Great Performances but No Story

Rating: Null/10 (28 June 2012)

Batman Returns (1992)
** (out of 4)
Tim Burton's sequel finds Michael Keaton back as Bruce Wayne and his crime fighting alter ego Batman. This time out he must protect Gotham City from The Penguin (Danny DeVito) who is trying to fool people into electing him Mayor with the help of a crooked business man (Christopher Walken). Also, Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) plans to seek her revenge against the men who have done her wrong. BATMAN RETURNS, much like the previous film, is pretty to look at and it features some terrific supporting performances but like many Burton films I think it suffers from too much style and not nearly enough substance. For the life of me I can't understand why this story would get the green light and especially when you sit back, look at it and see how silly it is. The entire premise seemed to come from an ugly, deformed child being born and then its parents throwing it in the sewer. The second "story" comes from Pfeiffer's character being abused. I personally found both of these characters to be rather sad so it was hard to really root against them no matter what they were actually doing. Another problem is that both of them, along with the Walken character, are much more interesting than our hero. This was true in the first film and it happened again. It's so clear that Burton was in love with the villains that I think he pretty much forgot who the star of the picture was. The film is still worth viewing for the costume design, terrific sets and some pretty amazing cinematography. Of course, you've got some terrific performances from Keaton, Walken and especially DeVito and Pfeiffer.