 "The Bat, The Cat and The Penguin" | 2009-09-30 |
| - Reviewed By User: A239PPUVV8O0U0 |
| Burton's sequel is as good as the first but darker. Amazing how people complain that this film was too dark (so dark that due to protest from parents, McDonald's pulled out of a Happy Meal promotion for it). But nowadays, we commend the very dark aspects of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Both of which don't even have a sense of humor about them while this does, though dark. Returns is not a movie that I would let the kids watch (if I had any, but I'd let them watch it over any piece of garbage that Disney puts out or these very low-class comedies), as this, the first film and the two newer ones show that Batman isn't a film meant for the whole family like the Marvel films (except Punisher) or the Superman films. There were complaints of Batman killing people (the Strongman imparticular) but if people knew the history of the character, they'd know that Batman killed quite a lot back in the day. But enough of that rant. Keaton is again excellent as Batman and also gets a little more screen time as Bruce. Danny DeVito, to me, seemed an odd choice for the Penguin but for this interpretation, it fits him. I actually like his version and I don't think its a disturbing portrayal. People cry out for a serious interpretation of these characters over the campy 60s series and when they get a serious one, they complain because its too dark. Just a thought though; are the people of the city so stupid as to elect someone without any real political background to become mayor or does present day life really imitate art? Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, though not my favorite, suits the mood of the film. She's out for revenge against the man who "killed" her and Batman but she feels attracted to him. The end scene between Catwoman and Batman is one of my favorites as she declines Bruce's offer, knowing her life is too screwed up to continue their relationship. And Christopher Walken again plays a good villain. He manipulates Penguin and (unknowingly) Catwoman for his own evil ends. My one complaint is that him getting the Penguin to run for mayor seems to be something that a DA, like Harvey Dent, would do instead of a business tycoon. In fact Dent was featured in many early drafts of the script and at the end would probably have become Two-Face, along with Shreck being the Penguin's older brother in earlier drafts. And Burton was attached to a Catwoman spin-off and Pfeiffer was supposed to return but after many years, the connection to this movie was lost and we got the horrible film with the equably horrible Halle Berry. Action wise it is one par with the first film. Danny Elfman returns with another solid score, making it quirky (for Penguin) and mysteriously sexy (for Catwoman). Unfortunately, due to the mixed reviews of this film and not doing as well as the first, Warners decided to not have Burton direct (resulting in the loss of Keaton) and go in a lighter direction (people can't make up their mind about how they want Batman portrayed; the tortured loner that the fans want or the family-friendly toy marketable blockbuster the studio wants). |
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 "Not the best Batman movie" | 2009-08-21 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2P7IUWB6K7907 |
This was not the best Batman movie. The beginning was awesome. While I was watching the beginning, I thought that this was going to be an awesome movie. I was wrong. The ending made no sense. Batman ripped off his mask and exposed his true identity to Max Shrek. He intended to take Shrek to the cops and if he had, Shrek would've exposed his secret identity. If Batman had taken off his mask in front of only catwoman that wouldn't have been bad because she already knew who he was.
Batman would never take off his mask and expose himself and especially not to a criminal. This was ridiculous. As I was coming home after buying this movie, I had a feeling that Batman would lose his mask in it. But I had no idea that they'd be dumb enough to make him rip it off himself.
My best friend wanted to watch this movie very badly so I started showing it to him. Ten minutes later he told me to shut it off. This movie was very popular but I know of at least two people who were not crazy about it. |
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 "worst batman movie, hands down." | 2009-07-19 |
| - Reviewed By User: A12762ZY3HPFJ7 |
i love batman. my favorite comicbook character by far. i also really liked the first movie. and have seen the other 4. given that the newest 2 (dark knight and begins) are the best, and forever/batman&robin are considered to be the worst. i must say that i have to put this movie in the bottom of them all. and it is probably one of the worst and most hated of my films ever. i just purchased and watched the bluray anthology just to double check... yep this movie sucks. heres why:
its not about batman. Micheal Keaton who is the best bruce wayne ever (even though Bale is a better batman, is barely even in the movie. the entire film focuses on the 3 (!) villains!
