Deep Dive DC: Wes Looks at Batman Returns

For our second week of vaguely Christmas themed articles, we’re reviving Deep Dive DC to look at the Direct Sequel to Tim Burton’s 1989 classic. My friends, this is Batman Returns! Tim Burton got to have some fun in the last film but was kept on a bit of a short leash. However, when the first film proved to be a smash hit, when sequel time inevitably arrived, the higher ups gave Burton complete creative control of the project and told him to go nuts and go nuts he most certainly did with a movie that is loaded to the brim with Tim Burton’s signature weirdness and gothic style. Burton really let his freak flag fly for this bad boy and while it’s definitely not for everyone and is not without its flaws, I personally love the movie, weirdness and all. And of course, much like Iron Man 3 from last week, the movie takes place at Christmas time, though that doesn’t really factor into the plot. So what is the plot. Well, local wealthy industrialist Max Shreck is planning to build a power plant that could ultimately mean bad things for Gotham. Both the Mayor and Bruce Wayne oppose Shreck’s plan, but that doesn’t mean Max is willing to back down. When Max’s assistant Selina Kyle discovers Max’s shady dealings, Max tosses her out of a four-story window. However, with the help of… some magical cats, I guess… Selina survives and is reborn as the nefarious Catwoman, who wastes no time putting the moves on The Batman. Meanwhile, Shreck is kidnapped by a deformed sewer dwelling crime boss who calls himself The Penguin who has also discovered evidence of Max’s wrongdoing and the two strike a deal. Max helps Penguin reintegrate into society and win the hearts of Gotham City for his own nefarious purposes and Penguin agrees to run for mayor at Max’s prompting, likely so Max can have a mayor who will approve his power plant. With the twisted Penguin slowly winning over the unsuspecting citizens and the crazed Catwoman running amok, it looks like the Caped Crusader has his work cut out for him. Let’s take a look at Batman Returns.

Main Character:

I guess Batman is still the main character in this movie, but weirdly enough, he doesn’t really get as much to do here. Don’t get me wrong, the caped crusader is still here to stop the bad guys and do awesome Batman things, but he feels a bit pushed to the side so that the villains can take center stage. It comes across as if Burton really wanted to make a movie about these new characters and only included Batman because he felt obligated. The most interesting thing that Batman does in this movie is better discussed in the next section when we talk about his relationship to a certain feline femme fatale. However, despite his lack of focus in this story, we know from the last movie that Michael Keaton is awesome and that comes through in this movie. He's appropriately stoic as Batman, but still has that dry wit that gave the character plenty of personality like in the last film. But, let’s move on to the real main characters, the villains.

Villain:

This is going to be a big section. The first movie only had one major villain to deal with while this sucker has three. Let’s start with Max Shreck, the corrupt business man with weird hair played by the eternally eccentric Christopher Walken. A fully original character but sharing many traits with minor villains of the Batman mythos like Roland Daggett and Rupert Thorne, Max is the epitome of corporate greed, building a power plant for the sole purpose of monopolizing all the energy in Gotham so he can make the citizens pay through the nose for it, all while maintaining the public façade that he’s some kind of philanthropist. Anyone who attempts to expose him meets a horrible end, provided there are no magic alley cats around to revive them. Yeah, I have nothing to say about the magic alley cats, that was just weird. My point is, Max is a great bad guy. As I mentioned, Max is played by Christopher Walken and his performance is pretty extra, even by Walken standards, and when you have to act opposite a crazed Danny Devito covered in prosthetics and an unhinged Michelle Pfeiffer in a skin-tight leather dominatrix outfit, that’s saying something. Fun fact, in one of the earlier drafts of the script, it was going to be revealed that Max was actually Penguin’s long-lost brother. How interesting would that have been? It probably would have filled in a few plot holes and would have made their dynamic and their story all the more poetic.

