Best Batman

Rating: 10/10 (24 February 2004)

The best thing about Batman Returns is that, when you watch it, you manage to forget how much Joel Schumacher has destroyed the franchise. Batman Returns takes these famous characters and explores them deeply and disturbingly. What Burton started in Batman, he continues in this wildly stylistic sequel.
Though in terms of writing and acting, the greatest success is celebrated by the villains. In Catwoman, we see Michelle Pfeiffer transform from a twitchy, nervous, and undertrod secretary into a dark, confident psychopath. Pfeiffer's performance in Returns is one of the most unsung in the history of film. We see her degenerate from scene to scene, slowly losing control, until the breaking point at the climax.
Then there's the Penguin, bent on revenge against all the silver spooners who thrived where his parents abandoned him. His interaction with society can be easily compared to that of Edward Scissorhands. When they first recieve him, the city is thrilled at the novelty of his otherness, but they turn on him in an instant. The only difference is that the Penguin deserves it. In the end, he's abandoned once again, by the city, by his co-conspirators, and finally, by his avian minions themselves.
Batman Returns takes what could have easily just been another pop culture action film and turns it into a twisted reflection on some very disturbed characters. Gotham City, under the direction of Burton, remains dark and gothic, unstained by the neon and blacklights that Schumacher would later invade it with.
Returns is, and probably will always be, the last Batman movie to stay true to what Batman was truly about, a dark man, in a dark city, trying to find the light.