It’s a three-way creature feature
showdown between the bat, the cat and the ugly, in Tim Burton's 1992 squeal “Batman Returns”. This was the very
first direct movie sequel in the Batman franchise, and it’s a rather polarizing
film to say the least. Initially it was heavily criticized by both fans and critics
alike, but over the years it’s been reevaluated, grew a steady fan base and has
sense been labeled as a classic in its own right. There’s some who’ve even
described “Batman Returns” as the
best superhero movie of the 90’s. Personally, I’d describe this film best as a perfectly good superhero film with some memorable highlights spread throughout. Back
when I was a little kid in the 90’s, this was my least favorite of the four
initial Batman films, and while I certainly don’t hate this film as an adult,
it’s just never grown on me as anything special. Still, it’s not without some
merit, but has it really deserved the renewed praise it’s gotten over the
years, or is it still a lesser Batman film?
The movie begins with a flashback set 33 years ago during Gotham’s
holiday season. A rich family has just given birth to a son, but he was born
with odd deformities, and is quite vicious as it actually made a meal of their
family cat. One cold December night, the parents took him out to the park and
abandoned their monster baby in the sewers. We then segue into
our opening credit sequence in which we follow the baby carriage floating
through Gotham’s elaborately designed underground sewer channels. It’s
certainly not the best opening credit sequences of the series, but it is still
something to savor as it’s the last time we’ll get a title opening matched to
Danny Elfman’s iconic Batman score.
In present day, rumors of a mysterious
Penguin-man beneath the sewers are spreading, all while a different bread of
monster is hatching a scheme against Gotham city. It’s here we meet the sinister
business tycoon named Max Shreck, who’s proposing the construction of an
industrial power plant that will supposedly grant the city safe renewable
energy, but in reality, it will be draining Gotham of its power supply and
putting them in Shreck’s private stock holdings. Soon, the alleged Penguin man
of the sewers emerges, knowing full well of Shreck’s dark secrets. Thus, he
blackmails the tycoon in an effort to gain public affection, while secretly
scheming his own plan to take vengeance on the city by targeting all the first-born
sons of Gotham. Meanwhile, another wild card is added into the mix when the
mysterious Cat-Woman arrives on the scene, who’s venting out her own issues
with the city, and more specifically the people in it who she blames for
ruining her former life.
Right off the bat, my biggest issue with this film is that all plot,
story and character development is given to these three mediocre villain plots,
while our hero feels more like a supporting character in his own movie. Michael
Keaton returns to play Batman for one last outing, and he still kills it in the
role. Unfortunately, like I said, he is given very little to do, and to further
prove my point, neither Bruce Wayne or Batman gets a single line of dialog until
about 36 minutes in. No joke, despite being physically present, 36 minutes is
how long it takes before our hero speaks a single line in this movie, and
that’s not a good thing.
Truthfully, he’s absent for so much of this film that
whenever he does appear it’s like … “Oh yeah, this is a Batman movie, and I actually
forgot he was in here”. I honestly think that this portrayal of the hero is the
most underutilized great character in the history of cinema. I will say that the scene with Bruce Wayne standing up in his office with the Bat-signal illuminated in the background is one of his shining moments. Still our hero's only real
character arc is a relationship with Cat-Woman, and her alter ego, which
actually had some potential. The two could relate to living with split lives,
and they even shared an engaging chemistry on screen, but I just don’t think it
was developed enough, especially when their story is sidelined in favor of
everyone else’s character arcs. It was bad enough in the first film when Jack Nicholson’s
Joker hijacked the movie from Batman, but at least I felt our hero was still
actively involved in the story. This film is very focused on the individual
scheming’s of our three villains, whether it’s the Penguins public deception, Max Shreck using the Penguin as a puppet in his political campaign or Cat-Woman
venting out her issues. Needless to say, all three of their plans are very
boring, and the narrative just feels jumbled.
I will say that of our three villains, it’s Michelle Pfeiffer as
Cat-Woman who stands out as the most awesome thing the film has to offer. Michelle
Pfeiffer is just on fire in the role, her costume is great, her screen presence
is captivating, and even though her back story is different from the source
material, this is easily the presentation that made Cat-Woman a fan favorite
for a new generation of viewers. She begins as this really pathetic woman, but then
goes through quiet the transformation after she’s murdered by the sinister Max Shreck. Now it’s never clearly explained, but through the power of cats crawling
all over her dead body and chewing on her fingers, she suddenly comes back to
life as a supernatural Cat-person who’s actually blessed with the gift of nine
additional lives. Again, there’s no real context as to how this actually came
to be, but I’ve always liked the idea of her being a literal Cat-person, and
this is just that kind of world where anything can happen. She’s also one of the few villains to actually engage our hero in battle,
and she proves to be quiet the bad ass with a whip. Seriously, the fights
between Batman and Cat-Woman are some of the best the series has to offer,
especially their first fight on the rooftop.
