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July 10, 2005
Top Ten Superhero Movies - #10 - Batman Returns (1992)
Number #10 - Batman Returns
Directed by Tim Burton
Written by Daniel Waters
Starring Michael Keaton, Danny Devito, Michelle Pfieffer, Christopher Walken
"You got to admit I've played this stinking city like a harp from hell."
This is a terrible Batman movie. Just really, really bad. Anyone who is a fan of Batman, that is a fan of the source material, hates it or accepts what it is. It perverts the character and his world into a bizarre Tim Burton fantasy land. As an adaptation, it's one of the worst. And even though Batman finally gets top billing, he still doesn't get his fair share of screentime. The villians are clearly the focus of this film, and there are three of them. This leaves little time left for Batman, which seeing how poorly he is done, may not be such a bad thing. Even more so than in Burton's first Batman outing, Returns is completely over the top. Jokes and one-liners rule the screenplay in a truly macabre film.
The plot focuses on Oswald Cobblepot (Danny Devito), aka THE PENGUIN, and his campaign for Gotham City mayor, backed by Max Schreck (Christopher Walken), a corrupt businessman. During the course of the film, Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) becomes CATWOMAN and makes an alliance with The Penguin while swearing revenge of Schreck for trying to kill her. Schreck is possibly the primary bad guy of the piece, upstaging both characters adapted from the comics. Batman...tries to stop them. He tangles with Schreck as Bruce Wayne, opposes The Penguin as Batman and flirts with Catwoman. In many ways, Batman is not the protagonist in Returns. He is the antagonist to the bad guys. The villains must overcome Batman, not the otherway around.
So why is this one of the best superhero films ever? It's not really, it's just that there aren't enough good ones to knock it out of the top ten. So it's a terrible comic book adaptation and not even a good superhero movie (it's more like a supervillain movie), but how does it stack up as a film? If you ignore the fact that this is Batman...well, you could do a lot worse. There are things here to enjoy. Most of the acting is rather solid with the parts that are given, and the look of Gotham is interesting. There are few films were an entire city is so blatantly a set. You either have to despise it, or buy into the artificiality of Gotham and try to enjoy it. Fighting a movie like Returns only leaves you hating it, if you take it on it's own terms...you may even like it. Some love it.
Approach Batman Returns not as a Batman movie, but simply as just a movie. As a movie, it can be pretty enjoyable. Just don't expect it to be anything like the character you already know. To top off the film, The Penguin uses a...penguin.......army.... to wage war on Gotham. Yes, a penguin army. But still...there is just something appealing about a penguin army. I wish every movie had a penguin army. Penguin armies are gold.
Posted by astor at July 10, 2005 04:17 PM