Batman Returns
Dir: Tim Burton
1992
*****
Tim Burton has been quoted as saying that he prefers Batman Returns to the original movie because he learned from all the mistakes he made the first time round and corrected them. I'm not sure what those mistakes were but I would totally agree with him that his sequel is better than the first. The formula and existing style worked, so rightfully he didn't change it although I think the original story might have been better than Burton's re-write, we'll never know but I would have loved to have seen Billy Dee Williams' Two-face Harvey. In truth the only real challenge Burton had was to find a bad guy as good as Jack Nicholson's Joker. It's standard now but Burton's idea to have 2 villains in the sequel (bigger, better, stronger) was a bit of a masterstroke. Superman II had 2 villains (well, four technically) but it doesn't really count as Lex Luthor took somewhat of a backseat. Technically Batman Returns has three villains but one (the rather sinister Max Shreck played brilliantly by Christopher Walken) was brand new to the Batman universe. It worked but it is still puzzling why they'd come up with a new character when they had a plethora of bad guys to choose from. If it is one thing the world of Batman doesn't lack, it's bad guys. Again, why couldn't we have had Billy Dee Williams' Two-face Harvey? (I'm not going to let this go). The real success of the film is Penguin played by an unrecognisable (both in performance and look) Danny DeVito. Michelle Pfeiffer brought a sexiness to the franchise with her version of Catwoman but for me the film is all about the Penguin, whose origin story is by far the best of the whole series. It's bigger, darker and even a little more cartoon-like. It's a Burton film on steroids. I can see why he would want to leave on a high but I also see why some question what he did with the character. He was also quoted as saying his favorite Batman comic was Alan Moore's The Killing Joke and that it was hugely influential to his films. I can't see that at all to be honest, but I do love his Batman films, they're so unique in the cinematic superhero world and they have paved the way in some respect and have shown others how it should be done. Shame he hadn't remembered this later in his career really but for all his faults, there isn't another director out there like him, he is hugely talented and he did Bats proud.