Return to Batman Returns

Rating: 7/10 (9 January 2008)

I always disliked this movie when I was younger. After watching it tonight, though, I learned to enjoy it again. I guess I just missed the comic relief of Nicholson's Joker - the obvious gags. So I was surprised to find myself laughing a lot during this sequel. Lots of bat, cat, and bird puns - real groaners, but hey, it's still funny. Another thing that bothered me was how quickly Selina Kyle was able to become Catwoman - a bad ass in skintight pleather who knows enough kung fu to challenge Batman in fisticuffs. Didn't bother me so much this time for some reason. And Batman was just letting her win The thing I realized was that it was written totally as a comic book. The first one, I feel, has its own sort of reality where people can still see their surroundings as ridiculous. It was a city of straight men surrounded by comic book clowns. In Batman Returns, everyone is in on the joke that is Gotham City. It feels less real, but more cohesive.
In case you don't remember, this is the movie that made it hip to inject twice as many villains into an action sequel, allegedly to achieve twice the action. Both The Penguin and Catwoman are getting' up in Batman's grill this time around, and everyone's stories intertwine. What I still find unique about this movie is how much it feels like an episode in a series of stories. Basically no re-introduction is given to Batman - everyone watching this movie knows who he is and why, so the only reason we know Bruce Wayne is Batman is from a quick scene of him looking mopey in a dark room, getting interrupted by a giant Bat Signal - so the beginning of the picture is more about the origins of The Penguin and Catwoman. The Penguin is the son of a high society couple (first shot of the movie belongs to Paul Reubens as his dad!) who is born in a sort of egg shape with flippers instead of fingers. So his parents toss him into the frigid waters of an abandoned zoo. And Catwoman starts out as a shy secretary, is nearly killed by her boss (a great Chris Walken), then something snaps in her mind and she becomes the person she always wanted to be. Or maybe she's just a little nuts.
Tim Burton directs with his usual (for the time) cartoony zeal, not hesitating to use special effects to paint his picture. Danny DeVito is very good as The Penguin and everyone else manages to not look like a jerk in a goofy costume, which is sometimes the highest possible praise for a movie like this. And Michael Keaton is always a pleasure to behold - one scene in a boardroom with Walken has him casually chuck some documents across the room for Walken's perusal. He does it totally off-the-cuff, proving that Bruce Wayne is not a typical stuck up "rich guy." Great moment, fleeting as it is. And in his corner, Walken catches those same documents perfectly, seemingly without blinking, proving he's totally capable of chewing up a guy like Bruce Wayne if he so desires. It's a good little scene. The whole movie was written with enough poppy dialogue and satire to transcend just a simple superhero action movie. There's all kinds of political and social overtones to the characters and situations. Under the huge Art Deco-Atlas-Shrugged-esquire statues throughout Gotham City, the flick plays like a morality tale of the common man vs. their corporate enslavers. Hell of a thing to do with the superhero genre. Good work, gang!