Review of Batman Returns (1992) by Cameronius_113 — 28 Dec 2016

Batman Returns was released in 1992 and was directed by Tim Burton. This movie gave Tim Burton much more creative control which led to it being much darker than its predecessor.

This is quite a controversial film for being much more of a 'Tim Burton' movie than a Batman one and this film receives quite a lot of hate. I find that the main reason lots of people are criticising it is for that fact, and many don't look at the movie it actually is. The first time I watched it, I wasn't really a fan but over time this film has grown on me and now it has become one of my favourite Batman ones. It may not be the best made, but one of my favourites.

Once again, Michael Keaton is Batman and I loved him as much as I did previously, possibly even more this time around. I found his character to be developed much more too and it showed him in lots of danger and peril at times which wasn't shown in the original, for example when he is stuck in a hijacked Batmobile, not only must he escape before it could potentially end up crashing, it could ruin his reputation and change how the city views him.

The Penguin in this movie isn't really the Penguin that everyone knows and isn't just a plain criminal. Instead he is a deformed freak who has experienced discrimination and I found his character to be very interesting and I loved Danny DeVito's portrayal. His motivation was clear and his plan was quite clever- trying to turn the city against Batman by getting respect from the public which was something that hadn't really been done in Batman at the time.

Possibly my favourite character of the movie is Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman. Her portrayal was definitely my favourite on-screen portrayal of the character and like Penguin, her motivation was clear. She also fit into the story well and didn't feel like she was there just because they could have her there like in the Schumacher Batman films. Batman also appears to have lots of different love interests in the original anthology of films and she is the one of this film and I think she is definitely the best. Not only is she key to the plot but their relationship was done very well and was rather complex, with their double identities causing conflict and once they discover them they're not sure whether they should align with each other or not, being friends as their public personas and enemies as their secret identities. They also realised how similar they are in character and this allows them to connect with each other.

Max Schreck (played by none other than Christopher Walken) was a pretty good character, as his character is important to both of the villains' stories and is actually responsible for both of their existences in Gotham.

I love the look and feel to this movie. It does feel quite different to the first but this one has that 'Tim Burton' feel that I love.

As I said earlier, this film caused controversy for being more of a 'Tim Burton' film than a Batman film. The overall theme is a dark Tim Burton style and many signature things of a 'Tim Burton' film are present: a 'Danny Elfman' score (if you don't know what I mean listen to The Nightmare Before Christmas or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), a weird looking town, set around Christmas and of course clowns.

I find that many people just use the fact that it isn't really a Batman film as something to criticise it for but if you look past that then this is a great film. If you are a Tim Burton fan or just want a good film to watch then I would highly recommend this but if you are specifically looking for a Batman film then probably watch another one. This is definitely one of my personal favourite Batman movies.

7.8/10.

I really wish that we had a true sequel to this that wasn't Batman Forever and continued with the dark tone. However, I guess some things just aren't meant to be.