Batman Returns...err...again...mores the pity.

Rating: 5/10 (3 January 2015)

So this is the second installment of Christopher Nolan's trilogy and it carries on the tradition of being too long, too gadget central, too many subplots and villains..and most damningly it's too hyped up and unable to deliver.
The special effect are what these films hang as much on as the acting l and they are indeed spectacular...Well most of them are spectacular...Well some...Well so many are not only plainly absurd but incomprehensible such as the 'wall of phones' whose sole reason to be considered as a good idea was likely because it would appear so impressive when finalised on screen - oh how wrong they were as it was a mess of fast paced blurry images further confused by rapid camera pans and fast zooms.
Some have disliked this more modern darker Batmam but i feel it works so much better considering the industrialist metropolis the films are supposed to take place in. It works well and is a major saving grace - so why they took the story out of its home turf for the first time for a scene didn't really make sense, nor did kt add anything other than a seeming pointless 'you cant escape me' scene.(hardly a new one for Batman!)
So eventually you have to mention Heath Ledgers Joker, who's entrance to the story is contradictory to what follows as he robs a bank before later on denigrating those who do such things for money (burning his own literally warehouse sized pile of loot in the process). He also makes a habit of killing his cohorts, yet oddly is never short of company when required for a job. Surely anyone worth hiring is also wise enough to avoid taking the job.
I find Ledger performance annoying, and at times bizarre. He supposedly spent 6 weeks alone in a hotel room perfecting the role? What on earth did he do in that time because it wasn't acting lessons. Supposedly he developed the characters idiosyncrasies and 'made them his own'. All I see is a whiney, lip licking fool with grandiose plans that really should not have a hope of succeeding even within the confines of movie land.
Yet succeed they do as obviously in Gotham city its easy to sneak in to hospitals, lay dozens of explosive charges in order to blow the place up room by room, and all while wondering around with a white painted face that no one ever questions. If you wish to avoid the surveillance state then Gotham's the place to live it seems as only Batman himself has any success monitoring and preventing crime whilst everyone else couldn't spot wrongdoing or spy on people even if the subject had a big scary clown smile, white face makeup, frizzy hair, purple suits, and a whole whost of other personal and social pointers to his myriad of psychological and sociological problems.
Fear not though as Joker is not alone.
TwoFace is a pointless addition to the plot and adds nothing. Maybe he could have been a worthy villain in the future but we now know that won't be happening.
Batman himself...well fine except that raspy signature voice is as annoying as Jokers wet lipped squeakiness.
Morgan Freeman, so often a stalwart of great films, was a nothing character. His drive and motivation of Batman's technical side was limp and he felt like he was running on flat batteries.
Pointless me going through an A-Z of all the film moments and character, good and bad, a I reckon most people will see this as either a Magnificent 10, or a Terrible 1 and many others will have listed a myriad of both positive and negative arguments in support or damnation of the film... So my final roundup is this.
Its not a terrible film, but its far from the classic some make out, and I suspect some fanboys will never downgrade a film from a 10 if based on their favourite comic.
I found too many faults and was too irritated to care about some characters including primary ones. Also far too long and I failed to react to any last second twist of big bang finale thus most definitely not leave me hanging on for more.
5/10...wanted more but in less time. Alas it didn't arrive even when running late in to the night.