A Strange Sort of Masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (12 September 2004)

I admit my comments on "Batman Returns" are probably biased because I have a strange sort of love for this movie, which I remember that Gene Siskel also had with "Saturday Night Fever." This was the first movie that I ever owned, and I grew up watching it. Batman was probably my favorite comic book hero when I was young, but I have never read Bob Kane. I completely understand why some Batman fans hate this movie, and it's probably the same reason why I dislike the Lord of the Rings trilogy. When you become familiar with someone's work and form your own interpretations, it becomes difficult to watch someone else change it.
But by imagining that this movie has no ties to the original comic book except through the superficial use of its characters, it's not difficult to see an odd sort of genius behind it's making. When Tim Burton created this eerily dark version of Gotham City, he was making an homage to "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," which no doubt has had a great influence on his work. Maybe it's true that comic book movies don't blend well with film-noir, but if any comic book had to be chosen to do so, it would be Batman.
I believe the reason why some people dislike this movie is because there's no character to identify with. In the first movie, we had Kim Basinger's character, who served as the movie's reality check, and we discovered Batman's world with her beside us. She is one of the heroes of the movie that we could identify with. However, the sequel has no one to guide us through. One of the qualities of film-noir is that there are no heroes, and that's certainly true in "Batman Returns."
The main characters in this movie are obviously insane and driven by their own selfish motivation: the Penguin with his self-loathing and desire to make others feel his pain, Catwoman with her intense hatred of her boss and wish to free herself from a male-dominated world, Batman on his continuous quest to take revenge for his parents on every criminal he meets, and Max Shreck in his cynical love of profiteering. The characters aren't fighting for world domination or any of the more grandiose plots we see in comic book movies but for satisfying their emotional needs.
There isn't a sense of morality or the incessant good vs. evil undercurrent that is so common in this type of a movie. The characters are caricatures of raw human emotions in collision, and it's interesting to note that the Penguin, Catwoman, and Batman don't even really hate each other. They fight only because they stand in each other's way, and as far as the acting goes, it's superbly under-appreciated.
Michelle Pfeifer and Danny DeVito give the best performances in their careers. Pfeifer discovered that even though her face is covered by a mask, her lips are all that she needs to convey the seductive malice in her character. DeVito absolutely disappears behind the Penguin in a role that is both disturbing and incredible to see. (Has any other comic book movie ever dared to create a character that takes pleasure in biting a man's nose off?)
All in all, the movie contains some brilliant cinematography by Stephan Czapsky, who also worked with Tim Burton on "Edward Scissorhands" and "Ed Wood." It's filled with strange sexual inhibition and a depressing outlook on the history and future of its characters, and so "Batman Returns" isn't a movie that will ever be liked or appreciated by a wide audience. But for those of us that do love the movie, we tacitly agree that it's the best comic book movie ever made, and we smile at all the "Spiderman 2" yuppies.