Review of Batman Returns (1992) by Noah H — 19 Mar 2016

While Tim Burton's original Batman film wasn't perfect, it's certainly better than this film. Batman Returns comes off as overly dark, strange, or kind of goofy film. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy darker films, especially with Batman's character, but you have to have a justifiable reason for including those dark elements.

Most of the time, it seems like this movie is just dark for the sake of being dark; so much so to the point where it's just plain creepy and weird at times. But this doesn't surprise me since Tim Burton is in the director's chair and he's just known for taking things and twisting them into something horrid and strange.

The cast is good, especially Michael Keaton who once again is good as Batman, but yet again the villains tend to overshadow Keaton's Batman constantly just like Jack Nicholson's Joker did in the first film.

Danny DeVito is surprisingly really good and unfortunately underrated as The Penguin, but strays away much from what the Penguin in the comics is like. Michelle Pfeiffer is good as Catwoman as well but her portrayal, like DeVito's, is completely inaccurate to the source material.

All she really is some psychotic chick with nine lives and The Penguin is just some deformed psychopath wanting to kill a bunch of kids. Christopher Walken's character is pretty campy and over the top because he's pretty much playing himself but he's pretty entertaining nonetheless because it's Christopher Walken and he manages to entertain in every role he plays, no matter how good or bad.

Taking this movie as it is, it's not bad but as a comic book film, it fails because it's not true to its predecessor or the source material. This is, plainly and simply, a Tim Burton film, no questions asked.

Only reason Burton decided to stick around to do this one is because he was given complete creative freedom, and the proof is all unmistakably there. If you're a Burton fan, chances are you'll quite enjoy this film.

But if you're a Batman fan, don't go into this film thinking it's a Batman film. Instead, think of it as a Tim Burton film featuring Batman, otherwise you'll be sadly disappointed.