Batman Returns
Tags: dark, fantasy, gothic, mystery, cult, violence, good versus evil, insanity, action, satire, comic, tragedy, revenge

Plot synopsis:
Wealthy new parents Tucker and Esther Cobblepot (Paul Reubens and Diane Salinger) are burdened with a deformed and violent infant son. One snowy night, they dispose of him by tossing him, concealed in a basket, into a stream. The basket floats down through Gotham City's sewers and eventually arrives at the underground penguin habitat at the Gotham City Zoo, which had been out of business for some time.33 years later, Gotham is preparing festivities for the Christmas season. Max Shreck (Christopher Walken), the corrupt owner of a company whose factories emit a dangerous amount of toxic waste, is nonetheless a celebrated local figurehead. Shreck joins the Mayor (Michael Murphy) at a city gathering to make a short speech, but a gang of grotesque circus performers descends upon the crowd. They attempt to kidnap Shreck, but the sudden arrival of Gotham's trusted hero Batman (Michael Keaton) sends them scurrying away.Soon afterward, the circus gang manages to capture Shreck when he is alone in a dark alley. They take him through the sewers to the lair of their leader, the mysterious Penguin (Danny DeVito), who is the hideous Cobblepot child now spending his adulthood in the abandoned zoo where his basket had landed so many years before. The Penguin attempts to blackmail Shreck by threatening to expose his underhanded business dealings to the citizens of Gotham. Having no knowledge of his past life or true identity, Penguin sees Shreck as a potential vehicle for a chance to live on the surface and be accepted by others, thus giving him the freedom to track down his family. Shreck reluctantly agrees to work with the Penguin.Shreck's awkward and overworked secretary, Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer), lives a lonely single life in a small apartment, with her only regular company being an alley cat who comes through the window every night for a saucer of milk. While working after-hours in the office, she accidentally stumbles across proof of Shreck's crooked business schemes. Shreck arrives and, despite Selina posing no blackmailing threat, attempts to kill her by pushing her out the window. She falls several stories into the alley below, but is strangely resurrected when a swarm of stray cats surrounds her. In a daze, she returns home and trashes her apartment. She makes a skin-tight black catsuit from an old jacket and attaches metal claws to her fingertips, thus reinventing herself as "Catwoman."Meanwhile, the Penguin prepares to make his entrance into society. During a press conference, a circus gang member appears and snatches the Mayor's infant son from his mother's arms. After the gang member disappears down a manhole, the Penguin rises to the surface holding the unharmed baby. The setup turns the Penguin into a local hero, and he wins the respect of citizens and city officials alike. Shreck still acts as the Penguin's main adviser, and grants him access to the Hall of Records to search for information about his birth parents. The Penguin rifles through piles of birth certificates and composes a long list of names. He then ventures to a cemetery, flanked by reporters, and lays a flower on the grave of Tucker and Esther Cobblepot. He reveals that his birth-name is Oswald. The Penguin becomes a news sensation and a respected celebrity. Only Bruce Wayne (Batman) is suspicious, believing there is more to the Penguin's motives. With the help of his trusted butler Alfred (Michael Gough), Bruce investigates the Penguin's background and discovers that he had once been a member of a freak show in the Red Triangle Circus Group. On several locations at which the circus stopped for shows, children had mysteriously gone missing.Taking the Penguin's respectability a step further, Shreck plans to have the current mayor impeached and replaced with "Oswald Cobblepot." Though the Penguin does not take kindly to image consultants, he relishes his rise to power. The circus gang uses setups to convince the public that the current mayor is unfit for office, resulting in even more support for the Penguin.Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle had met, in their usual identities, during a meeting with Shreck. There is a mutual attraction, but neither expects the other of leading a double life. At night, as their alter egos, they encounter each other after Catwoman blows up a Shreck department store. They eventually have a violent fight, ending in Catwoman being thrown off a tall building into a truck full of kitty litter.Selina, as Catwoman, meets with the Penguin in an attempt to use his political power to get revenge on Batman. The Penguin agrees, clearly harboring intense lust for Catwoman, and they concoct a plan to frame Batman as a villain and turn all of Gotham against him.The plan unfolds on the night of the ceremonial Christmas tree lighting in the city square. A beauty queen known as the "Ice Princess" is in her dressing room, preparing for her duty of pushing the button to light the tree. The Penguin confronts her, posing as a talent scout, before injuring her with a bat-shaped throwing knife and kidnapping her. Bruce Wayne, meanwhile, had invited Selina Kyle to his mansion for dinner that evening. Their romance intensifies, but when they see the news of the Ice Princess kidnapping