Batman Returns (Film Review)

1992 Warner Bros.
Directed by: Tim Burton; Written by: Daniel Waters and Sam Hamm
Starring: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Michael Murphy, and Vincent Schiavelli
MPAA Rating: PG-13; Running Time: 126 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 10/10

In an opulent mansion, distorted cries of a newborn baby ring out over the screams of the delivering mother. The cries sound inhuman, and as the child grows into a toddler, it's kept in a cage, where it grabs the family cat and pulls it inside for dinner. The horrified parents take the child in its bassinet to city park, and throw it in the river. Like some monstrous Moses, the baby floats into the sewer, until it reaches an old underground zoo exhibit...and a cadre of enormous penguins. Flash forward 33 years (Christ parallel?), and it's Christmas season in Gotham City. Families gathers in the town square to celebrate. First, they're attacked by violent gang called Red Triangle, but saved by Batman. Then the mayor's baby is kidnapped by a Red Triangle member, but is rescued by...a guy who looks like a penguin? And just to add to the chaos, now prowling the streets is a woman dressed like a black leather cat? What the hell is wrong with Gotham City?

Tim Burton's Batman Returns makes no effort to appear like it's occurring in the real world. This film is a fairy tale, featuring a guy who sees himself as and dresses up like a bat, a guy who looks like a penguin and drools black oil, and a woman who not only dresses like a cat, but apparently has nine lives. It is essentially all filmed on a soundstage, lit by the cinematographer in a way that purposely makes Batman Returns look like it was shot in an inkwell. It's beautiful.

The brilliant Michael Keaton returns as a guy with serious identity issues, bored to the point of nonexistence as his human alter-ego, Bruce Wayne, only feeling alive when he's wearing his batsuit and either beating criminals to a pulp, or getting licked and scratched by Catwoman. As a woman with a fractured psyche, Michelle Pfeiffer is incredible as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, full of rage and confusion and sadness. Finally, Danny DeVito hams it up as the visually repulsive Penguin, who naturally appears how Bruce Wayne sees himself. Somehow, though, through all the black bile and prosthetics, DeVito also brings a grand sense of pathos to the evil birdman. 

Meanwhile, Burton and his crew are all at the top of their game. The film's grand, snow-kissed sets, based on fascist architecture, look incredible, and Burton shoots them in a kinetic, impressionistic fashion. Meanwhile, composer, Danny Elfman, provides one of the greatest film soundtracks of the 90's. He creates apt, swirling, intertwined themes for each of the main characters, forming such a firm sense of place, you can shut yours eyes and let your ears transport you to Burton's Gotham. This isn't a superhero film--it's a brilliantly acted, auteur-created, thematically deep, surrealistic, expressionist masterpiece.