BATMAN RETURNS
A film review by George V. Reilly
Copyright 1992 George V. Reilly
BATMAN RETURNS is a film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by Daniel Waters. It stars Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny DeVito, and Christopher Walken. Rated PG-13 for violence and sexual innuendo.
BATMAN RETURNS is the latest sequel to hit the big screen this summer. A followup to 1989's hit BATMAN, it again stars Michael Keaton in the title role.
The film opens slowly, explaining the origins of the Penguin (Danny DeVito, unrecognizable under heavy makeup), a horribly deformed little monster cast adrift by his parents into the sewers who ends up living in the penguin enclosure at the Gotham City Zoo, and of Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer), a harassed, timid secretary named Selina Kyle who survives a near-fatal fall after being pushed from a high window by her boss because she knows too much. Selina, roused by cats, transforms herself into the sexy, feline Catwoman. Meanwhile, her boss, evil megalomaniac megatycoon Max Shreck (Christopher Walken), has joined forces with the Penguin to take over Gotham City by ousting the mayor and electing Oswald Cobblepot (the Penguin's real name) in his place.
Batman (Michael Keaton) and his alter ego, multimillionaire Bruce Wayne, has several run-ins with the Penguin and Shreck, and feels compelled to stop them. Catwoman, after being beaten by Batman, allies herself with the Penguin to destroy Batman. They attempt to frame him, by making him appear to be one of them. In a subplot, Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne have become attracted to each other. And so it proceeds, up to the inevitable orgiastic climax of violence and destruction.
This is a worthy successor to BATMAN. The sets recapture the feel of the first film, despite the suicide last year of the original designer, Anton Furst. Gotham City is, well, Gothic; a sombre 1940s view of the city of the future. The special effects, especially those involving the Batmobile and the Batplane, are spectacular. There is violence aplenty, much of it gratuitous; if that's your thing, you should be satisfied.
The dual character of Batman/Bruce Wayne has been fleshed out and become more interesting: Wayne is troubled by his bizarre hidden identity and his compulsion to hide behind Batman's mask in order to violently effect change. Unfortunately, as with the Joker in BATMAN, he is overshadowed by the characters of the Penguin and Catwoman.
Michelle Pfeiffer, as Catwoman, is delightful, particularly in her early scenes after becoming Catwoman, when she gambols and frolics like a kitten. Throughout the film, she moves with feline grace, she slinks then attacks savagely; reclining langourously, she stretches sensuously. As Selina Kyle, she is mostly scattered and harebrained, soft and vulnerable.
Danny DeVito is less satisfying as the Penguin; he is mad, savage, brutal, with only the thinnest veneer of civilization. He is humourless and rarely funny, lacking the Joker's demented capacity for japes.
Christopher Walken's character resembles that of the villain he played in the Bond movie, A VIEW TO A KILL: depraved and suave.
My main problem with the movie is the number of plotholes. There is a distressing number of them, some of them gaping wide, but I won't go into them to avoid spoilers.
In summary, I recommend it. I'm sure it's going to be a big hit, much to the relief of the merchandisers.
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