Reaction & Review | Batman Returns

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Yes, guys, it is the start of a brand new year, and as it has been tradition for this series at the start of every year, I'm gonna be dedicating the next two months to comic book related films. And we're gonna kick things off with a movie that I, surprisingly, have never gotten around to fully watching before. The movie came out in 1992. That movie is "Batman Returns".

So, a little bit of an interesting story with this one. Of the four live action Batman films that came out from between the 1989 "Batman" movie and "Batman and Robin", this is the one movie that I never actually got to watch in it's entirety. I tried watching it back some years ago on Freeform, AKA formerly known as ABC Family, during the holidays. However, I never really finished watching it, and I honestly don't remember why. I guess, maybe, at the time, I was interested in watching something else then. So, I never really paid any attention to it since.

Then one day, about a couple of months ago, I was at one of my local video stores and I happened to notice that there was a 2 DVD combo-pack that featured the first two Tim Burton "Batman" movies. I really enjoyed the 1989 "Batman" film for what it was, yet I didn't really have any memories of it's sequel, "Batman Returns". And I figured that this would be a perfect opportunity to give this thing a fresh new chance, what with me doing this series and all. And thus, here we are.

Now I do know a few things about this movie. For starters, as I've mentioned before, this is the second and last Batman film directed by Tim Burton. And the reason why it was his last was because, apparently, the film he had made leaned on being a bit too dark with it's style and tone, thus leading into complaints from parents that the film wasn't being targeted to children, since the younger audience loved the character of Batman. Which then later lead to Warner Bros. basically getting rid of Burton, and the latter two Batman films would later be directed by Joel Schumacher. I would like to state that the Schumacher movies, at least to me, are decent for what they are. But they're not exactly something I would watch multiple times over unless if I was really bored.

I also know the film has Michael Keaton reprising his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne, along with Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, and Danny DeVito as the Penguin making their debuts in this movie. I also know the film is technically considered to be a Christmas movie, since this film takes place during Christmas time, so...I may be a bit late with this one. But hey, who knows? If it does end up being any good, I'll eventually add it to my catalog of Christmas movies that I'll watch every year around that time. So I guess the best thing to do right now is to quit stalling myself and see if the movie is as any good as I'm hoping for it to be. And the only way I'm gonna find out if it is any good, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Batman Returns".

3 minutes later

You know, guys, I've seen different variations of Cobblepot's origin story being played out before. I think this may be the first time I'm seeing it where he's just a baby. And considering what his parents just did with him by throwing the carriage into that stream of water while he's still in it, kinda makes this origin story more fucked up than I could have ever imagined. Damn...

10 minutes later

OK, I have a really stupid question here, and I know it's very trivial as well, but I want to ask it anyway. So, Penguin's thugs have just started attacking Gotham City. Commissioner Gordon, at least I'm going to assume it's Gordon here, issues for the Bat Signal, and it gets Bruce Wayne's attention at the mansion. Now, prior to all of that happening, Bruce was just sitting in a dark room all by himself. And my question out of all this is why? Why was he sitting in a dark room all by himself? Was he just doing his usual brooding for no actual reason? I understand it's been a while since I saw the 1989 "Batman" film, but I don't really think he would be brooding over what happened in the events of the first movie, since he just defeated Joker and everything. Again, I understand it's a very trivial thing to be commenting on, but it is something that I am a little curious about.

15 minutes later

You know, guys, I've seen plenty of people fall to their death before in movies. That time looked even more painful, especially considering Selina hit her head on something a couple of times on her way down. And yet, no matter how many times I've seen this kind of thing happen, it always looks painful when viewed it up close by the victim themselves. Oh, and one of the cats seems to be kissing Selina's lips. That was a...little bit nasty there. But anyway, yeah, that fall was pretty painful to watch.

16 minutes later

You know what, guys? I'm *really* digging the Catwoman outfit, mostly because of the stitches that are present around the cowl area. It looks really cool on her, and it is a nice attention to detail, especially considering her new persona and all. It just looks awesome.

14 minutes later

Did I just see Batman kill one of the Penguin's thugs by sticking a pair of dynamite into that guy's pants before dropping him in the sewer? I mean, granted, it was kinda funny. And yet, it also broke Batman's code of honor by never killing anyone. Then again, perhaps maybe there *are* a few exceptions, so who the hell am I to judge?

20 minutes later

Sorry, guys, if I'm not saying very much right now, I'm kinda getting sucked into the story as is. It *really* is that good.

