Good acting, bad plot

Rating: 5/10 (14 July 2005)

Following the success of 1989's 'Batman', Tim Burton and Michael Keaton released a second movie in the franchise: Batman Returns. Gotham City retains the Gothic look of the first film, only this time the city is in the midst of an icy winter punctuated by the arrival of two new villains on the scene: Catwoman and the Penguin.
As a kid I loved this movie and the original Tim Burton 'Batman' movie, however after re-watching it over a decade later it doesn't quite hold up as well as I wished it would have. Part of this reason is the fact that Batman seems almost external to this plot which revolves around Penguin (Danny DeVito), Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Gotham businessman Max Shreck (Christopher Walken). Batman (Michael Keaton) seems to only step in momentarily to throw a few punches before exiting back to Wayne Manor.
All four lead actors, especially Danny DeVito, deliver great performances in this movie, but it is a real shame that the scriptwriters chose to not continue the analysis into the Bruce Wayne/Batman psyche. Instead, we are left with a fairly routine 'bad guy trying to overthrow the city' story; the Penguin character was well developed, but the action scenes in the movie are nothing memorable. Another complaint is the lack of resolution that is given to the Penguin's attempts to turn Gotham city against Batman. Surely the mislead public would be angry at Batman for the crimes that they believe him to have committed, however the Bat-signal at the end of the film gives the impression that this is not the case.
On the positive side though, the movie has a great feel to it; from the visual appearance of the winter Gotham, through to Danny Elfman's musical score. You can't help but feel some of the special effects - computer and real-life - are a little outdated 13 years down the track though.
Overall, this childhood favourite of mine is worth a look and a film that I will revisit in the future, but upon reflection should have been better. I'm glad that the newly released 'Batman Begins' dives head first into the exploration of the Bruce Wayne/Batman characters that this film avoids.
2.5 stars / 5