Batman Returns

Batman Returns (1992)

Director:Tim Burton

Cast: Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Michael Murphy

Writers: Bob Kane (Batman characters), Daniel Waters, Sam Hamm

Synopsis:

The Caped Crusader (Keaton) is back and this time he's pitted against amoral billionaire Max Shrek (Walken), who devises a plan to run Gotham by partnering with the Penguin (DeVito), who he convinces to run for mayor. In addition, Batman must also stop the unstable Catwoman (Pfeiffer), who seeks revenge against Shrek for trying to kill her.

First Impressions:

 I saw this movie in the theaters when it was released back in 1992 and I remember enjoying it for the most part. However, while I found the movie entertaining, it didn't have near the impact on me as did Burton's first go-round with the Dark Knight. Since then I've only ever seen this movie a few times and only watched it once since I purchased it on DVD. As time has gone by, my opinion of this movie has dulled and prior to watching this time around, I viewed as a dumb, but enjoyable flick that couldn't hold a candle to the first film. Considering my disappointment after watching the first movie so many years after the fact, I didn't have high hopes in this case. 

Story/Direction:

"You don't really think you'll win, do you?"

Like its predecessor, this movie doesn't have the strongest story, though it's a little more focused that the previous iteration. This time the villains have clear, if not basic, motivations and they at least seem to have a purpose in what they're doing. That being said, I'm finding that, while I like Burton overall as a director, I think he was the wrong choice to direct these films. Burton's visual style certainly fits Batman's noir roots but his story telling style is a little too absurd for a character like this. Yes, I know its based on a comic book and (back then especially) people generally think comics are meant for kids but Batman is one of the more serious characters in the medium and I think Burton just didn't do the character justice and it all goes back to the source material.

Like I mentioned in my previous review, when adapting books onto film, one shouldn't expect a completely faithful adaptation, as there are some things that work in comics that just don't on film. However, to me, it just seemed like Burton treated the Batman mythos almost like a joke. Once again, he cherry picked aspects of the characters he liked and tossed the others, some of which were traits vital to the character's personality (like Batman's one rule). As an exercise, look at Richard Donner's two Superman outings. Yes, he changed a lot of things compared to the comic but Donner treated the characters with a lot of reverence and though they were different in some ways to their comic book counterparts, the essence of the characters stayed intact. That's my biggest gripe with these two movies and perhaps that's just the comic fan in me interfering with the movie fan but I think Burton just didn't give the source material enough credit here.

Acting:

Much like the first film, the cast is pretty great and there's not really any bad performances here. Keaton's portrayal of Bruce Wayne is relatively unchanged except that he toned down the awkwardness by about 15%, which I liked. The real standouts for me were DeVito's Penguin and Pfeiffer's Catwoman. DeVito's expertly made the character sympathetic and loathsome at the same time and added in a pinch of dark humor for good measure. Pfieffer, who did an amazing job transitioning from meek secretary to completely unhinged and everything in between. Despite my dislike of how the character was written, Pfeiffer did such a good job that, to me, she's the definitive Catwoman.

While there's no real bad performances in the movie, I'd have to say my least favorite performance was Walken's. I'll admit, I'm not a huge fan of his but he was just a bit too hammy for my taste here.

Visuals/Special Effects:

As with the first film, there isn't a ton of visual effects in this movie but what's there is pretty good. I have to say that the CGI, what little of it there is, was improved a bit from the previous movie, particularly when the Batmobile puts up its shields. The pyrotechnics are pretty solid overall and other than that, there isn't much else to say that I didn't say in my last review.

I will, however, touch again on the production design on this film. For all of my gripes with Burton's story telling in these films, I can't complain about how the film looks. Perhaps that's what bugs me so much about them is that I see the potential of what could have been pretty great. Gotham City is again a Gothic masterpiece and even though the film takes place in the early 90s, it could easily fit in with the old noir films of the 1930s and 40s.

The makeup effects are also, once again, top-notch. The Penguin looks like he was ripped from the pages of the comics (see above) and many of the freaks in his entourage also look suitably creepy (which I'm assuming is what Burton was going for).

Score/Music:

The film was scored once again by Danny Elfman and once again, he does a great job. Whatever I may think of these movies, their indelible mark on cinema will be that they gave us one of the greatest superhero theme in the history of movies. As a bonus, there weren't any Prince songs to bother me this time around, so...yay!

Action:

Just like my last review, I was pretty disappointed with the action in this movie, probably more so. The fight scenes were kind of lazy and poorly done, there was a half-assed car chase and that was about it. The big action finale involves Batman racing down a sewer tunnel in his...Batboat(?) and having Alfred remotely reprogram a bunch on penguins with missiles strapped to their backs, who then blow up penguin's lair...and that's it. Overall the action in the movie was pretty lame.

Final Verdict:

These last two films have been pretty hard on me. Up until now, I've either gotten what I expected from re-watching these movies or have been pleasantly surprised. But these two movies have been pretty disappointing and while I'm not sorry I purchased them or anything, they definitely haven't moved up the priority list of movies that I frequently watch.