This leads me nicely into The Penguin himself. Penguin is arguably one of Batman’s most classic foes behind The Joker so it’s only natural that he’d be next in line to challenge the caped crusader when sequel time came around. And when adapting a comic book character for the big screen, it’s expected that some changes be made. The Penguin we got in this movie differs greatly from his comic book counterpart, but then you could say the same about The Joker last time and that’s fine as long as the essence of the character remains intact. However, here’s the thing about this interpretation of The Penguin. On paper, this character is kind of a mess. It’s very clear that no one could agree on what this character was supposed to be. Tim Burton clearly saw Penguin as this tragic Phantom of the Opera style figure while the other screen writers wanted to make Penguin this gross irredeemable monster and the two ideas just don’t mesh. It’s true, the strange misunderstood outcast is one of Tim Burton’s favorite character archetypes and Burton clearly wants us to feel sympathy for this poor penguin man. But then, Penguin’s actions in the film don’t support that. The first thing he does once he’s up on the surface is put his plan to kidnap and murder children into motion, and if we look at Batman’s research, it’s heavily implied that this isn’t the first time he’s done this. Not to mention the mention the fact that he’s a disgusting pervert who seems to always be dripping bile out of his mouth. The movie just can’t decide what it wants this character to be and it makes it difficult to know what to feel during certain scenes. Do we want to see him accepted by society or do we want to see Batman foil his evil plan to rule over the wretched pin-headed puppets of Gotham? This movie is very confused. All that having been said though, through his performance alone, Danny Devito, against all odds, makes this character work. Sure he may be wildly inconsistent, but when Danny Devito delivers a chilling line with that cold and menacing delivery, you don’t care, you are captivated by this character. He’s hilarious when he wants to be, threatening when he needs to be and even at times can be pretty scary. While this version of The Penguin may differ greatly from more traditional interpretations, I think because of Devito’s performance, it’s become one of my favorite adaptations of the character. Oh and if I don't mention it, someone will. When it shows baby Oswald Cobblepot being abandoned by his parents at the very beginning, his father is played by the great Paul Reubens, a role he would later reprise in the TV series Gotham.

I saved the best for last. Michelle Pfeiffer steals the show as Catwoman in this movie. While I’m partial to Eartha Kitt because, well, she’s Eartha Kitt, Michelle Pfeiffer still ranks as one of the best cinematic Catwomen of all time. She is positively unhinged in this movie, chewing so much scenery I’m surprised there was any left for Walken and Devito when she was done. I also love the design. Between this and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas, which came out the following year, Tim Burton loves him the stitching design on his female characters. And with that skin-tight leather dominatrix outfit, I swear that Tim Burton just inserted some of his personal fetish porn into this movie and no one noticed because it fit the tone of the movie so well. Fun fact, Michelle Pfeiffer did all her own whip stunts in this movie, and she still practices with it to keep her skills sharp. I could watch Catwoman steal entire scenes all day in this movie, it’s a shame that we never got her return that was teased at the end of the film. Nothing against Anne Hathaway or Zoey Kravitz, but no cinematic Catwoman who has come after has come anywhere near as gloriously over-the-top as Michelle Pfeiffer. This is just how I like my Catwoman. Too morally grey to be a full-fledged good guy, not quite evil enough to be a straight up villain but just crazy enough to be a blast to watch. And naturally, Michelle Pfeiffer has great chemistry with Michael Keaton and makes for a much better love interest than Vicki Vale from the first movie. While Vicki accepted that Bruce had to be Batman, we learn in this movie that she couldn’t handle being in a relationship with Batman. However, in Selina Kyle, Bruce Wayne has found someone who not only can handle his crazy but can match it. However, this relationship is still doomed to tragedy as even though Selina wants to be with Bruce, she cannot let go of her grudge against Max and must go to a place Bruce cannot follow. Still, Michelle Pfeiffer makes the most of every second of screen time she was given and turns in one of the most memorable performances in this or any Batman film.

