Day 191 - Batman Returns

Day 191          Batman Returns [1992]

                          

Screenplay                    Daniel Waters

Based on                       DC Comics Batman Characters created by Bob Kane

Director                         Tim Burton

Cinematography            Stefan Czapsky

Music                            Danny Elfman

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

Production                     Warner Bros.

IMDb                                7/10

Rotten Tomatoes               81%

I said I feel a marathon coming on but who has that sort of time on their hands? Well, me actually, but I’d rather do Lord of the Rings. Batman returns, and so do most of the cast and crew from Day 159. Keaton reprises his role from the first film and the Burton/Elfman duo once again put their magical minds together to create another dark and mysterious tale from the DC universe. This film centres around The Penguin, a psychopathic deformed man who lives in the sewers, abandoned when he was young, he grew up with the penguins at an abandoned zoo. With his gang of circus freaks he makes various attacks on Gotham and also manages to blackmail millionaire Max Shreck into helping him return to the surface world. Batman is called upon to save Gotham once again although he has more than just The Penguin to deal with as Catwoman sides with a creepy DeVito. It’s classic Burton. Unfortunately, that is not always a good thing. With Burton’s films one can guarantee wacky and wonderful characters, incredible hair and make-up, eerie set design and beautiful scores. However, plot and lines can be lost along the way and in this film, I feel that was the case. The Penguin was a weak villain, perhaps because a lot of his screen-time was taken up by the introduction of Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, as well as the big personality of Walken’s Shreck. In most Superhero movies we get a duality of good vs. evil. Batman vs. The Joker, The Avengers vs. Thanos, Spiderman vs. Green Goblin… are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head, but I hope you get my point. The duality helps strengthen plot and, although simple, is certainly effective. Keaton’s weak performance and the three strong villainous characters meant the whole thing felt crowded and confused. The poor box office results were blamed on the film being too dark, but I don’t think it was dark enough. One of The Penguin, Catwoman or Shreck being killed halfway through would have helped enormously. Walken and Pfeiffer were impressive – perhaps the only positive in a movie that the more I think about, the more I dislike it. Overall, the film is much like this review. It doesn’t flow well and isn’t particularly electrifying. I just wish Burton had been as critical of himself as I am of myself.

Acting                           2.5 / 4

Writing                             2 / 4

Cinematography            2.5 / 4

Music                               3 / 4

HWF rating                  2 / 4