Michael Keaton and Edward Norton
When we first see Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) in “Birdman,” the Hollywood star-turned-Broadway wannabe is meditating in his dressing room. He’s wearing tighty-whities, his back is to us, and he’s levitating cross-legged several feet above the floor.
That’s a fair summation of the movie too. “Birdman” — full title “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” for reasons that become sort of, kind of, all right, not really clear — is a jaw-dropping stylistic wow that spins, pirouettes, turns inside out, and miraculously stays aloft for two hours. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s previous movies (“Amores Perros,” “21 Grams, “Babel,” “Biutiful”) have been dazzlers, too, but weighed down with philosophical concerns that can turn pompous. “Birdman” finds Iñárritu in the mood for play, and with a mighty cast that fields every pitch he throws.