"Batman" meets the dark genere of film noir. But is that good?

Rating: Null/10 (4 June 1999)

I saw the first film, and liked it very much. The hero won, the bad guy was killed, and all was right with the world. Although the set pieces and the matte paintings were very dark, "Batman" still saw the light of day. There was a feeling of happiness, excitement, and euphoria in the first film. That all changed and disappeared without a trace with the release of the sequel, "Batman Returns". This isn't just the darkest film of the "Batman" series. To me, it's one of the darkest and nastiest films ever made. Maybe that's because it was so different compared to it's predecessor. However, nothing good or even slightly euphoric came out of this film whatsoever! It's not a bad film, just a depressing one. Everything that could possibly go wrong or bad happens in this film, because the characters and villains in the film simply choose to destroy themselves and the world as we know it. That is the usual premise for film noir, but "Batman" is(at least I think so) not film noir! As for the characters, they have gone from being potent and evil to just plain vile and disgusting. The Penguin reminds me of Mr. Cresote from "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life", because he's just an ugly, slobbering, and unsympathetic pig. He was raised by Penguins too, which adds to more of the realism(that is, next to none). Catwoman is sexy, but insane in the absolute extreme. It's bizarre that after she fell out of a window, a horde of cats managed to lick her back to life. And how is it that she can survive death because of her 9 lives? It's really weird and twisted! Christopher Walken didn't frighten me, even though he's supposed to, in the role of Max Shreck. He looks like, well, a Tim Burton creation. Everyone is this film is twisted up, minus Batman and Alfred, who unfortunately, have little or no screen time or effects on the other characters. To add to even more surrealism and insanity, this Gotham City looks more like Tim Burton's world. It looked almost(if not exactly) like the world of "The Nightmare Before Christmas". It's not bad, but it's wrong for Batman. At least the first film had skyscrapers that were a little more believable. Don't think that you will come out of this movie feeling happy or glad you spent you time and money on it. It's a vicious and crazy movie about twisted people who, despite Batman's heroic intervention, eventually self destruct physically and psychologically. It's a powerful story, yes, and it does make sense. But if Tim Burton wanted to tell it, why did he use Batman as his storyteller? That is what I think, made the film fall. He had all the characters of the old series, but he had a different story. As a net result, the finished product was incoherent and mean. It's interesting, and worth watching(maybe once). But if it makes you feel depressed and beat, don't say I didn't warn you.