The next villain unfortunately ranks very low for me on the theatrical
Batman villain totem pole. In my opinion, the evil business tycoon Max Shreck
should have just been removed completely from this film. Seriously, between
Cat-Woman and the Penguin, why is this the guy with the big evil plans against
Gotham city? His motivations to build his powerplant are also very boring, and
whenever this plot line comes up, I always tune out of the film until the next
entertaining set-piece takes shape. This was actually a character created for
the movie, as he wasn’t initially part of the Batman lore. This makes it all
the more irritating when he takes screen time away from the other classic villains, and even Batman himself. I will say that it's exciting to see Bruce Wayne battling
a villain in the business world, but the rivalry between the two unfortunately never
amounts to anything truly engaging. The one saving grace to this character is
that he’s played by Christopher Walken, and to his credit, he’s excellent in
the role. He’s naturally creepy just by whispering to people in that monotone
voice, or by looking at characters with that blank, empty stare of his. He also has all the Christopher Walken quirks that make him an enjoyable screen presence. It
doesn’t quite redeem this pointless character, but it’s just enough to save him
from being completely useless.
Rounding up the cast is the main antagonist of the movie, the Penguin, played by Danny DeVito. Before I get into my issues with this character,
let me just say that from a casting point of view, Danny DeVito as the Penguin
is one of the all-time greatest that the superhero genera has to offer. He fits
the role like a glove, and really turned out one of the most memorable Batman
villain performances in the series. That’s not to say his delivery is always
subtle, as he certainly has his hammy moments, but he really nails both the
menace and even the pathos of this character.
For us kids in the 90’s, the
Penguin was the stuff of nightmares, and I'll never forget that moment when he bights the guys nose off. Also, Rick Backers makeup design for the Penguin
features were outstanding, and received an Oscar nomination at the Academy Awards, but lost to "Bram Stokers Dracula". Unfortunately, with all that said, I also feel that he's bounded by an uneven script. Half the time he's ruthless and unsympathetic in his plans to kidnap people, frame Batman, and murder children, but other times we're apparently supposed to feel sympathy for him, and the two just don't mix well. I personally would have liked the
Penguin more if he was just a sad and
confused misfit trying to find his place in the world, but unfortunately, he's just a little too evil, clearly enjoys his wickedness, and thus, it's impossible to feel bad for him. So, in other words, what could have been an
interesting, even complex character gets reduced to being another typical bad
guy for Batman to beat.
While it can be debated which is the darkest Batman movie, this film without question is the melancholiest, as it’s brooding
and violent nature really gets carried away with itself, and half the time it’s
just plain joyless to watch. Seeing this movie as a little 1st grader
was simply one of the most frightening, unsettling and depressing experiences I
ever had.
In general, I prefer my Batman movies to be dark, and edgy ... yet, while this film succeeds as a haunting
spectacle, there’s just something off-putting about the way this film handles
its darker moments. I feel it gets just a little too carried away with random
“shock-value”, and forgot to give any meaning or depth to certain horrific
events. Take for example the scene when the Penguin kidnaps the Ice Princess
and pushes her off the tall building in order to frame Batman for her death.
This was actually a compelling idea that for once Batman just couldn’t rescue
the kidnapped girl in time, but the scene itself was just poorly handled. There
is no reason why Batman couldn’t have leapt off that building to rescue her, or
used a grappling hook to catch her, especially sense we’ve seen him use both
tactics to rescue a girl in a previous film. Also, not even five minutes later
we see Batman gliding through the sky with wings, which makes it all the more
stupid that he didn’t swoop down to catch her, or at least make an attempt.
Worst of all is that this sudden death scene has absolutely no bearing on our
hero, she just plummets to her death, and Batman never once shows any sympathy
for this, he just continues on like it was no big deal.
Now, let’s single out the film's visionary director Tim Burton and how his
style stands apart from the other films. Naturally he directed the first 1989 “Batman”, and returned for this sequel, but this time was given the approval to do whatever he wanted. As you’d expect,
it has Burton’s stamp of an artistic look and Gothic tone. The style and design
of this film is amazing, as every shot has some kind of fascinating set piece,
elaborate locations and if you look closely, there are several stone faces
carved into the backgrounds of several shots. One of my favorite scenes is when
we first see the abandoned zoo where the Penguin lives.
Another thing that got carried away in this film were all the sexual innuendos.
Now the sexual tension between Batman and Cat-Woman is fine, but there’s no excuse
for making the Penguin some kind of sexual predator in this film. All the
sexual puns would sadly become a very annoying trend throughout the series
until “Batman Begins” put an end to
that. Now unlike latter installments, this film makes subtle references to the
previous movie, especially in the context of Batman’s first love Vicky Vail.
