Before the New Year I took a look back at Tim Burton’s generation defining Batman, the first in a new series of cinematic adventures for the dark knight detective.
There, we were introduced to Michael Keaton playing Batman to Jack Nicholson’s Joker and while I still love that movie for the joy it brought me as a kid, certain aspects of it didn’t age so well.
Now let’s revisit its sequel, Batman Returns, which presented movie-goers with a unique interpretation of the Burton-ized Penguin and Catwoman (and eventually led to an awful spin-off). A movie so uneven, that it managed to inspire McDonald’s Happy Meal toys while also giving kids nightmares.
It was so polarizing to audiences that Burton was not invited back to the director’s chair for a third go round, but it did leave us with a lasting impression and Christopher Walken in a crazy wig.
THE GOOD
The score! Oh man, from the opening scene, that now classic Batman march gets you right into the action. Of a deformed baby floating down a stream. But we’ll get into that later.
Seriously though, Danny Elfman’s score holds up all these years later and he did a terrific job giving Penguin and Catwoman their own distinct musical cues. The score gets stuck in your head in a good way and makes me want to go back and just listen to it on its own so I can appreciate it even more.
Michelle Pfeiffer, despite being a tad over-the-top in select scenes, remains my favorite Catwoman.
The Catwomen of the 60’s I put in their own category, but I’m more comparing her to her more contemporary successors. Anne Hathaway was fine in the role (although never referred to as Catwoman), but she didn’t really jump off the screen the way Pfeiffer does here. Not that its her fault, Burton spends a lot more time on the character than Nolan did.
Catwoman was so popular that a spin-off movie was in the works for years after, probably with Pfeiffer in mind to reprise the role but then eventually resulted in the Halle Berry fiasco which the less said, the better.
But despite a supernatural direction for the character, this is how the character should be portrayed and the suit looked pretty awesome as well. Despite the stuff this movie got wrong, this is a version of Catwoman I think most fans could get behind.
Michael Keaton returns as Batman, and while I dig his take on both Bats and Bruce Wayne, he doesn’t have much to do in this movie except just react to whatever is going on around him.
It’s pretty well understood that Burton was more interested in the freaks than Batman himself, but it’s way more apparent here than in the previous installment where he only had to compete with one villain origin as opposed to two. In fact, Batman receives so little screen time, they may as well have titled it, “The Bat, the Cat, and the Penguin” after the movie’s tagline.
Don’t get me wrong, some of my favorite Batman stories put emphasis on the villain while Batman co-stars, but unlike his relationship with Catwoman which felt more natural, Batman and Penguin felt like they were in two different movies. In fact Penguin has a LOT going on in this movie. It’s really the Penguin show for the majority of the time, which wouldn’t be so bad if I enjoyed this version of him better.
Danny DeVito seems like an inspired choice for the role, and I think he could have been perfect, but the way he’s written, it’s hard to swallow. He’s gross and deformed and all, I get that and can roll with it. But why is he portrayed as a sexual deviant who is perpetually horny around women? I kind of dread to think what would have happened had he gotten his flippers on the first born sons of Gotham the way things were headed. Seriously, it’s one filthy sexual innuendo after another with this guy. I get that he’s the “bad guy” but that’s taking it a bit far.
My point in going off on a tangent regarding the animated series (which I am prone to do) is that as per usual with these early Bat films, the cartoon version did it better. And all it took was for them to treat the characters with respect. I can’t respect this version of the Penguin as it relies more on makeup FX over pathos, which is what makes this character work.
Oh yeah, and Batman kills a guy with a smile on his face. What’s up with that?
THE BAT
Other than bringing both Catwoman and Penguin into the cinematic Bat-verse, there wasn’t much more that this movie alluded to in terms of Batman’s history. In fact, if there were Easter eggs of any kind, they went right over my head.
Harvey Dent who was established in the first one is a no show (poor Billy Dee Williams). Vicki Vale is mentioned in passing but also does not return (however there is a clever call back to Alfred letting her into the cave).
In addition to Michael Gough and Pat Hingle returning as Alfred and Commissioner Gordon respectively, they both have very little to do with Gordon’s role being reduced to only a couple lines of dialogue.
One thing they did get right was the romance between Bruce and Selina, which is the strongest love interest for him throughout the series.
In addition to the return of the Batmobile with size-reduction action for driving between narrow alleys, we also get the introduction of the Batboat, which makes about as brief of a cameo as the Batwing did in the previous movie to up the toy tie-ins.
Oh and speaking of the Batmobile, do they really expect us to buy that a bunch of clowns and a monkey (literally) are smart enough to hack Batman’s ride and then turn it into a remote controlled weapon for Penguin? No, just no. But apparently this plot idea was so good that they had to use it again for the animated series.
THE ROGUES
Some people might include Walken’s Max Shreck as another villain in the movie but I don’t as even though he’s a definitely a bad guy, he was made up for the movie and he’s not really a Batman villain.
Penguin and Catwoman up the villain quotient from one to two for the sequel which seems to have set the standard for the series going forward. Each of them has their backstories severely altered to suit Burton turning Oswald into a deformed “penguin man” and Selina into a supernatural cat lady with literally nine lives.
The fact that neither of these alternate versions caught on and really affected continuity long-term I think is pretty telling. Burton had his fun making them his own but what I’ve found is that hardcore Batman fans tend to look back on this movie unfavorably but Burton fans absolutely love it because it’s Burton at his weirdest and most unfiltered. The success of the first movie gave him a lot of creative license on this one and he definitely took the ball and ran with it.
THE CONCLUSION
It’s not my least favorite Bat movie but it’s not in my top 5 either. Given the choice, I wouldn’t wipe it from existence, but it wouldn’t be the first Batman movie I reach for.
As much flak as Burton got for the dark tone of this movie, it’s also very silly at times. I mean, the plot of Penguin running for mayor is ripped straight out of the Adam West show (what is it with the recycled Penguin stories?) and it’s not all that interesting to begin with. When you get down to it, the story doesn’t really flow or make much sense. Character motivations are all over the place and scenes just start and finish with very little tangentially stringing them together.
However, my biggest issue is that it’s a Tim Burton movie first, and a Batman movie second. It’s important for a director to put his stamp on a project and their style should come through on the final product, but not at the expense of being true to the source material. I know I’m getting all fanboy with that last sentence but believe me, I’m not opposed to a filmmaker coming in and putting their own spin on something.
However, in the case of Batman Returns, it comes across more as a vanity project than a translation of the comic book to screen from someone who has love and admiration for the character and his world.
As we know, Burton was not invited back for a third go round due to Warner Bros. not being happy with the final product. It’s impossible to know if this was for the best or not (I’ll revisit this after a repeat viewing of Batman Forever) but I can say that while there are a lot of things I would change about this movie to make it fit my vision for the Dark Knight, it’s certainly not boring.
There is some cool stuff going on at the surface and even though Gotham once again looks like a studio back lot with a population of 114 citizens, Burton lets his imagination go wild and so for that reason, it’s worth checking out at least once, if you’re a fan of his work. Just don’t go in expecting this movie to be your idea of Batman because you’ll likely end up disappointed.
