"An embarrassing lack of juice"

Rating: 6/10 (13 December 2011)

There is a tendency for directors with a unique look began to dominate cinema more than ever in the 90s. Directors like Tim Burton have a kind of mainstream popularity and creative control only really enjoyed by Cecil B. DeMille and Alfred Hitchcock in the classic era. This meant that, after a certain point, whatever project Tim Burton took on, it looked like a Tim Burton movie. When he filmed Batman in 1989, it was very much a Batman flick, but when he returned for the sequel, armed with the commercial bankability and industry respect that the first picture had earned him, was far more able to twist the production to his own vision.
Burton was never outstanding at basic film-craft (otherwise he could be making dramas), but his substantial genius lies in his visual arts. Somewhat atypically for a director, he would have his production design team base everything on his own sketches. His instantly recognisable forms – a mix of Gothic nightmare and twee Americana – dominate Batman Returns. It's almost so much here that the sheer weirdness of it all overshadows the comic-book antics. There's also a lot of "clever business" too such as the point-of-view shot of the young Penguin looking out through the bars of his crib being mirrored by a point-of-view shot of his older self looking through the sewer grate. It is very Burton-esque to show things from the perspective of the villainous freak – and certainly very unusual for the mainstream.
As can be expected, the cast members are a suitably over-the-top bunch. Danny de Vito hams it up gloriously with humour and just a little pathos. Michelle Pfeiffer milks those terribly corny lines for all they are worth. Add Christopher Walken into the mix and it seems the writers were spread-betting when it came to throwing in traditional Batman villains. As a result poor old Michael Keaton in the title role is a bit lost, which is a pity because he was excellent in the 1989 predecessor. The most honourable mention goes to Michael Gough, reprising his role as Albert the butler. You have to admire his dryness when he Pfeiffer recommends he pen a dirty limerick for the occasion, and he informs her one has just sprung to mind.
Batman Returns is several notches below the earlier movie. It is simply too much of a collision between Burton's world and Batman's world, but there are a few things to be salvaged from the wreckage. For all its basic incoherence, the picture is filled with a wonderful dark humour and numerous silly ideas. Far from a classic, it is at least a good bit of fun, and of course it looks pretty good too.