on TV they hastily make excuses to leave. Batman hunts for the missing woman, finding her alive and bound in a tall building overlooking the town square. Before he can release her, Catwoman appears and drags the girl to the edge of the building. The Penguin, out of sight, releases several bats that fly frantically around the girl's head, causing her to lose her balance and fall, but giving the impression that Batman, visible to the crowd below, had pushed her. She lands on the tree switch, lighting it up and unleashing a flurry of bats that the Penguin had hidden within the branches. Batman attempts to flee in his famous Batmobile, but the Penguin had placed a control device under the car that let he himself steer it from an arcade-style car hidden in a trailer. Batman, helpless, is trapped behind the wheel of the Batmobile as it veers through the streets, knocking over city property and frightening citizens. Batman manages to remove the control device before anyone is killed, and returns home.Though satisfied with the sullying of Batman's reputation, Catwoman becomes an enemy of the Penguin's by refusing his sexual advances. He hooks her on one of his many trick umbrellas, which becomes a propeller that hoists her above the city and drops her through a greenhouse roof. She survives death yet again, as she acquired nine lives upon her transformation.The next day, the penguin holds a press conference, deriding the mayor for not providing sufficient protection against the allegedly dangerous Batman. Bruce Wayne and Alfred, however, manage to undo the Penguin's sterling reputation by playing through loudspeakers a recording of a recent anti-Gotham rant that the Penguin had delivered to Batman. The crowd turns on the Penguin and he escapes to the sewers once more. Furious, the Penguin denounces any ties to humanity and reveals to his gang his true reason for visiting the Hall of Records: to collect the names of all the wealthy first-born sons in the city, which the gang will then kidnap and murder while their parents are away at Max Shreck's elaborate Christmas party. The Penguin sees this as revenge against his own parents for discarding their own first-born son in such a callous way. His main target is Shreck's grown son, Chip.Bruce and Selina attend the Christmas party, and soon realize their respective identities. Before they can leave, the Penguin appears and announces to all in attendance that their children are being kidnapped as he speaks, and chastises them for leaving their children unguarded so their parents could "dress up like jerks, get juiced, and dance badly." He attempts to kidnap Chip Shreck, but Max offers himself in his son's place. Realizing that his real beef is with Max, the Penguin agrees and the two return to the underground lair.Batman springs into action, attempting to stop the Penguin's plan. The Penguin resorts to his back-up idea of equipping his army of penguins with missiles and mind-control devices, and sending them into the streets to "punish all of Gotham's children."Batman manages to direct the suicide-bomber penguins back to the zoo lair to destroy the Penguin rather than the city. Batman confronts the irate Penguin, who attempts to attack him with a sword-umbrella, but falls into the toxic water below his lair.Shreck attempts to escape the lair but is intercepted by Catwoman, bent on revenge to her abusive former boss. Batman attempts to convince her to let Max live to be sent to prison, but after Max shoots her several times, taking away most of her remaining lives, she electrocutes him with a live powerline and a taser. An electrical explosion occurs, during which Catwoman disappears.The Penguin emerges from the water, fatally hurt from the toxins he ingested while submerged. Before he can pick up his deadly umbrella and kill Batman, he collapses and dies. Six penguins drag the body into the water, creating a grisly funeral scene.Some time later, Bruce is being driven home in his limo by Alfred. He sees a shadow play across an alley wall. After leaving the car to investigate, Bruce finds only a small gray cat. Returning to the car with the cat, both Butler and Master wish each other a Merry Christmas. The bat-signal appears overhead, and Catwoman appears, proof that Selina still has one remaining life.

Review: With Michael Keaton returning to the title role of Batman, and adding Michele Pfieffer as the Cat Woman and Danny DeVito as the Penguin, you would think that this coupled with the hype from the first movie would be enough to propel this movie into the stratosphere.
With a great cast and film score by Danny Elfman, the movie takes us on an adventure as Batman battles the evil forces that are trying to take over Gotham City.
Tim Burton's follow-up to his own 1989 hit "Batman" has Michael Keaton returning as reclusive millionaire Bruce Wayne who doubles as crime-fighter Batman; here, Gotham City is in the middle of a political shakedown, as former circus freak/now celebrity extraordinaire Oswald Cobblepot (a.k.a. The Penguin) has teamed with business tycoon Max Shreck into persuading the residents that he should be the next mayor (apparently no one has noticed the Penguin's henchmen terrorizing all the small businesses on Gotham's mean streets).
Every time Tim Burton makes a movie he constantly tries to remind you that you're watching a "burton film" rather then just a movie, and for Batman Returns, it's just that.
