Tim Burton’s first Batman film had a definite German expressionistic feel to it, with Anton Furst’s architecture and Danny Elfman’s operatic score giving it that heavy gothic feel, but with the sequel Burton seemed to steer the film into a darker fairy tale world, more in keeping with Brothers Grimm than German Expressionism, with maybe a dash of art deco and neo-classic fascism for good measure. Yet it wasn’t just Gotham City that was going to see an upgrade for this sequel as Tim Burton brought not just one classic villain to the party but three, because overcrowding your film with bad guys never goes wrong. First among these is the Penguin (Danny DeVito ), who is easily Tim Burton’s greatest departure from the source material, which isn't surprising once you learn that Burton has stated on multiple occasions that he never understood the tuxedo-wearing Penguin from the comics, so for this version, he’s no longer a skilled thief with a bird motif and an arsenal of killer umbrellas, now we learn that of a tragic backstory. Oswald Cobblepot's parents were aghast at their baby's deformity – their baby having flippers instead of hands and its tendency to eat the family cat – and so they tossed him into the sewers where he was apparently raised by a group of penguins from the abandoned Gotham City Zoo.
“Hey guys, do any of you have opposable thumbs?”
The idea of a baby being raised by penguins is, of course, ridiculous – makes Tarzan being raised by apes seem downright sensible by comparison – but this did set the tone for what was to follow. This was not an adaptation of the comic book but rather a dark fantasy tale that owed more to the works of the Brothers Grimm rather than it did to Bob Kane. But what did Tim Burton’s monstrous version of the Penguin want out of life? A deformed “Penguin Man of the Sewers” was not going to settle for robbing art galleries and jewelry stores, which would be too blasé for this monstrous creation, he wants to kill children. Yeah, that is pretty villainous, and it’s later revealed that his plan was to abduct and kill all of Gotham's firstborn sons as revenge for what his parents did to him, something even his compatriots in the Red Triangle Gang find a bit questionable.
Aren’t evil circus performers more of a Joker thing?
Batman (Michael Keaton) discovers that Oswald Cobblepot spent much of his life as part of the Freak Show at the Red Triangle Circus, an establishment that was closed down after several children went missing, which leads to this question, “Why would this ex-circus troupe work with the man who cost them their livelihoods?” We often wonder how supervillains acquire henchman, it’s not like there can be much in the way of fringe benefits living in the sewer, and in this film, the Red Triangle Gang come across more as terrorists than crooks, willing to burn Gotham City down for no monetary reason and seem to go along with the Penguin’s evil plan to murder children because “Why not?”
It certainly wasn’t to sell McDonald’s Happy Meals.
The kidnap and murder of dozens of children needs a lot of planning and research so the Penguin turns to the film’s second villain, that of millionaire industrialist Max Shreck (Christopher Walken ), for help in carrying out this evil scheme. Shreck himself needs the Penguin’s help in causing enough civil unrest to force a recall so that the current Mayor (Michael Murphy ), who opposes Shreck’s plans to build an unneeded power plant, can be replaced with someone more biddable.One can’t help but compare Walken’s portrayal of Max Shreck to his earlier Bond villain Max Zorin in A View to a Kill as they are both over-the-top cartoony madmen, and the only reason either of these characters works is that Christopher Walken is just so much fun to watch in these types of roles.
“Smithers, release the hounds.”
Now, the character of Max Shreck isn’t around solely to give political assistance to the Penguin – he tries to form a grassroots campaign to get the Penguin elected as Mayor of Gotham – he is also responsible for the creation of the film’s third villain, Catwoman. As with the Penguin, the comic book origins of Catwoman are ignored in favour of another more tragic backstory – she’s neither a cat-burglar nor an ex-prostitute in this movie – in this iteration Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) is a mousy unassuming woman working as a personal secretary to the villainous Max Shreck, a man who verbally and physically abuses her. When she discovers that Shreck’s supposed power plant is actually a giant battery designed to steal Gotham’s power she is pushed out of a window to her supposed death. Needless to say, she survives this – supernatural intervention of cats or something – and she then proceeds to remake herself as a one-woman war on Max Shreck.
You could say she starts a “Meow Too Movement” against her employer.
Michelle Pfeiffer’s performance as the fractured Selina Kyle is easily the best element of Batman Returns and her scenes with Keaton are the film’s highlights as the two have undeniable chemistry together. The true-crime here is that this particular incarnation of Catwoman deserved her own movie – let’s not even think of the abomination with Halle Berry – and not forced to share screen time with two other villains. Now, I’m not saying Batman Returns is a bad movie, the film is too gorgeous to be called that, but it’s definitely not a very good Batman movie, and if it's guilty of anything it could be for starting the trend of crowding a comic book movie with multiple villains.
Wayne Manor also gets a bit of a facelift.
Stray Observations:• What’s with this film’s Biblical motifs? First, you have baby Cobblepot being given the Moses treatment as he is sent down the river in a basket, and then later we have grown up Cobblepot planning to murder the firstborn of Gotham City. This film is nine plagues shy of being a remake of The Ten Commandments.
• The roof of Wayne Manor is equipped with multiple Bat-Signal reflecting devices each of which would tip-off any guests or passersby that Bruce Wayne is most likely Batman.
• There is definitely not enough material in a raincoat to make a full-body latex catsuit. Trust me, I’ve tried.
• Batman has an even bigger murder-boner than he did last time out, at one point he gleefully burns one of the Red Triangle Gang alive, with the Batmobile's thrusters, while stuffing a bomb down the pants of another.
• Vicki Vale’s absence is treated with about as much respect as a past Bond girl.
• How does one go about getting the blueprints to the Batmobile? I want to see that movie.
• Catwoman is surprised that the plan to frame Batman involved killing the Ice Princess, but her being a live witness would end Penguin’s run for mayor rather quickly.
Did this villainous team-up make sense to anyone?
Tim Burton’s Batman Returns is a very entertaining superhero movie and the performances within were all extraordinary, Michelle Pfeiffer’s depiction of Catwoman being especially remarkable, and the art direction provided by Bo Welch gave us another wonderful version of Gotham City, and all this went towards making a Batman movie that if not true to characters of the comic books was undeniably true to Tim Burton’s vision of a dark gothic fairy tale. If the 1989 Batman movie was a Tim Burton film than Batman Returns was a Tim Burton film by a magnitude of ten.Should the film have had fewer villains, allowing more time to Catwoman and Batman action, sure why not, but you have to give Burton credit for creating a fascinating world for his characters to inhabit. Comic book purists may have issues with this film, me being one of them, but even I have to admit the film we got was an unforgettable experience.
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