#4 - Batman Returns (1992)
Batman Returns was released in 1992. Immediately following the immense success of Batman, Tim Burton was given the green light from Warner Bros. to go as insane as he wanted. He was given free range and less-than-no studio interference to produce whatever Batman film he wished to produce.
In his second portrayal of the dark knight, Michael Keaton does his usual phenomenal job of capturing the very yin-yang personalities of both Batman and Bruce Wayne. As Batman, he's very cunning and sinister while still remaining the hero. As Bruce Wayne, he's very boisterous and commanding but also still very timid and reserved. I won't get to it until we reach Batman, but let me just say that there's a reason why Michael Keaton is the master of portraying Batman.
Let's cover the villains, because this movie has three of them. First, there's the main villain; Oswald Cobblepot AKA The Penguin, played by Danny DeVito. The Penguin is an odd character in this movie. Aside from being a clone of Edward Scissorhands in a way, he's a very, very mixed bag. He's extremely fun to watch and commands the presence of the entire screen for his speech, but he's also kinda gross to look at. I'm sure that was their intention, but there's just something about him that seems off. While he's creative with his portrayal of the Batman mythos, Tim Burton sort of got carried away here. I can understand wanting to shock the people, but it got a little out of hand. In the film, the Penguin attacks (possibly eats) a cat as a child, he plots to kidnap and murder children by drowning them in a vat of toxic waste, he chews off the nose of somebody hired to help his mayoral campaign, chews food very vigorously with an open mouth, and spits a black liquid whenever he talks. While his dialogue is fantastic and his on-screen banter with several characters is insanely quotable, much of his physical appearance or his mannerisms for enacting social chaos are very wishy-washy and of an acquired taste not many Bat-fans have. When he's not being gross, he's one of the best characters in the Batman franchise.
Joining him is Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle AKA Catwoman. I take my hat off to Tim Burton. He really succeeded in nailing the Catwoman character. Even Catwoman's costume is on point, being a crudely-stapled together latex, full-body suit. Still, she does have her negative characteristics. Speaking purely from a parental standpoint, she does, at times, come off highly sexual. While Burton's two Batman films were made for adults as much for kids, you still have to remember that many more children are going to flock to the theater to catch a Batman movie than adults. She also speaks in like a constant-orgasm voice. Always stretching the vowels like she's having the time of her life. Plus she gets Burton-weird when she starts behaving like a cat, giving herself a tongue bath and rolling around in kitty litter. It's awesome, but not without being fuckin' strange as hell.
Finally, we come to the best villain in my opinion. Max Schreck, played by Christopher Walken. If the Penguin and Catwoman had any downfalls, Max Schreck more than makes up for them. Being a sideline villain, Walken does his usual shtick and steals the show. His goofy line delivery that only he can do carries over even to this film. There's a scene where Max pushes Selina out of a window and in that scene alone, Walken has three our four incredibly funny yet terrifying lines. Walken is able to portray this character as such, somebody who can be witty and unassuming while carrying nasty, sometimes deadly secret intentions. Max Schreck steals the scene no matter what's going on around him. Easily one of the best original Batman characters ever put on film.
Rounding out the background characters are Alfred and Commissioner Gordon, played by Michael Gough and Pat Hingle, respectively. While Michael Gough does another fine job as Alfred, Commissioner Gordon is kind of robbed as he's not in the movie very much. He's in it a lot less than in Batman, and it would only get worse as he's barely in Batman Forever, and then hardly ever seen in Batman & Robin.
A lot of people consider Batman Returns to be the black sheep of the Batman filmography. While I do personally enjoy the film and enjoy it more and more with each repeated viewing, this movie is far from perfect. The HUGE problem with Batman Returns can almost certainly be pointed at Tim Burton, himself. After Batman, Burton took a breather from Batfilms to direct and produce Edward Scissorhands, a movie about a sad misfit who's looking to fit in in an society that doesn't seem to accept him. Why am I telling you this? Because Batman Returns is essentially the exact same story, just with obvious changes. Batman Returns is a weird Batman movie. Aside from being overtly violent and off-putting as a whole and then sort of boring when nothing Batman-related is going on, it never really feels like a Batman movie. Why? Because it's Edward Scissorhands, just with DeVito's Penguin being Edward. That's right. Batman isn't even the main character in this movie. He may be marketed as the main character, but he's not. Penguin is the main character. Oswald Cobblepot gets the most story and the most character development. Bruce Wayne and Batman get the shaft to one of his villains. I know a similar argument can be made for Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight about how he's the bigger character, but Batman in that movie isn't fully given the shaft. Here, he is. He has almost nothing to do. He just mopes around his mansion until there's evil to be fought.
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| Michael Keaton as Batman |
Let's cover the villains, because this movie has three of them. First, there's the main villain; Oswald Cobblepot AKA The Penguin, played by Danny DeVito. The Penguin is an odd character in this movie. Aside from being a clone of Edward Scissorhands in a way, he's a very, very mixed bag. He's extremely fun to watch and commands the presence of the entire screen for his speech, but he's also kinda gross to look at. I'm sure that was their intention, but there's just something about him that seems off. While he's creative with his portrayal of the Batman mythos, Tim Burton sort of got carried away here. I can understand wanting to shock the people, but it got a little out of hand. In the film, the Penguin attacks (possibly eats) a cat as a child, he plots to kidnap and murder children by drowning them in a vat of toxic waste, he chews off the nose of somebody hired to help his mayoral campaign, chews food very vigorously with an open mouth, and spits a black liquid whenever he talks. While his dialogue is fantastic and his on-screen banter with several characters is insanely quotable, much of his physical appearance or his mannerisms for enacting social chaos are very wishy-washy and of an acquired taste not many Bat-fans have. When he's not being gross, he's one of the best characters in the Batman franchise.
