 2015. It does justice to Tim Burton’s original 1988 cult classic, with Keaton on top form as he slips back into Betelgeuse’s ghoulish garb as though he’d never been away.
It’s impossible to tell that Keaton is almost double the age he was when he starred in Beetlejuice, as he revels in his character’s macabre sense of humor and fast-paced physical comedy as though he were a spring chicken still new to the acting game. His delivery of every Betelgeuse joke is timed and toned to perfection, just as it was in the first movie.
Despite the various weighty dramatic roles Keaton has played, particularly during the latter part of his career, it could well be that Betelgeuse is the one that he’ll be remembered for the most, and rightly so. The actor has brought to life a character that initially made little sense on paper, and turned him into an inimitable icon that only he could possibly play.
Between Spotlight & Beetlejuice, Michael Keaton's Movie Releases Were A Mixed Bag
He Gave 3 Great Performances, But Took At Least 4 Massive Missteps
It must be said, though, that between 2015 and 2024 Michael Keaton’s movie roles were distinctly hit-and-miss. He was excellent as the lead actor in Worth, a biopic about the celebrated lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, and as Ray Kroc in the 2016 historical drama about the creation of McDonald’s franchises. He also played one of the Spider-Man movie franchise’s best villains, Vulture, 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. In addition, he had a minor role in the political drama The Trial of the Chicago 7, a film which earned significant critical acclaim.
On the other hand, Keaton has made his fair share of missteps during the last decade, from substandard action thrillers The Protégé and American Assassin, to Disney’s disappointing live-action remake of Dumbo. Even his return as Batman in 2023 DCEU film The Flash fell short of expectations, which kept it from being the perfect tribute to Keaton’s previous outings as Batman in Tim Burton’s movies of the early 1990s that it had the potential to be.
It’s hard to see Michael Keaton recapturing the form that almost won him an Oscar for the 2014 dark comedy-drama Birdman, or helped Spotlight get its Best Picture gong. Still, it was great to see him back as Betelgeuse in Beetlejuice 2, and a continuation of the franchise along similar lines wouldn’t go amiss.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the sequel to the original Tim Burton classic that starred Michael Keaton and Wynona Rider in a horror-comedy that involved ghosts trying to scare off new homebuyers from taking their house. The sequel brings back Michael Keaton as the hilarious and sleazy ghost with selfish intentions, now joined by Jenna Ortega in a new role.
