Batman Returns (1992)
The sequel to 1989's Batman, once again directed by Tim Burton. It was a bit of a painful experience coming back to it, as I remembered it as a sequel that improved on the first movie in almost every respect. Watching it again now, I don't think that's the case anymore.
Which isn't to say that there isn't an argument to be made in its favour. This might be both the best looking live action Batman movie and the best looking movie Tim Burton ever made. Like, my god, you won't believe some of the absolute goofball shit Burton was doing with the costumes, sets and setpieces in this. If you just look at it you might be inclined to think it's some gothic surrealist masterpiece. But that illusion is broken whenever someone other than Christopher Walken opens their mouth and it shows its true nature as an, honestly, rather shlocky action movie that can't match the wit and charm of its predecessor.
So, Danny DeVito plays The Penguin, cast out by his wealthy parents as a child for his physical deformities, he grew up as a circus freak and became the boss of a gang of fellow circus performers. He returns to Gotham City to learn about his origins when corrup businessman Max Schreck (Walken) offers him a deal to return to his rightful place among the cities high society as a mayoral candidate. Meanwhile Schreck is haunted by his former secretary Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) who came back as vengeful femme fatale Catwoman after he attempted to murder her for uncovering one of his illegal schemes.
There's a lot of stuff going on in Batman Returns, probably too much for its own good. You have DeVito and Pfeiffer trying to outdo each other in who can give the most over the top performance. They try to make Penguin and Catwoman these iconic characters by turning the intensity and eccentricity of their performances up to 11, 100% of the time, in a well intentioned but ultimately futile effort to capture even just a glimpse of the natural charisma Nicholson brought to the first movie. Meanwhile Christopher Walken steals the entire movie from right under their noses by, more or less, just doing his regular shtick. It honestly can't be overestimated how much he's carrying this entire movie on his back because, god knows, the script isn't doing any heavy lifting.
It has, as I see it, two major issues. There's too much going on, for one. Between three different villains who are really only sometimes working towards a common goal and most of the time towards conflicting ones (Schreck wants to install Penguin as a puppet mayor so he can build a fake power plant, Catwoman wants revenge on Schreck, Penguin wants at first to be loved by and then take revenge on Gotham City) and about half a dozen half baked schemes they hatch to accomplish these goals it just becomes convoluted and a bit aimless.
The second issue is that it thinks it's way funnier than it actually is. Tim Burton is still a guy who knows how to pull off good comedic timing but the material in this is really rough. There are so many lame puns, forced dirty jokes and failed one liners in this that are clearly meant to be witty but honestly, just make almost everyone come off as kind of a dick.
And, you know, there is something really bizarre how this rather shlocky and kind of half assed material is complemented by Burton at his most baroque and operatic, where almost every scene feels like some wintery gothic art deco tableau with some of the most lavish costumes, sets and elaborately choreographed scenes you've ever seen. And, you know, it starts to feel like you're watching a Pink Floyd light show accompanying a performance by a mediocre stand up comedian, or listening to a philharmonic orchestra performing a Smash Mouth song.
Returns isn't bad, but despite Burton and most of the actors giving it their all, it doesn't really live up to the first movie. It's a really impressive production, that's for sure and that's why I used to prefer it over the first one but on rewatch it's just way too unwieldy and vulgar to work as well as its predecessor. I still have a bit of a soft spot for it and make no mistake, there is some absolutely sick shit in this. But despite everything it just never quite coheres the way Batman '89 did.
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