bastardization of the comic books. catwomen's and penguin's characters are completely destroyed and made up from nothing. terrible stories and visions. sorry Tim, you went crazy. the best 'villian' isnt even from the comics! (largely because it is played by Walken. (batman kills people...)
stupid plot all around. really now, this is the dumbest plot of any batman movie devised. rocket wielding penguins? cmon...
the score. the music is excellent HOWEVER, it is completely inappropriate for this movie. i was ready to turn this crap off when i heard the cheerful and circus-y soundtrack to batman beating up some goons or catwoman doing backflips. what the hell, has Tim also gone deaf?
overall the only good thing about this movie are the performances of the terrible characters. the actors are all top notch and i commend then for the excellent job they all did. devito is excellent. pfeffier is amazing. keaton is inspiring and walken is as usual a show stopper. i feel bad for all these people having to be associated with such terrible writing. |
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| "The best of the series." | 2009-07-13 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2PV6GK1HV54Y9 |
| Batman Returns directed by Tim Burton is definitely the best of the franchise. Michael Keaton is the only actor who can play Batman, Val Kilmer was ok, George Clooney was horrible, and Christian Bale was annoying. Michelle Pfeiffer is perfection as Catwoman, she makes this film pop and I love when she cleans herself like a real kitty would, it's hilarious! Buy this classic today, enjoy! |
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 "It's true I was there number one son...but they treated me like number two!" | 2009-06-11 |
| - Reviewed By smurfwreck |
Batman Returns is such a weird movie. It sort of holds the opposite distinction than the first Batman for me because whereas I was the perfect age for the first film, when this came out in theaters I was 15, sort of jaded and ended up pretty disappointed in the movie. In fact this is one of the first flicks that I should have loved but didn't which has only gotten worse and worse as I've gotten older.
Over the years Batman Returns has grown on my quite a bit. I love the lengths that Tim Burton went to in order to keep some semblance of creative freedom, even going so far as making Batman a minor character in a film full of villains just to keep his interest up. At the time I hated it, but now I just think it was an amazingly brave move. Hell, done right the villains usually provide the more interesting fodder for stories any way, so it stands to reason that they could conceivably carry a movie. I've always thought that Danny Devito was the only choice to play the Penguin, in particular in the somewhat gory, dark, twisted Burton style. High Society, Top Hat-Wearing, crime lords just seem goofy, but put 'em in dirty pajamas, with actual penguin-like deformities, surround them with sideshow flunkies, and I'm on board.
If the first film felt like Tim Burton invading Batman's world, than this film feels more like Batman, Catwoman, and the Penguin invading Burton's. It's unfortunate though that the series didn't end here because this film introduced a lot of aspects that, though they worked here, would go on to help ruin the further sequels. Having the Batmobile be able to jettison two thirds of it's mass to fit down a narrow alley was kind of silly and it lead to doing all kinds of weird crap with the car later on, not limited to driving up the side of a building. It was in this film where the villain to super hero ratio was upped as well. For all intents and purposes there were three villains in the film (between Devito, Pheiffer, and Walken), which would be surpassed in Batman forever by mixing Two-Face, his gang, his girls, the Riddler, and a weird gang of neon, glow-in-the-dark paint wearing freaks, and then again in Batman and Robin (Bane, Poison Ivy, that weird doctor guy, Mr. Freeze and his crazy henchmen) though at least by then there was a Robin and Batgirl to help make it a silly character filled madcap romp that, 2 hours of my life that I'll never get back. |
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| "good movie for the 90's" | 2009-05-23 |
| - Reviewed By User: A5SFXPI3UKXMK |
i remember going to the movies to see this
still a good movie
bat man movies of today are better |
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