batman2

“Batman Returns” is regarded by many as a weak installment in the Batman franchise. Look closely
however, and this film is the strongest entry in the entire four-movie series. This time out, director
Tim Burton is allowed to utilize his entire aesthetic philosophy and fully realize a neo-Gothic Gotham
City. Once again, Burton utilizes Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader Batman. The greatest
single aspect of this film that brings it above the original is its dedication to Batman as an action
hero. No longer is the movie so focused on Bruce Wayne that it loses its superhero quality.
Instead, Batman jumps into the role he should have had in the first film, using a multitude of his
famous gadgets and getting into some serious fisticuffs with the baddies.

It’s Christmas time in Gotham City and Batman is now loved by the people. Another Gothan money
mogul, Max Shreck, played by Christopher Walken, is as corrupt as can be and has a scheme for an
energy bill that will siphon off Gotham’s energy reserves. When his secretary, played by Michelle
Pfeiffer, discovers the secret plan, he tries to murder her. She survives and becomes Catwoman.
Meanwhile, a sewer freak with a gang of clowns (eh?) wants to return to the surface and claim his
birthright. Actually, he wants to be Mayor of Gotham. Danny De Vito, as the stumpy mutant, The
Penguin, blackmails Shreck to make this happen. Of course, Bruce Wayne is falling in love with
Pfeiffer and doesn’t know she’s Batman’s nemesis Catwoman, and at the same time Batman is trying
to find out who The Penguin is and what’s his connection with Shreck, while also trying to stop the
evil gang of clowns from destroying Gotham City.

There are a number of factors that edge this movie out above the original. There’s loads more
comic action for one, and what makes it even better is he spends most of the film beating the crap
out of clowns. I hate clowns personally, so this makes it all the sweeter for me. The masked hero
attaches dynamite to one clown’s crotch and them kicks him into the sewer to explode. Sweet.
Batman even sets one clown on fire with the jet engine from his Batmobile. That alone was worth
the price of admission. Course he also gets into great scrapes with Catwoman in intense martial
duels. Pfeiffer mastered the bullwhip for this movie and uses it in ways that makes Indiana Jones
look like a chump.

Walken and De Vito add the right blend of offbeat comedy and sadism to give the story that Burton
edge, and De Vito’s penguin also embarks on a disgustingly carnal quest to bed Catwoman, who of
course refuses. The Penguin is a completely creepy pervert. Add to that the fact that he’s also
dangerous and psychotic, with a contingency plan of dumping all of Gotham’s firstborn sons into a
lagoon of industrial waste. This movie is extremely dark in places. This works in areas, but also
becomes the film’s curse.

Once again, the villains aren’t handled with the best gloves. The Penguin isn’t the dapper
troublemaker of the comics. He’s a literal monster with a homicidal edge. Catwoman is not a cat
burglar as she should be, but a schizophrenic resurrected by alley cats in the creepiest scene in the
film. The biggest creative drawback to the movie is the Penguin’s army of…penguins. A little much,
I grant you.

Overall though, character development and action are much improved and Burton is finally allowed
to run wild with his aesthetic creating a more interesting environment and as a result, a more
interesting and poignant Batman film with more subtle and engaging thematic ideas.