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| Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman |
Joining him is Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle AKA Catwoman. I take my hat off to Tim Burton. He really succeeded in nailing the Catwoman character. Even Catwoman's costume is on point, being a crudely-stapled together latex, full-body suit. Still, she does have her negative characteristics. Speaking purely from a parental standpoint, she does, at times, come off highly sexual. While Burton's two Batman films were made for adults as much for kids, you still have to remember that many more children are going to flock to the theater to catch a Batman movie than adults. She also speaks in like a constant-orgasm voice. Always stretching the vowels like she's having the time of her life. Plus she gets Burton-weird when she starts behaving like a cat, giving herself a tongue bath and rolling around in kitty litter. It's awesome, but not without being fuckin' strange as hell.
Finally, we come to the best villain in my opinion. Max Schreck, played by Christopher Walken. If the Penguin and Catwoman had any downfalls, Max Schreck more than makes up for them. Being a sideline villain, Walken does his usual shtick and steals the show. His goofy line delivery that only he can do carries over even to this film. There's a scene where Max pushes Selina out of a window and in that scene alone, Walken has three our four incredibly funny yet terrifying lines. Walken is able to portray this character as such, somebody who can be witty and unassuming while carrying nasty, sometimes deadly secret intentions. Max Schreck steals the scene no matter what's going on around him. Easily one of the best original Batman characters ever put on film.
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| Danny DeVito as the Penguin |
Rounding out the background characters are Alfred and Commissioner Gordon, played by Michael Gough and Pat Hingle, respectively. While Michael Gough does another fine job as Alfred, Commissioner Gordon is kind of robbed as he's not in the movie very much. He's in it a lot less than in Batman, and it would only get worse as he's barely in Batman Forever, and then hardly ever seen in Batman & Robin.
A lot of people consider Batman Returns to be the black sheep of the Batman filmography. While I do personally enjoy the film and enjoy it more and more with each repeated viewing, this movie is far from perfect. The HUGE problem with Batman Returns can almost certainly be pointed at Tim Burton, himself. After Batman, Burton took a breather from Batfilms to direct and produce Edward Scissorhands, a movie about a sad misfit who's looking to fit in in an society that doesn't seem to accept him. Why am I telling you this? Because Batman Returns is essentially the exact same story, just with obvious changes. Batman Returns is a weird Batman movie. Aside from being overtly violent and off-putting as a whole and then sort of boring when nothing Batman-related is going on, it never really feels like a Batman movie. Why? Because it's Edward Scissorhands, just with DeVito's Penguin being Edward. That's right. Batman isn't even the main character in this movie. He may be marketed as the main character, but he's not. Penguin is the main character. Oswald Cobblepot gets the most story and the most character development. Bruce Wayne and Batman get the shaft to one of his villains. I know a similar argument can be made for Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight about how he's the bigger character, but Batman in that movie isn't fully given the shaft. Here, he is. He has almost nothing to do. He just mopes around his mansion until there's evil to be fought.
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| Christopher Walken as Max Schreck |
This all stems from the movie just being conceived to be too dark. I know that's weird given some of the graphic novels that exist and even some of the movies that are out now, but being only the second (or third) major Batman film released in theaters, it's pretty messed up. There are scenes of children being kidnapped with the intent to murder them, scenes depicting Penguin's neglectful parents, violent bloodshed at the hands of Catwoman, and Penguin bleeding profusely by the film's climax. Countless accounts of the film's screenings in 1992 have told of children crying their eyes out once the lights come up and parents yelling at theater staff being outraged at how tragic and unhappy the tone was for their kids. McDonald's even was forced to pull their Happy Meals promotion following a protest campaign by parents angry at the movie's nature. The movie sparked a major backlash and the studio was unwilling or unable to handle all of the negative reception it was getting, despite being a moderate box office success. This led to the decision to bar Tim Burton from having anything executive to do with future Batman films, effectively terminating his would-be directed film Batman 3. Warner Bros. would make the decision to correct for the negative reception of Batman Returns by ensuring that the next film would be far more kid friendly and marketable to all ages, hence how we got Batman Forever.
In my opinion, Batman Returns is okay. It's art direction is severely underrated and superb and the acting is truly a treat, but the story being recycled from Edward Scissorhands slapped with a Batman license, the grotesque nature of the violence and the tragic tone of the film's three main characters really does alienate a lot of people. In the end, it is in no means a "happy" film. The movie ends with the Penguin and Max Schreck dying, Selina disappearing (only to be teased at the end for a return in Batman 3 that never happens) and Bruce returns to the manor just as alone as he was in the beginning of the film. It is almost certainly depressing, really. Still, it carries the Batman moniker and because of that, it's got marquee value. It's action sequences are entertaining and Michael Keaton delivers his usual fine performance as the caped crusader, so it's still worth watching. Just don't expect to be really happy or overjoyed with the results.
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