9 minutes later

I am gonna say this, guys, the thimble-looking Batmobile I just saw looks absolutely hilarious in action. I'm kinda surprised Bruce even had that installed in his car. But hey, I guess you *do* really plan ahead for situations like that, so...good on him, I suppose.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Batman Returns". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. By the way, I love the ending score here. But then again, it is from Danny Elfman. However, I'll get into all that later when I cover the technical stuff. So, now that I've gotten a chance to finally see this movie for myself after many years of skipping out on it, what did I think of it as a whole? Honestly...it's fucking great. But then again, I am kinda partial to a lot of things involving Batman, so make of that what you will.

So, I guess there's no better way to get into this review by talking about the writing. And I want to start with the film's tone, because it sorta ties back into what I talked about earlier. So, I mentioned that this movie was Tim Burton's second outing for Batman, and was also his last film, too, involving the caped crusader. And the reason why, again, was because he took the film in his own style and went in a slightly darker direction with where he wanted to take Batman. And because of that, the complaints from soccer moms came in saying that the film was too dark for children, thus leading into Warner Bros. canning Burton from future Batman projects in favor of a more light-hearted Batman flick, which would later be the two former films under Schumacher. Now in a way, I can kinda see why they would complain about the film's darker nature. Because there are things in this movie that would definitely *not* be suitable for children, such as the amount of blood that gets poured from this movie, Penguin's sexual remarks towards women, and the stuff involving Catwoman where she licks Batman's face at one point. Stuff like that could definitely be viewed as not being suitable for children. So, I can kinda see it from the parents viewpoint to a degree.

Which then leads into a question that I have. Since this movie is from Tim Burton, and knowing the guy has a slightly gothic artistic style, I have to ask...what were they expecting? To be more with the same like the first movie? Maybe because of the success of how well that film turned out, maybe Warner Bros. gave Burton more creative freedom on where he wanted to go for the sequel? Mind you, I haven't seen the ads for this thing back on TV during the early 90's. But then again, I was barely a year old, so that would kinda answer as to why. So I can't really say if those commercials ever showed stuff like Catwoman licking Batman's face or something like that. I imagine they wouldn't have, since, like I said earlier, Batman is very popular towards kids, so they probably wanted to show him facing off against Penguin or Catwoman in action in order to keep the ads as family friendly as possible. What I find pretty hilarious in hindsight is the aftermath shortly after Burton was let go from making anymore Batman films. Apparently, some sort of anonymous executives over at Warner Bros. pretty much agreed with the soccer moms and said that the film was "too dark" and "didn't feel fun". Now what I find hilarious about those statements is that you could apply those to Christopher's Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy, where those movies end up taking themselves so seriously that some people might not even view those movies as "fun" either. At least with this thing, there are some moments where something comedic may happen, or there might be some over-the-top moments that feel slightly goofy, but doesn't entirely darken the mood, unlike the Nolan trilogy. Now of course, you have to take what I said about the anonymous executives as a gain of salt, because I couldn't find any information on whether or not those statements were completely accurate.

So, now that I've gotten that part out of the way, let's finally talk about the actual writing itself, shall we? Writing here is really solid for the most part. And in a way, it almost feels like a standalone Batman movie. While there may be a reference here and there where Bruce Wayne mentions Vicki Vale from the first movie, she really doesn't make an appearance in this one. Character wise, I can't really comment much about Bruce Wayne/Batman, because, like I said, it has been a while since I last watched the 1989 movie. I *can*, however, definitely comment on the chemistry he has with Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman. The chemistry these two share together is amazing. Part of the reason why is the acting, which I'll get into later. But the other part is because, in a way, you feel like these characters have known each other for a long time and that they can naturally bounce off of each other's personalities like it's nothing. Now again, while I can't comment on Bruce Wayne's development in this movie, I can say that this movie definitely gives more than enough time for Selina Kyle's development, mostly considering the fact that this movie serves as an origin story for her. From starting off as a socially awkward assistant, then delving into the almost insane transformation of Catwoman. It's great, and it makes her one of the big reasons why she is one of the starring attractions for this movie.

But what about the Penguin? I kinda left him out of the picture and that's not done on purpose, obviously. As the main villain for this movie, he's really great, as well. Now I could question how exactly, after his parents dropped the carriage into the sewers, penguins raised him? But honestly, that's not really important. That being said, there are couple of issues that I had with this movie that sorta tie into him. First off, Max Shreck, who's Christopher Walken's character in this movie, kinda disappears for a while in the middle of the film after Max introduces him as the mayoral candidate for Gotham City. And you don't see him again for a while until sometime after Penguin, his thugs, and Catwoman initiated a scheme in which they would frame Batman for some crime. It seemed like the writers sorta forgot that Shreck was even a character in this movie for a time, since they were more focused on writing for the other three poster characters. Speaking of this crime, it was set-up to make Batman look like the villain, what with him supposedly killing someone, the remote-controlled jammer device that was placed under the Batmobile which ran over some people thanks to Penguin controlling the driving, along with bats flying out of a giant Christmas tree to scare the Gotham citizens stiff. I bring this up, because I'm not entirely certain if Batman was ever fully cleared of any of these supposed crimes. I mean, yeah, sure, he was able to record audio of Penguin basically duping Gotham citizens, thus tarnishing his image. But I don't know how exactly Batman proved himself innocent from the bats coming out of the tree, to the jammer device under his car, and the woman falling to her death? Now I may be reading too much into this, and it's very well possible that Penguin's treachery was proof enough, but still, the little things can kinda pop up if you read into it too much.

