Penguin an albatross

Rating: 3/10 (22 November 2001)

Batman II is a disappointment. Actually, a better word is gross. There is really not much more to say about Danny DeVito's Penguin, operating in sewers, grotesque and crunched in features. By contrast, Burgess Meredith was amusing, carried himself well -- actually, I think he was my favorite Batman TV villain, aside from Julie Newmar. DeVito is shorter, squatter, grosser, uglier. Apotheosis: biting the journalist's nose, just great. The storyline for his part was too complicated, the cinematography too dark and pompous. The only good thing at all was the attempt at the someone sympathetic look at him based on his origins, but this dies as the rest is just garbage (sometimes literally).
Michelle Pfeiffer partially redeems the movie as Catwoman, and her sympathetic storyline is thus enhanced some. In contrast to his role in the battle against the Penguin and company, in which he is almost a footnote, Batman (and Bruce Wayne) square off against Catwoman, a sympathetic, modern-woman villainess. Keaton, however, still seems not to quite measure up, overall presence, monotone or whatever. Thus, he was told, skip it next time.
Regardless of some good Catwoman moments, a so-so Batman and an abominable Penguin man have the overriding aura in this film. No ride into the sunset, or the moonlight, but into the abyss.