Following the success of 1989's 'Batman', Tim Burton and Michael Keaton released a second movie in the franchise: Batman Returns.
Gotham City retains the Gothic look of the first film, only this time the city is in the midst of an icy winter punctuated by the arrival of two new villains on the scene: Catwoman and the Penguin.As a kid I loved this movie and the original Tim Burton 'Batman' movie, however after re-watching it over a decade later it doesn't quite hold up as well as I wished it would have.
Part of this reason is the fact that Batman seems almost external to this plot which revolves around Penguin (Danny DeVito), Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Gotham businessman Max Shreck (Christopher Walken).
Batman (Michael Keaton) seems to only step in momentarily to throw a few punches before exiting back to Wayne Manor.All four lead actors, especially Danny DeVito, deliver great performances in this movie, but it is a real shame that the scriptwriters chose to not continue the analysis into the Bruce Wayne/Batman psyche.
Instead, we are left with a fairly routine 'bad guy trying to overthrow the city' story; the Penguin character was well developed, but the action scenes in the movie are nothing memorable.
Surely the mislead public would be angry at Batman for the crimes that they believe him to have committed, however the Bat-signal at the end of the film gives the impression that this is not the case.On the positive side though, the movie has a great feel to it; from the visual appearance of the winter Gotham, through to Danny Elfman's musical score.
The Darkest Knight of All. Batman Returns is a perfect film to watch during the holiday season as the winter/Xmas atmosphere that Burton creates for Gotham City is wonderful.
His eccentric visual style fits this film best, and is the height of his career, IMO.This and the Dark Knight are the only true live-action incarnations of the comic-book character.
Where the first one had a lightness about it and had very good rhythm, action and fitting humor, this one is explosions, explosions, more explosions and totally stale moments where one is left wondering why he's watching at points.It takes itself seriously, has far too little matter at its core, and one has quickly paid off the excitement of seeing the Penguin or Catwoman, then it's just more of the same and it lacks rhythm and is much too predictable, thin.4/10..
In the first Tim Burton Batman movie, Jack Nicholson stole almost every scene he was in as The Joker, but the film was still very much about Batman.Three years later, and Batman returned, but on the strength of this sequel, perhaps it would have been better if he had remained hidden away in his bat cave.Nowhere near as much fun as his original, Tim Burton's follow up focuses less on the bat and more on the villains: the Penguin (Danny De Vito), who emerges from the sewers, ostensibly to discover who is parents were, but in reality, to wreak terror on the people of Gotham City, with a little help from unscrupulous industrialist Max Schreck (Christopher Walken).
And Catwoman, psycho secretary Selina Kyle, who loses her marbles and turns nasty after being pushed out of a window by Schreck.Michael Keaton, as Batman, hardly gets a look in.As well as featuring not nearly enough of its hero, the film also suffers from an air of unrelenting grotesqueness (Burton going overboard on the freaky stuff), a really drab aesthetic (the winter setting leading to lots of dreary grey and blue visuals), and a boring plot in which the Penguin runs for mayor.
Sets and costumes are garish to look at, character motivations are unclear, actions are inconsistent and senseless, the script is completely void of logic, it's all just completely a Tim Burton fever dream that I couldn't wait to get out of.But then if you consider the fact that Batman is a character that exists with a long history that this movie is meant to represent and the fact that this bears no resemblance to besides some loose cosmetic ties, it gets more upsetting.
This movie is hot garbage and it's time everyone realized it.and look, I consider myself an optimist and I love to find the good in every person and every situation but there is NOTHING to like about this movie and if I ever see Tim Burton in real life I'm punching him in the face and not stopping until I'm in handcuffs.
This film is a sequel to the movie "Batman" by Tim Burton.
The film has the participation of Michael Keaton (as Batman), Danny DeVito (as Penguin) and Michelle Pfeiffer (as Catwoman), and only DeVito could shine, incorporating a spiteful and callous Penguin, still unrivaled in cinema.Moreover, the notes I've made for the first film applies perfectly to this also: the cinematography is so black that looks like it's always night in Gotham City, a city that, thanks to the unrealistic scenario, seems a depressed and bloodthirsty version of Orwell's Metropolis.
As a life-long mega Bat-fan, I thought that Batman Returns did the best job (of all four films) of portraying the Dark Knight.
Batman Returns allowed us a better look at Batman/Bruce Wayne himself, who was little more than an imposing supporting cast member in the first film; I loved Jack Nicholson's over-the-top performance, but THIS fanboy wanted more of the Caped Crusader in the film.
Batman Returns gave us that and more...we got Batman/Bruce character development, the AWESOME give-and-take between Batman and Catwoman (one of the strangest courtships in comics), and Burton even tossed us a little bit of fun, dark humor with Shreck and the Penguin.
