Batman Returns is the story of the Gotham City Masked
Crusader's battle with his newest enemy, The Penguin. The story also features
Michelle Pfeiffer in the role of Selena Kyle aka “Cat-Woman.” After being
pushed out of a window and left for dead by her boss, the once shy Selena comes
back as a devouring, sexual, whip wielding and powerful villain dressed in an
erotic leather S&M outfit.
The villains certainly steal the show and Michael Keaton's
Bruce Wayne/Batman character seems to settle into a supporting role in this
film. Danny DeVito delivers an extremely entertaining performance as a broken,
deformed, angry and violent man known as “The Penguin.” It is difficult not to
sympathize with the character.
Batman Returns is
probably the best example of Tim Burton's style I have ever seen. The film
doesn't really satisfy me as a Batman movie and, being a big comic book fan
myself, I did not really enjoy the character of Batman in this film. The film
does, however, create such an interesting world and spellbinding atmosphere. The
film is a beautiful, hypnotic and dark painting and Burton is the artist to
paint it. The Elfman score pulls you into the crazy and dark world of the “bat-man.”
The contrast between the darkness of Gotham and the light of
Christmas decorations is so visually mesmerizing and horrific. The grotesque
and unsettling distortions of familiar Christmastime visuals made for some
memorable imagery and immediately brought another Tim Burton film, The Nightmare
Before Christmas, to mind. The film is full of spectacularly gothic and
unsettling images like swarming bats and a gigantic, ominous Christmas tree. The
film's visuals are certainly more interesting than its story which, for comic
book fans, may not really be all that impressive.
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