Another fun little detail is that during the opening we see that Paul Reubens is playing the Penguins dad, and he's the same talent who played Pee-Wee Herman in Tim Burton’s “Pee-Wee’s
Big Adventure” ... that’s a cool touch.
Speaking of that opening, I absolutely love the quire music that starts when
the parents head to the park. Danny Elfman returned
to compose the score for this film, and he not only brings back the music from
its predecessor, he also gives us more. I'd actually go so far as to say that
this is one of the best instrumental soundtracks in the Batman line up.
Despite referring to “Batman Returns” as dark and brooding, this film also
gets very goofy and cartoony. In-fact the cartoony nature of the action scenes in
this film would set the stage for the silly battles seen in later films like “Batman & Robin”. In this film, our hero spends a
lot of time battling a group of circus freaks called The Red
Triangle Gang, and as a result, the film goes a bit overboard with its goofy
circus presentation. We have bobble headed skeletons on motorcycles, jugglers
on stilts that don’t seem to do anything useful other than stand in the
background and juggle. Also, seeing the Penguin drive his giant rubber duck-mobile is both silly and kind of iconic.
We do at least get more wide-spread destruction and mayhem
over the previous film. I’ll also give Tim Burton some credit because directing
action scenes has never been one of his strengths, but he really gave it his
best shot with the battle sequences in this film. He also manages to incorporate
some memorable visuals into the fight scenes, like when Batman is gliding
through the sky on his wings while all the real bats are swarming on the crowds
beneath him. I especially love the three-way creature feature showdown when Batman,
Penguin and Cat-Woman all meet for the first time in Gotham’s streets, leading
to Cat-Woman’s famous line and a building explodes behind her. My favorite
scene by far is the car chase in which our hero finds himself pursued by the
cops for once, and to make matters worse, the Bat-mobile has been taken over by
the Penguin. Aside from all the vehicle destruction and car pile-up’s, this is
my favorite scene because for the first time in these films, I felt that Batman
was actually being challenged by something. There’s even a great moment where the
situation gets so intense that for a split second we see Batman drop-out of
character, and the all too human Bruce Wayne personality is on display under the
mask.
At last, we come to the big finale of the picture, which for me is at opposite ends with its predecessor. The climax of the first “Batman”
movie from 1989 was very simple, but still felt very epic and awesome. "Batman Returns" by contrast has far more spectacle and explosions on display for its climax, but it just doesn’t feel as grand or exciting. Once the Penguin fails to kidnap all the first sons
of Gotham, he moves onto phase two, which is easily the goofiest threat to ever
be unleashed on the city. Where some villains attack Gotham with toxic gas or a
giant Freezing gun, this guy unleashes an army of cute little penguins in
battle suits and rockets strapped to their backs. It’s the most surreal finale a
superhero film could possibly have.
The final showdown between Batman and
Penguin is nothing special either, as the Penguin just doesn’t make for an
exciting foe for our hero to battle. Although, I do like the banter, especially
when Penguin says to Batman “Your just jellies because I’m a genuine freak, while you have to wear a mask”. Things do get really good once Cat-Woman
emerges on the scene. I love when Batman tries winning her over, and he even
goes so far as to rip off his mask in front of her. It’s great stuff, but also
very tragic as Cat-Woman is too far gone to reform. We then get two of the
franchise's best villain deaths right back-to-back with each other. I may not
care for Max Shreck as a villain, but his death is as epic as they get. Cat-woman basically takes
her revenge by electrocuting him, but he doesn't just get shocked, Max Shreck gets absolutely nuked in this big electrical explosion, and is reduced to a grilled corps
… it's awesome. The Penguins death follows next, and this is a very quiet,
somber death that’s beautifully shot, and always left an impression.
I know I’ve given this movie a lot of guff, but it really isn’t
terrible. It’s watchable, and has it’s highlights that any Batman fan can
appreciate. “Batman Returns”
certainly has its faults, it can get overly dark, down beat, and even boring at
times, the hero isn't given as much attention as he should, and the villain plots aren’t very interesting. However, this is still a very
unique entry that can’t be confused with any other installment in the series,
and that helps it stand out. I’d only be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy this film on
some level, and there are select merits about the film that I absolutely love.
The art direction is outstanding, it’s a haunting spectacle to behold, and while
I have issues with the characters, the cast is still excellent all around. So,
for all its highs and lows, “Batman
Returns” is a film I can watch and enjoy ... even if it doesn't rank as high on my personal "Batman" totem pole.
Thanks for reading my review of the 1992 comic-book sequel “Batman Returns” ... and continue to enjoy the movies you love.
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