The only two good things in this movie are return of Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman and Danny DeVito as The Penguin.
Michael Keaton Is excellent as Bruce Wayne/Batman his acting performance to me in both Burton films is better than Christian Bale is.
I think those three actors Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito and Michelle Pfeifer did a great character chemistry and good acting performance.
Batman returns with a more loving community of Gotham City, they are celebrating Christmas time with, Max Shrek played by a creepy Christopher Walken.
Although Michael Keaton and Tim Burton return for this sequel to BATMAN (1989), this movie was a terrible followup to the blockbuster film.
2: Catwoman: Michelle Pheiffer was superb in the role and she not only stole the movie, I felt she was the best thing about Batman Returns altogether.
I feel that Tim Burton got too carried away with his vision in Batman Returns.1: Gotham City did NOT look like Gotham City.
5: I know that Dark Knight fans prefer Batman Returns over the Schumacher films, but I am one of those fans who like the Dynamic Duo, so I am a Robin fan and the fact that he was excluded from this film is one reason I don't care for it as much, even though he had been given a much better costume in the comics.
So I guess I am grateful that Robin wasn't included just for the sake of not messing up a popular character.Overall, I still enjoy watching Batman Returns and I love Danny Elfman's musical score on the soundtrack, but the film got way too Tim Burton-ish for me.
The baby ends up becoming Batman villain The Penguin (Danny DeVito).Meanwhile, Max Shreck (Christopher Walken) is the film's "evil capitalist", comparable to Grissom (Jack Palance) in Batman.
When Kyle discovers one of the nefarious plots, Grissom tries to get rid of her, but she is rescued by cats, becoming Catwoman.While all of this is going on, The Penguin, who has long been only rumored to exist and who is thought to be dangerous, begins a scheme to be presented to the public as a good guy, despite having less than benevolent, ulterior motives.Before re-watching Burton's Batman films this time, I didn't remember just how little the films are about Batman (Michael Keaton).
Like Batman, Burton is still making many references to other films, but instead of Vertigo (1958) and Star Wars (1977) (well, there's still a slight Star Wars reference), he invokes films like Nosferatu (1922) (including that "Max Schreck" was the name of the actor who played the Dracula-like character there), Motel Hell (1980), the aforementioned Freaks, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) (which has a surreal, dark edge to it) and zombie films--made most explicit in The Penguin's final scene.In terms of visuals and general atmosphere--and that includes the general "feel" of the story, the characters and so on--this couldn't be a stronger 10..
This movie is not 100% serious anyway!'The original Tim Burton Batman was great as well but it was a bit cheesy at some parts and I didn't like all the actors.
For one to say that Batman Returns was disappointing, he or she has not fully watched the movie and considered the acting of Danny Devito as the Penguin.
The story focuses on Baman taking on three enemies: The Penguin (wonderfully played by Danny DeVito) Catwoman (the slinky Michelle Pfeiffer) and Max Shreck (the superb Christopher Walken).Perhaps the best entry in the series, it has it all: complex themes, complex characters and a dark tone that truly stands out.
Batman (Michael Keaton)It would be inaccurate to label "Batman Returns" as a simple comic-book, action movie and while it's basic premise sprung forth from the pages of DC Comics it was more a dark, Gothic opera with complex characters where the basic principals of good and evil aren't so black and white!
Thank God Batman Begins came around to right the wrong created by ever hiring Tim Burton to make a movie about comic book characters when he thinks it's beneath him to actually learn about the comic book character's history.Aside from trying to cram two villains in to a movie to make up for neither one being Jack Nicholson and neither one pulling off the performance and adding in Christopher Walken's character for no apparent reason, the movie goes out of its way to disgusting for no reason.
I was glad to see that Tim Burton again captured the essence of the comic books.This time Batman (still Keaton i'm glad to say) has two bad guys to contend with, the penguin (DeVito) played to perfection and of course the stunning Michelle Pffiefer as catwoman.
I have always said, and I still maintain that Michael Keaton is the best cinematic Bruce Wayne, but it's a shame that he's barely in the film, just like Burton's first Batman film, the villains are given far more screen time.
Again, I think Michael Keaton is the best Batman and he carries his costume well.You can totally see that it is a Tim Burton movie, because he has an unusual style and is a very talented guy.
Again, I think Michael Keaton is the best Batman and he carries his costume well.You can totally see that it is a Tim Burton movie, because he has an unusual style and is a very talented guy.