But aside from that, guys, the writing here is great. And regardless of the minor complaints I just had, it's not really going to harm your experience of watching this movie, especially if you're a fan of Batman and you've seen it many times over. So with that said, what about the acting? The acting here is mostly fantastic. Like I said earlier, the chemistry between Michael Keaton and Michelle Pfeiffer is amazing. And on the subject of Pfeiffer, her acting in this movie, in general, is phenomenal. She was *born* to play the role of Catwoman, and you can feel it in the performance that she gives out. It is nothing short of amazing. And as for Danny DeVito's performance as the Penguin, it is a really solid performance, as well. I feel like, at times, though, he seemed to be overacting a bit to try and make himself sound menacing, especially anytime when he has to shout his lines. Now it's possible that this may have been intentional, because some of the overacting sounds a bit hammy at times. And in most cases, whenever I see someone try to over-ham their performances, that would normally spell doom for their performances, however, for the most, DeVito was able to keep that in check. And overtime, I found his overacting to be a little bit endearing. Now as for the rest of the cast, everyone else did a really awesome job here, too. I didn't notice anybody phoning it in or sounding a little bored, which is always a plus in my book. So yeah, the acting here is really amazing for the most part.

Our sets here look awesome. And being that this was set around Christmas time, the filmmakers went the extra mile to make this movie look like Gotham City was taking place during the holidays. We have Christmas decorations going around, the underground base involving Penguin's lair looks really cool, the batcave also looks really good, but then again, that last one was probably the same batcave that was in the first movie. I could be wrong there, but I digress. Our costuming here is also great. The Batsuit is definitely the same as the first one. Which is funny, considering they show a scene where Keaton's Batman *literally* has a number of costumes with the exact same yellow and black Batman symbol in the chest area. I find that sorta cute. Catwoman's costume, like I mentioned earlier, also looks fantastic, and I still love the stitches that are visible on her costume. It makes the detail on it look that much more appealing. At least, to me, it does. The makeup effects on Penguin look really awesome, and very well detailed, too. Oh yeah, and this version of the Batmobile looks awesome. It has been a long time since I last saw an image of this version of the Batmobile, and to see it in action after all this time made me very happy. So yeah, the special effects in this film look amazing, and I think they hold up rather well by today's standards, as well.

Camerawork here is really solid. The lighting here is great. The sound-mix is also mixed well. The score here, like I mentioned earlier, is great. And that is mostly attributed to Danny Elfman, who also did the music for the 1989 "Batman" film as well. Elfman, in my opinion, is one of the more underrated people when it comes to film music. Most people, when they think of famous composers would normally think of people like John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Jerry Goldsmith, and Alan Menkin to a certain extent. For me, though, Elfman usually seems to come from under the radar with hits from "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and also composing the theme song to "The Simpsons", as several examples. So his music is definitely under-looked, at least when compared to most of the other composers that I already listed. And this movie's score is no different. Now I imagine it's mostly the same thing you would hear from the 1989 film, but don't quote me on that. And regardless if that's the case or not, it's still fantastic to listen to.

Ultimately, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "Batman Returns"? Oh, absolutely, guys. This movie is amazing! Granted, I don't know if it's any better or not when compared to the 1989 film, but as it's own film, it's great. The story here is really solid, the characters here all memorable and fun, the music is great, and the acting is also really solid. Guys, what else do you want me to add to it that most haven't already said about this movie? As a Batman film, it's awesome. And as a Christmas movie, it's definitely worth watching around the holidays. In fact, I'm definitely gonna be adding this to my yearly tradition of Christmas movies that I'm gonna watch every year. That's how great this movie is. And even if you haven't seen the 1989 movie yet, like I said, it's a really solid Batman movie by it's own standards that you aren't really required to watch the 1989 movie first in order to get into this one. In fact, it'll probably make you more interested in checking out the 1989 movie as well, especially knowing that both of those movies were directed by Tim Burton. In fact, since I keep mentioning the 1989 movie, like I said, I do have both movies together as a combo pack, so I'm gonna go and watch that next as soon as I get done typing this review up. I really want to see if that movie still holds up after all these years later. So yeah, I'm gonna go and do that next after this review gets uploaded.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.