Visually stunning but political edge takes shine off entertainment

Rating: 6/10 (7 January 2009)

The Penguin (De Vito) steps into the role as Mayor of Gotham City and trouble ensues for Batman (Keaton) through the opinionated Catwoman.
In the sequel to Batman, Tim Burton returns to direct another visionary action fantasy that is interesting but poor when looking at modern Batman releases.
Has Tim Burton ever failed when delivering darkness to a tale? No. If you take a minute to recall the dark mind of Sweeney Todd or the musical mischief of Jack Skellington then you know just how dark the director's mind can be and with this picture you would expect to see more dark imagery and imagination, especially considering the amount in the first Batman and in the comic books. And such is the beautiful darkness that the opening scenes bring back memories of his other flicks, particularly Edward Scissorhands. As powerful and creative as Burton is once again (will the man ever let us down?) he is unable to do anything about a poorly scripted plot.
The bizarre opening looks as though it will be Burton magic again with Elfman's music juxtaposed with a floating basket in a dark river but what follows is a strange string of events involving a man's quest to find out who his parents were, a man hating cat loving woman and a ridiculous lack of superhero usage.
The Penguin, though visually brilliant, is an awkward segment of this narrative. This child in a man's body feels very misplaced in the political side of the world. Running for mayor, finding parents and blackmail is all too much and though De Vito was excellent in many turns, there is simply too much for the character at once to be considered remotely believable.
Catwoman on the other hand makes things interesting. Not only does Pfeiffer look the part she embodies the slowly suffocating soul of the protagonist. The strong opinionated woman is a fine addition to the film and is the highlight. Male viewers in particular will love her domineering actions and sequences.
The political ideologies are too risky and take the attention of the characters. Perhaps the film is trying to preach but with an unbalanced script with action and talking mismatched its hard to tell whether the film has a message or is there for entertainment.
This political edge takes the shine of the engaging action sequences and almost overshadows the action. Batman is even left out for the first half an hour because of the political debates which frankly, ruins it all together.