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Prepare For The Dark Knight: Batman ReturnsBy Rafe Telsch: 2008-07-10 21:28:38
The Dark Knight is one of the biggest releases of this summer, if not the year. How do you prepare yourself for such a monumental picture? By watching previous depictions of Batman in movies, of course. We’re making our way through ten feature length incarnations of the Dark Knight’s stories, from Adam West to animation. We invite you to join us for the ride as we analyze the good, the bad, and the Bat.
(And yes, we’re actually re-watching all of these old flicks rather than just relying on our memory, so we can honestly evaluate each of them in preparation for The Dark Knight). Day Three: Batman Returns (1992) I put the disclaimer on this series that I was watching the movies over again because I wanted people to be aware that I was revisiting each movie and that my opinion and perceptions of the movies might change over the course of the series. Yesterday I gave high praise to Tim Burton’s Batman, indicating I thought it was the strongest movie until Christopher Nolan gave us Batman Begins. Revising Batman Returns however, I have to say many parts of Burton’s first film were overshadowed more quickly than I remembered by the director’s own sequel, from villainous performances that had faded from my memory to an overall picture that is stronger than Batman. It’s been years since I’ve seen Batman Returns, mainly because just about everyone I dated disliked the film. Burton seemed determined to make his Batman movies dark, and, when the first movie received such high praise, it’s almost as if the director set out to go even farther, as if saying, “Batman wasn’t dark enough for you? How about grotesque human beings and noses gushing with blood?” The response is a movie that has many people divided because it isn’t as watcher friendly. I, for one, love it. The overall narrative here seems a little stronger than Batman. Again the movie focuses more on the origin of its villains than the hero. This time we get a slew of bad guys, from the traditional Batman bad guys the Penguin and Catwoman, to on original antagonist in the form of corrupt businessman Max Shreck (Christopher Walken). Although the film has to take time to establish all of these new characters, it does so in a way that is tightly wound together, with Shreck ultimately being the lynchpin that holds everything together. Again, the characterizations here are a thing of beauty. I’ve always enjoyed Danny DeVito as Penguin, although the character is about as far removed from Batman canon as Jack Nicholson’s Jack Napier. Typically the Penguin is more of a mob boss figure, but here he’s a grotesque abandoned child (how bad do you have to be to be dumped into a river by Pee Wee Herman?) who wants revenge on the city. The form of his revenge is a little dicey, but it makes him a pretty straightforward villain, with a short departure when he’s convinced to run for mayor by Shreck, who has his own agenda. Even better than DeVito’s Penguin, however, is Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman. As the security guards who first spot her say, I don’t know whether to arrest her or fall in love with her. Pfeiffer brings several great things to the character. First of all, she’s just flat out hot - hot in a psycho way, of course, but still. Secondly, there’s a fantastic ambiguity to the character in play here, especially with the way we see her origins. She’s not a good guy or a bad guy. She’s just out for a good time and a bit of revenge. It’s easy to see how so many storytellers have taken Catwoman in different directions with this kind of portrayal of the character. Not everyone gets a deep character to play with. This was my introduction to Christopher Walken when I first saw the movie in 1992 and even then I recognized his character was pretty flat. Now that I know more about Walken, I see it’s a role designed just for him to do what he does best. Contrasted with DeVito and Pfeiffer, though, it’s a very shallow part of the movie. Batman himself gets a bit of the short end of the characterization stick. Most of his character depth comes through the reflections of his character in the villains, because Keaton himself doesn’t get a ton to work with here. Penguin is a legitimate freak instead of Batman’s façade, and Catwoman is the vigilante Batman could have become, striking out at victims just as much as criminals. It’s unfortunate you have to look for that depth because Keaton is capable. It just feels like Daniel Waters felt the villains were easier to work with. A lot of the issues I had with Burton’s first film have disappeared here. The composite mattes are fewer and there’s not much animation at all. Batman’s suit looks a lot more capable, either due to a reworking of the costume or an increase in Keaton’s skill moving in it (or both). This actually works from a character growth perspective too, since the first movie showed Batman’s introduction to Gotham, but by now he’s more established. What’s really interesting, preparing for The Dark Knight is that Christopher Nolan’s films may share something in common with Burton’s. Both directors’ first picture showed the early days of Batman in Gotham City. Batman Returns shows a more established Batman that suddenly has public opinion turned against him, and rumor has it that The Dark Knight may head that direction too. The difference - Nolan feels a lot more comfortable working with the character of Batman, while Burton focuses more on the villains and lets his hero emerge through a reflection of them. In a movie with Batman’s name in the title, that’s a dangerous choice, but even fifteen years later Batman Returns is an enjoyable sequel that one-ups Burton’s first movie for me. The Good: If Elfman's score was good for Batman, it's absolutely brilliant here. It brings so much emotion to scenes that could have been so bad without it (Catwoman's initial meltdown for instance). Even though Keaton doesn't get a ton to work with, I just love the reflection of his character in the villains. The Bad: Shy of a few goofy moments (how does Bruce Wayne manage to rip the cowl of his batsuit so easily? Wayne’s stupid DJ-scratch of a CD when he’s ruining the Peguin’s key moment, etc) there really isn’t much bad here. The biggest complaint I hear from people who don’t like the movie is Burton’s more gruesome depiction of things, but that’s more personal taste than anything “bad”. The Bat: Most this is just a return of the bat gadgets from the previous movie. The batsuit is a bit more flexible and doesn’t seem so lumbering, the Batmobile continues to kick ass (while it lasts), plus we get the computer programmed batarang and the Bat-ski. Final Rating: 
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July 22, 2008 at 01:08
July 22, 2008 at 01:08
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