Memorable Scenes:

Yeah, we’re not discussing side characters for this one. Any significant new characters introduced in this movie are villains and returning characters like Alfred or Commissioner Gordon aren’t different enough from how they were in the first movie to warrant further analyses. However, we do have two scenes I’d like to talk about and of course, both of them involve Catwoman. First up, we have the scene were Penguin and Catwoman meet for the first time. Oh, My, God, this scene is something else. It’s like Michelle Pfeiffer and Danny Devito made a bet before the camera started rolling to see who could chew more scenery and things kind of got out of hand from there. Penguin is at his most gross and perverted in this scene, but also at his most entertaining and Catwoman is able to match him perfectly. I can watch them banter for the entire runtime, I love this scene so much. Also, I don’t know if Michelle Pfeiffer actually ate that bird, but given how into the roll she clearly was, I wouldn’t be surprised if she did.

The second is the scene at Max Shreck’s masquerade ball where Bruce and Selina dance. I don’t think I’m breaking any new ground by pointing out the symbolism of how Bruce and Selina are the only ones not wearing masks because their real faces are their true disguises. This scene is a great moment for their dynamic. Selina is there to kill Max and Bruce tries to stop her and Selina is genuinely conflicted. Then they reveal their identities to one another by repeating what they said to one another as Batman and Catwoman, “Mistletoe can be Deadly if you Eat it, but a Kiss can be even Deadlier if you Mean it.” It’s a great scene and a great showcase for the chemistry between Keaton and Pfeiffer.

Story:

I’m admittedly reaching a bit here, but I think we’re meant to see each of the film’s villain as a dark reflection of Batman himself. With Shreck, we see what Bruce could have been had he chose to use his vast wealth for evil purposes. With Penguin, we see someone who claims to wish to protect the city, not for altruistic reasons, but to feed his ego and further his evil schemes, and with Catwoman, we see an equal to Batman who is willing to go to darker places than he is. It's not the strongest of metaphors, but it’s definitely there.

The Dark DC Factor:

This is a Tim Burton movie. I cannot stress enough how much this is a Tim Burton movie. The first movie kept Tim Burton on a bit of a short leash, but this time around, the dog has left the yard and is running wild all over the neighborhood. Tim Burton’s creepy gothic style is all over this film and with it comes several dark and disturbing moments. I mean Christ, the movie opens with baby Penguin eating a cat and his parents dumping him in a river as the opening credits roll over a cradle floating through the sewer. Yeah, this movie is not fucking around and it only gets worse from here. Creepy imagery, severed hands, toxic sludge, dominatrix cat people, this movie has it all. One of the creepiest moments is at the end after Catwoman kills Max by frying him with a taser. Batman digs through the debris looking for Selina, only to find Max’s charred body, still with a look of horror etched in his face. However, my favorite moment in the film comes right after Max introduces Penguin to his campaign manager. The campaign manager insults him and like any rational human being, Penguin straight up bites the man’s nose off like he’s professional wrestling legend Haku (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look it up, it’s quite a story). I love this moment because it perfectly captures how beneath the thin veneer of sophistication he tries to drape himself in, Penguin is little more than a mad animal. Actually, in that regard, he reminds me a great deal of Professor Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective. Vincent Price, who played Ratigan, was Tim Burton’s idol, so that may not necessarily be a coincidence.

Final Thoughts: This is a deeply flawed film, but it is also a very enjoyable one. In a world of Batman movies that try to be hyper realistic, it's nice that we have a movie that just goes balls to the wall crazy with over-the-top villains and endless weirdness. I didn't even have time to mention the army of kamikaze rocket penguins, that how much crazy there is stuffed in this film. However, you may have noticed that our Christmas movies for this year haven't really had much to do with Christmas. Well, on Christmas day, we'll be covering a movie... that also doesn't involve Christmas... but still has a festive holiday theme. You'll see what I mean when we get there. Happy Hogswatch everybody!