Few things are as difficult in movie Show-biz, as launching a film that demands a sequel, and then producing a sequel feature that is as good or even better than the original, and here, with BATMAN RETURNS, Director Tim Burton pulls it off spectacularly.
Here, in this review I'm recommending the two-disc Special Edition, though I have the show on a DVD tape, only because this movie is one of the very best examples of the comic book hero genre there is, and has never been surpassed. Whatever form you find it in, treasure and enjoy it.
Beginning at the bottom in a list of superlatives, with overall design and set, viewers will find that this is the best expression of that historical Deco or Moderne style prevalent in the late '30s, when the Batman figure debuted. The buildings express the Neo-Nazi worker hero iconography of Rockefeller Center, as you see it even today in architectural sculpture over the doors and in the open spaces -- as well as in the famous lobby ceiling murals. Its a take-off from the Worlds Fair of '33 and the murals and illustrations of Jon Vassos. And Burton's design team nails it, for though it is in color, it feels nightmare black and white, which is the way people dreampt, back then. The vehicles of the heroes, The Batmobile as well as Penguin's Killer Rubber Ducky are like the toys of the period. The period costumes of all the characters are excellent and hotter, even, than those from older movies and strips.
CHRISTOPHER WALKEN: He plays not the principal villain, but an unsavory one, with a brilliant sociopathic timing that cannot be adequately described. In fact, if one were to review all the many villains large and small that Walken has created on screen, one would have to say these freaks and misfits are his professional specialties, and maybe you'd think creating them is easy to do. Not so. Myself, I remember the first time I saw Walken play, in a revival of Tennessee Williams' SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH in New York City, at the Harkness. He played Chance Wayne against Irene Worth's Ariadne del Lago, and the effect was absolutely unconventional and sensational! Originally, the play opened with Paul Newman as the hustler-gigolo, playing against Geraldine Paige as the faded movie queen in the Mississippi Riviera hotel. Young and hugely talented as she was, Paige played it like her version of Gloria Swanson or Pola Negri, with exagerated make-up. Newman played it in white silk pyjamas, unbutoned and flashing that famous washboard belly. It was fabulous! Women went nuts! It was priceless and worth far more than your seat cost. But the flaw in the production was that anybody taking one look at Newman would realize there was no reason on god's green earth why he shouldn't be a movie star, and the play depended on his beig a failed wannabe. But in the revival, Worth played the Princess like an American actress (which she was, though expatriate) with English upper-crust manners over the soul of a gutter opportunist. Perfect! Walken played Chance Wayne like a young Elvis with a greasy pompadour and a Tupelo Mississippi accent, complete with uncouth, redneck mannerisms. It was a triumph of the actor's art. Here, the role is nothing like that, but Walken brings the same unique intelligence and sensitivity to this role, and if you watch his performance whenever hes's on screen, you'll see how extremely good he is at what he does. Always fresh.
MICHAEL KEATON: He is phenomenal, not because he's super-handsome, or has a magnificent body or an arielist's agility, but because he has enough of what's required for the role -- that is, a manly persona -- and one thing extra: generosity and poise. Bruce Wane's ambivalence, sexual frustration and guilt he can and does play, but what's so good about it is that he allows his role to be the fulcrum or balance of the show, allowing his co-stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Danny DeVito to function to their advantage. Secure in his character, he never upstages them. That that's the perfect expression of Bruce's persona: He is a violent nocturnalist, but always a gentleman.