Michael Keaten is suitably brooding as the Dark Knight, better than George Clooney in Batman and Robin (considered as the worst out the franchise)though he is overshadowed by the villains, namely Danny DeVito as the Penguin, who looked as though he was having a ball, and brought a sense of sadness and grotesquesness to the role.
The movie proved to be a financial success but opinion is divided on whether or not the movie lived up to its now iconic predecessor.This time around, Batman (Michael Keaton) faces off against a pair of his longtime nemeses - the Penguin (Danny DeVito) and Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer).
Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks of introducing all of these characters is that Batman himself is noticeably absent for most of the beginning of the movie.Burton's direction is solid as always but the visuals just seem to lack something in comparison to the first film.
As he did in the first film, Michael Keaton does a fine job playing Batman/Bruce Wayne.THE BAD - For a movie based on a comic strip that mostly kids read, I still think these first two Batman movies, both done by Burton, were too dark and the profanity was definitely not appropriate.
Michael Keaton plays a great mysterious Batman, Michelle Peiffer plays a great sexy Catwoman, and Danny Devito was a perfect casting choice for the Penguin.
Both Catwoman and The Penguin are great scary and tragic villains with personality and Batman is badass in this movie.
Michael Keaton's Batman simply doesn't cut it anymore.But Penguin and Catwoman hands down are the signature performances of this movie and I challenge Hollywood to one-up either Michelle Pfeiffer or Danny de Vito in their portrayals here..
I remember really liking BATMAN RETURNS when it came out in 1992, but now I think that this is the best of all the Batman movies (even over Christopher Nolan's terrific 2005 BATMAN BEGINS and definitely over the seriously over-hyped overrated 2008 THE DARK KNIGHT!).
Only three years after Batman, Tim Burton and Michael Keaton returned to provide the same entertainment on a level nearly as grand as the first.Joining the great Keaton are Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Christopher Walken, all three playing new additions to his rogues gallery.
DeVito plays the grotesque Penguin, a rejected freak who rises from the sewers of Gotham City, and Michelle Pfeiffer plays Catwoman, deadly as she is lovely, seeking revenge on her boss Max Schreck, a corrupt businessman played by Walken.The great thing about the villains is how they all mirror Batman in certain ways, all adding up to a vibe similar to A Christmas Carol.
Tim Burton was a great director of the first two films, and the way this and the first was presented, it became real and gritty (If you don't look at the part where Michelle Pfeiffer has nine lives).
Keaton still has that deadpan style as Batman that works (even if he's lesser as Bruce Wayne); Pfieffer is the best that could be done with Catwoman; De Vito stand out and occasionally steals scenes as Oswald Cobblepot (his plight is almost the most poetically tragic of the series, however if not the best as a villain); Christopher Walken is, well Christopher Walken in one of the lesser of the over-the-top roles he's done.But maybe most of all that has me gravitating more to Batman Returns as one of the better sequels of the 90's is how much of Burton's vision makes it to the screen, and how his control over the material is present throughout very strongly, as the sense of humor is either very dark or just very silly (in a good way, "My Babies!" Penguin cries out looking on at his confused penguins).
I came across this movie with its predecessor at the store and i just had to buy them, i watched them both being left unable to pick a favorite batman movie, Michael Keaton returns just as good as he was in the first one, Danny Devito sets the bar high for Batman villains by playing such a disgustingly hilareous character, Michelle Pfeiffer was awesome as the catwoman, with Christopher Walken playing her nemesis powerfully, and don't forget Michael Gough as the memorable Alfred, really the only thing i wasn't impressed with was all the weird innuendos, it got a bit awkward.
1992's "Batman Returns" was Tim Burton's second round as director and yet again he scored a hit by making this film again dark and gloomy like his 1989 one.
The performance from Michelle Pfeiffer was the best ever as no one could have played "The Catwoman" any better and Devito was perfect as the "Penguin" his body frame fit the character just perfect his performance even though ghoulish was fun to watch.
Even more less on superhero movies, but BATMAN RETURNS gives us that unique quality.But the great story isn't the only great thing about the film, we also get Burton's great direction.
In the first Batman by Tim Burton we had only Batman and The Joker both played wonderfully by Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson.In Batman Returns we have what I feel is the most perfectly cast Batman movie (yes even better then Dark Knight).
It may feel more like a Tim Burton film than your average Batman flick, but it's also one of the best pieces of celluloid to feature the character.
Michael Keaton returns as the Caped Crusader, this time called upon to halt a criminal alliance between The Penguin (Danny DeVito) and Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer).
The reason I love Tim Burton for directing these movies is he is showing a dark side of the Batman series, and of the villains.
The three Batman villains have very magnetic performances: Christopher Walken as Shreck, Danny DeVito as the Penguin, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.