Batman Returns (1992) review

Batman Returns (1992)

Directed by: Tim Burton

Produced by: Denise Di Novi, Tim Burton

Screenplay by: Daniel Waters

Starring: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Michael Murphy

This year’s edition of “Is it a Christmas movie?” features such classic holiday tropes like child desertion, political corruption, murder, mental illness and biblical allegories…okay, the last one actually would fit under the Christmas umbrella, but you get what I’m saying. “Batman Returns” is not something you put on to give yourself the warm fuzzy feeling associated with the holiday; it’s pretty dark and depressing, even somewhat depraved and cynical, but still so cloaked in atmosphere and featuring such committed performances, it has a twisted nature that still works in its favor. The sequel to “Batman” brings back Tim Burton to the director’s chair and Michael Keaton as billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, who battles Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) and the Penguin (Danny DeVito), both of whom have conflicts with unscrupulous Gotham City industrialist Max Shreck (Christopher Walken). The story is cluttered and there’s almost no focus on Batman, but I can’t deny its aesthetic or character appeal.

During the Christmas season in Gotham, Shreck is abducted by the Red Triangle gang of former circus workers and taken to their leader the Penguin, whose birth name is Oswald Cobblepot, the son of two wealthy socialites who abandoned him in the sewers because of his malformed physical appearance. The Penguin blackmails Shreck—whose proposed power plant is opposed by the incumbent mayor (Michael Murphy)—into presenting him as a hero to Gotham’s citizens and getting him elected. Meanwhile, Shreck’s meek secretary Selina Kyle catches onto his duplicities, so he tries to kill her by pushing her out a window; but she survives and re-emerges as the more aggressive Catwoman. Her antics—both as Selina and her alter-ego—capture the attention of Batman, who investigates Oswald’s connection to the Red Triangle. As Bruce and Selina begin dating, Catwoman and the Penguin attempt to smear Batman’s image, while the former attempts to take her revenge on Shreck.

In my opinion, the majority of the film’s problems revolve around the Penguin; that’s not an indictment of Danny DeVito by any means, as he gives a really passionate and bombastic portrayal. But the story and script have no consistency with the character’s motivations. He’s presented like a tragic figure, an orphan rejected by society who has no place in the world, and is now resorting to any means to give himself purpose. It works in theory, but his actions are so cruel and downright monstrous, I don’t see how we’re supposed to sympathize with him. I still enjoy the performance, and the makeup and prosthetics are outstanding, but the drama could’ve been much more profound, and his plans really go needlessly off the rails in the third act. Despite getting less screen time, Shreck ends up as the true villain of the movie, a dirty business scoundrel who loves pulling strings and playing warring sides against each other so he comes out on top. In fact, I think he could’ve been written as even more of a double-crosser, like an evil Captain Renault from “Casablanca.” Of course, he’s named in honor of actor Max Schreck, who played Count Orlok in the German Expressionist horror classic “Nosferatu.” He’s played by Christopher Walken in one of his more uniquely disturbed roles, and that’s saying something.

I admit my knowledge of “Batman” media is still somewhat limited, but I consider Catwoman one of my favorite characters in the lore, and I think Michelle Pfeiffer’s depiction is the best in live-action. It’s difficult to play crazy in a realistic way, but she’s phenomenal in how she balances Selina’s timidness, fear, rage and unhingement, sometimes all in the same scene. One of my favorite moments is when she and Bruce are dancing at the masquerade ball; she’s crying that she doesn’t know what to do anymore, and as the camera pans behind Bruce’s head, now she’s giggling like a lunatic. That reminds me, Pfeiffer and Keaton have really good chemistry, and their interactions are sexy in a strange and even funny way. In the years before Marvel started oversaturating their humor with quippy one-liners, we see how comic book movies can insert moments that are funny but also kind of sick, like the Penguin doing puppetry with a dismembered hand, Batman smirking before a Red Triangle member gets blown up with a bomb, or Selina destroying her apartment after hearing an ironic message on her answering machine.

Much like the previous movie, Batman doesn’t appear too much, and I don’t think it works to its favor this time; in “Batman” it made sense because while the character is supposed to be secretive and in the shadows, he at least had a connective story arc with the villain, but he has no relation here with what Shreck, Catwoman or the Penguin are actually doing, and is merely the obstacle in their way. Too many scenes are devoted to political planning, forming alliances and just an overall aura of weirdness. On some level, however, I appreciate the latter because of how it allows Burton to essentially cut loose as a visual storyteller; apparently, his condition for returning was being given full creative control, and he really takes advantage of it. The color scheme, camera angles and special effects really create a grand Gothic environment, and that’s what drives the pace of the movie rather than focusing on a narrative; the story and tone don’t come together, and the climax has elements that are really tacked on, but you still feel the dimensions and desires of the characters, all surrounded by demented Yuletide cheer.

Oh that’s right, this is a Christmas movie review, right? In all honesty, if you’re ranking movies by how much it relates to the holiday, this is less proficient at doing the job than “Die Hard” but probably more than “Lethal Weapon.” But on the other hand, there is a certain dark, unsavory Christmas underbelly if you look hard enough; unwanted family members, melancholia, corporate greed, etc. Objectively, “Batman Returns” certainly has its flaws in the writing, specifically how it handles the storylines; but for what it gets right and how the cast and crew executes Burton’s vision, it’s commendable work. Just a few months after this came out, we saw the release of “Batman: The Animated Series” on Fox Kids, which took a lot of visual and story influence from the Burton films, and kicked off an era where the cartoon superhero shows for kids were smarter and more mature than the adult movies. This time period saw Burton at his most gleefully deranged, and I think it’s personified the most in this bat-shaped gift from Hell.

My rating: 8.5/10