Batman Overview: Batman Returns

Yes, Pee Wee Herman is the Penguin’s father in Tim Burton’s sequel, Batman Returns. It is among the many things Burton gets wrong about Batman. Given free reign after the success of Batman three years earlier, Returns is first and foremost a Tim Burton movie with Batman in it. Are we spoiled today with Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of the character? Yes.

Tim Burton’s Batman was grounded in a more realistic Gotham City, but in Returns Burton turns to the underground monsters of the city and picks from the vile underbelly all sorts of the grotesque. Danny Devito’s Penguin is literally a monster in Burton’s eyes. The comics made him a gangster named Oswald Cobblepot, and even Arkham City gave him some credit as a threat and a believable history as a tough as nails British gangster–one of the best parts of that game–while Burton reduces him to a bottom feeder. Burton even mimics the birth of Moses as Cobblepot is delivered to penguins…living underneath Gotham City…who adopt him…. Burton took so much literally with this adaptation and it shows.

Burton introduces two more villains with varying degrees of verisimilitude. Michelle Pfieffer’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman as a mousey secretary turned cat-burglar through a mystical transformation (death), and Christopher Walken’s Max Schreck, a shrewd businessman whose money driven ways are the cause of Kyle’s death. This narrative line is in ways more believable than the Penguin, but Schreck is the real villain here, becoming puppet master over the Penguin while Batman and Catwoman team up against him–we’ll see something similar in the upcoming Dark Knight Rises.

But then there is Batman. Michael Keaton is back, but is Batman? There is common criticism of Batman’s actions in the Batman Returns and how much they refer to the source. To Burton, to have Batman strap dynamite to a criminal and push him away, allowing him to die–and thus killing him–is okay. In what other interpretation is this okay? In the comics Batman refuses to even kill the most heinous of villains, the Joker, and in Batman Begins he prefaces the death (?) of Ra’s Al Ghul with ‘I won’t kill you, but I don’t have to save you.’ Returns is comical in retrospect, but not in a good way. It’s as much an example of style over substance as Batman and Robin, but saved by a rollicking score and some very well constructed scenes, almost none involving Batman.

Very little of the narrative has anything to do with the source material. Burton’s writers are careful to actually get Catwoman as a character right: whose side is she on? This is purposely left unclear but her seductive nature is hidden and clearly a response to her own self imposed limitations from earlier in the film. As a Cat-burglar she’s allowed to set herself free from her own shackles but without that outlet she’s cynical and self-defeating.

Gordon, again, is incompetent as a character. He casually says “Thanks for saving the day, Batman.” Contrast this more jovial soul with the Gordon from Batman: Year One, and you’ll wonder how any of the producers get away with this.

But the surefire sign that Burton is phoning this in as a Batman movie is the long serpentine shot which crawls over the Carnival which sits atop Penguin’s underground lair. This is the result of the creative freedom that Burton had earned and later coupled with some of the more surreal elements of the film–like Penguin ‘hypnotizing’ Schreck–, Elfman’s score and the transformative villains it all takes on an element of the grotesque.

Burton is clearly a visual filmmaker and a basic storyteller. His concepts are small scale so he can create massive worlds of his own unique brand and Batman Returns expresses this.

Batman Returns is an entertaining film, but it’s made by movie producers interested in creating a brand, so plot threads are thin and non-existent. It was successful enough to green-light two sequels, but the direction Burton led to was cartoonish and comical, and pushing it away from the serious tone and examinations that the comics were offering at the time. Partly a result of Hollywood Blockbuster filmmaking and marketing executives, Batman Returns is extremely flawed as a Batman film, but as a film it’s a good example of filmmaking at the time. It’s got some great moments–when Schreck pushes Kyle out the window and she is reborn as Catwoman is a great scene almost out of a horror film–but it’s all so uneven, and Batman rarely features in it so in the end it’s such an odd piece of work to watch.

Bits and Bats

• One of the more violent Batman films, parents groups were concerned about children watching the film. Penguin’s ‘bite’ is notably gruesome, so much so that McDonalds had to halt their line of Batman Returns Happy Meal Toys.
• Take another look at Christopher Walken’s hair and ask yourself if that’s someone you want to do business with.
• Double Entendres galore: The Penguin sees a woman sitting on a desk, and responds to Max’s statement (about filling the mayor’s office), “I’d like to fill her void” and “Teach her my French flipper trick!” while suggestively waggling his fin. He then further fantasizes what women would say to him such as, “I need you, Oswald. I need you now.” Max finally tells the Penguin what he thinks is the ultimate benefit of being mayor: “Unlimited poontang.” (From IMDB)
• The Catwoman sighting ends the film, but Catwoman is never seen again. I feel her inclusion in Forever or Batman and Robin would have helped with the world building, but it wouldn’t have been the first time Batman Forever screwed that up with Two-Face.

Next up: Batman Forever in a double header!