Somber but Impulsive, Burton's Swan Song with the Bat is Certainly Unique... For Better or Worse

Rating: 5/10 (12 August 2019)

If Tim Burton was on a studio leash with 1989's Batman, he's been completely unchained for this one. The entire film drips with the director's influence, from the eerie set decorations (characteristic black and white stripes abound) and twisted fairy tale atmosphere to the oddball cameos (dig Pee-Wee Herman and his Big Adventure co-star Simone as the Penguin's parents) and hypnotic Danny Elfman score. Throw in a heavily-costumed Danny DeVito, overacting his heart out as a creepy, deformed, sewer-dwelling foil and Christopher Walken, doing his most wild-eyed, exaggerated Christopher Walken impression, and you've got... a mystifying ensemble, to say the least. Elsewhere, Michelle Pfeiffer turns in the film's most memorable performance as an unhinged secretary-turned-feline and leading man Michael Keaton once again plays a supporting role in his own movie, greatly troubled by all the unbridled insanity unfolding around him.
In many ways, Batman Returns goes out of its way to distance itself from its predecessor, while still trying to ape the bleak atmosphere and sheer quotability of the original. Those tricks don't work half as well this time, feeling more like a forced obligation than a natural eccentricity. Maybe the writing team lost its spark, or maybe DeVito, Pfeiffer and Keaton can't put as much sheen on a silly line as Jack Nicholson could. Whatever the cause, this one underperforms. Mesmerizing for all the weirdness, amusing for its litany of quirks, but a little too out-there and nonsensical for its own good.