MICHELLE PFEIFFER: This is one of the most beautiful women ever to appear on the screen, and she can and does out-act just about everybody in the Biz, and has for years. Here, her take on Catwoman is so rich, so rare and unusual, she puts all preceding sisters to shame, from Lee Meriwether to Eartha Kitt, to Julie Newmar; not only for sexual desirability and believability, but for pure psychotic nymphomania. And, she does it with a look that's perfect for the period, with a head topped by a cluster of blonde curls, and wearing a slinky black dress. Madonna used it in Dick Tracy. Dietrich used it in Pittsburg. But, on top of all that, it is her transformation from frowsy, cringing secretarial doormat to snarling pyromaniac in stiched black vinyl that takes the cake. It is a performance searing in its twisted, pathetic truth.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present the one, the only, the superlative DANNY De VITO: This is an actor who's been around the block for a long time. He's given many performances on film, and most of them have been good to exceptional, but he's never had the opportunity to reach for the brass ring of screen monsterdom, and here, in BATMAN RETURNS, Tim Burton gives him the opportunity. And, I must warn you, whether or not you have seen De Vito play it, with PENGUIN or Oswald Cobblepot, Danny De Vito achieves a quality of work equal to that of Conrad Veidt, Charles Laughton or even Lon Cheney, Sr. The peaks and valleys of his frenzies, his manias and perverse lusts, his outbreaks of mindless violent malice, are a sight to behold, simultaneously hilarious and hideous; both pathetic and loathsome. You might think, 'overacting,' but no; its pure Method. Watching BATMAN RETURNS yet again I believe that Burton created this film for De Vito. As good as the other actors in the cast are, and they are excellent, it is impossible to imagine any actor playing this role even remotely as well as De Vito does. It makes you think, if the man could sing, what a RIGOLETTO he would be!
And that brings us down to what there is about the BATMAN opera that makes them unique. More than anything else, this is a set of ensemble pieces like a Hell's Kitchen series of American comedia del'Arte morality plays. The vitality of the show derives from the rigid confines of its convention. Sure, ambitious directors, often foreigners, attempt to pull and stretch the animated figures, to stuff them with fadistic pseudo-psychological theories of their own, but they don't work. The BATMAN shows sprang into life as action fantasies for American pre-teen boys during the years of the Second World War and are thrilling not because they are psychologically plausible -- they're not -- but because they transcend reality the way the marionettes of Palermo do when they re-enact the adventures of Frankish knights struggling against the Saracens before the walls of Jerusalem.
At any rate, take my advice and give yourself the opportunity to watch the great Danny De Vito play. He is as fascinating as Milton's Satan.
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February 10, 2009 "Please retry" | — | 1 | $3.99 | $2.50 |
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February 10, 2009 "Please retry" | Special Edition | 2 | $5.96 | $2.19 |
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Reviews with images
Came with slipcover and 4k digital code (4/2022)
Retailers please provide DVDs/blu-rays/4k movies with the following:1. Arrive undamaged and in mint/near-mint condition.2. Discs unscratched.3. Slipcover.4. 4k digital code.It's Batman Returns. Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny Devito, Christopher Walken. Tim Burton directed and is brilliant.It's also a Christmas movie since it takes place during Christmas.Watch the movie and stop twittling or insta-snapping or chat-grahming or snap-tocking. Put down the social-media and pay attention. Amateurs.I bought Batman (1989) 4k from a different retailer and returned it, and I went to Amazon and bought it hoping it would have the digital code and slipcover. I will find out when it arrives.I did the same with Batman Begins 4k because the one from the other retailer did not have a slipcover.I ordered The Dark Knight 4k from another retailer, but if it arrives without a slipcover, then I will return it and hope Amazon stays on top of its game with slipcovers.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2009
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Top reviews from other countries
Marcin Siemieniuk
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Reviewed in Poland on October 23, 2023
Marcin Siemieniuk
Reviewed in Poland on October 23, 2023
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Sanctorum
Flm vieillissant au son assez faible
Reviewed in Belgium on April 13, 2023Soulofman5446
I love this movie.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2023
Soulofman5446
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2023
I wanted this copy with the snap case due to it offering the open matte and widescreen presentations. Unfortunately the open matte side of the disc (which is the reason i mainly bought it) had been scratched. I can see this damage had happened during transit as the holder for the disc has broken inside thus creating loose plastic and a sharp inside. The perfect combination to scratch the disc from it's journey from the US to the UK.
Still, love the movie. Love the case despite the damage and the early dvd transfer has a lot of character. Will watch at Christmas as it's a perfect movie for that season.
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