Great movie

Rating: Null/10 (1 November 1999)

I love this movie, it's definately my favourite of the 4 live-action Batman movies. However, be advised that, like the other three, it's not really that true in spirit to the comic. For that you have to see the brilliant animated series and movies. But Returns is a lot of fun as a stand-alone movie; like the first it features a career-defining performance from one of the villains (Michelle Pfeiffer, amazingly intense as Catwoman) and a lot of gothic eye candy. This time, though, the dialogue is snappier, the humour is more sophisticated, and the characters (while cartoonish) are more interesting. The Penguin, here a grotesque monster who bears little resemblance to his comic book counterpart, is a bit of an acquired taste; I found him hilarious. There's a third villain, Max Shreck (which also happens to be the name of the actor who played Nosferatu--there's a hint for you), an evil industrialist played by Christopher Walken in one of my favourite performances from him. Some feel that 3 villains was too many, but I found them each very interesting. Oh yeah, and then there's Batman, Michael Keaton again. He plays second fiddle to the villains this time out (though he gets a few nice scenes with Pfeiffer). But personally I didn't mind. You'll notice Batman does a lot more fighting and stuntwork this time, that's because the batsuit was actually light enough not to hamper movement in this one. Finally, I'll mention Michael Gough, who plays Alfred--he's consistantly great in each of the movies, and this is his best, with lots of dry one-liners. As for the movie as a whole, it reminds me of one of those screwball farces from the 30s, like His Girl Friday (or, more recently, The Hudsucker Proxy) only conceived as a dark Burton fantasy and with action scenes. THere's LOTS of detail and throwaway lines in this, it rewards repeat viewings. Lots of fun for those of you with a somewhat off-kilter taste in movies, and requires you to lay aside expectations, but well worth it! 8.5/10 stars.