A RELOOK AT BATMAN RETURNS

I got into a discussion the other day with good friend and fellow movie enthusiast Jaret Morlan about the film BATMAN RETURNS.  While I like the film, I find it inferior to the original 1989 BATMAN and I can point out what I feel are quite a few flaws.  Jaret countered my position, saying he felt that it was a better film than its 1989 predecessor. Not only a better film, but that it held up better over the years and did a better job of character development.  Having been a while since I sat down and watched the film, I threw out a few arguments from what I could remember. He countered these arguments and my memory wasn't good enough to provide enough substance to re-counter.  My point isn't to show that this is a bad film, because it isn't. It's actually pretty good.  My point is to simply provide more merit and justification behind why I feel how I do.

Last night, I sat down and gave the film what is an estimated tenth viewing with undivided attention.  I realized that in the past, I often finished the film feeling like I had missed out on something.  Analyzing why this was, I came to the conclusion that this is because of two reasons.  First and foremost the film is extraordinarily visual.  There is so much to look at on the screen, that my brain is so busy trying to process all that it sees, that my ears don't hear everything that they need to hear.  Add in the fact that important statements to the story are quick and subtle, and it makes sense how one could miss what was said.

Let's start with the basics.....

First off, phenomenal casting.  As they were in the original BATMAN, Michael Keaton, Michael Gough and Pat Hingle were wonderful.  Danny Devito as Penguin was brilliant.  I can't see anyone else in the role. He did a tremendous job. Seriously tell the Golden Raspberry academy to suck an egg.  Michelle Pfeiffer was an excellent Catwoman, and Christopher Walken nailed the devious Max Shreck to a T.  It was also fun seeing Paul Reubens, Vincent Schiavelli, Doug Jones, Diane Salinger, Branscombe Richmond and an assortment of other actors in smaller roles as well.

Danny Elfman's music as it does with every other film he scores, fit the movie like a glove.

The makeup artists, set designers, and costume department all should have won academy awards.  The visuals in this film are very impressive.

I particularly enjoyed the slow and subtle buildup to our first viewing of the Penguin.  Which leads me to my first question.

Nature Vs Nuture:  Was Penguin born a monster or was he made into one? 

Unlike the comics and BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES which depicts what was otherwise a sensitive and empathetic kid being turned into a monster through years of bullying, and mental and emotional abuse, BATMAN RETURNS went for more of THE BAD SEED element.

Evidence in the film supports this.

Upon his birth his parents don't seem to lock him in a cage because of his hideous appearance, they lock him in a cage because of he's dangerous.  The scene where he kills the family cat, shows that.  Of course he's angry that his parents abandoned him, but they didn't do so out of embarrassment or shame as much as they did so because they realized that he was evil.

When Penguin kidnaps Max Shreck at the beginning and gives his dramatic speech about wanting human dignity, respect and to find out who his parents were I bought it.  Yet as the film progresses it is heavily suggested that the speech was half truth and half manipulation. Penguin wanted the respect he preached about, but he was already aware of who his parents were and what his real name was.  He simply wanted access to the Public Records department so he could make a list of all of the names of the first born sons.

Batman even says this in a conversation with Alfred.  He literally comes out and says, "I think he knows who his parents are."

Therefore the whole, "I wanna find my parents. Discover my human name" was all bull.  He knew who his parents were and he knew his name was Oswald Cobblepot.  It was nothing more than a con.

And I can't fault the film for going in this direction, but I think it would have made for a more interesting character had he been a good little boy, tormented and chastised because of his appearance that had been turned into monster.  I would have appreciated that more over the born a monster story they went with.

Secondly it never made much sense to me why Penguin would want to take his vengeance out on the first born sons of Gotham.  That he would want them to suffer the same fate that he had to endure.  His anger was with his parents,not with himself.  It would have made more sense for him to have wanted to harm the parents of the sons, more so than the sons themselves. Yet that wouldn't have been as dark and it certainly wouldn't have been as disturbing.  Not so much a complaint as it is a difference in style.

Which leads me into the Max Shreck character.   First off, is this guy a real life Paul Ryan or what?

Let's do a quick checklist
Has zero regard for the people he hurts in making his decisions? CHECK
Could care less of the negative effects his decisions has on wildlife and the environment? CHECK
Only other people he cares about are his own family? CHECK
Easily willing to sell out someone he claims to stand by if it means making him look better? CHECK
Described as an "insufferable son of a bitch" behind closed doors by fellow politicians? CHECK
Only cares about money and power? CHECK
Puts on a front and fake appearance saying insincere and disingenuous things to garner public support? CHECK
Would live by a motto such as  "One Can never have too much power. If my life has a meaning, that's the meaning" CHECK

Yes indeedy doody,  Max Shreck is Paul Ryan.


And Max Shreck......Let's talk about Max Shreck

With that said, it helps to illustrate why BATMAN RETURNS was not as successful as BATMAN.  While Penguin is pretty bad and Catwoman is rather complicated (we'll get to her later) the real villain of this film is Max Shreck.  While you understand and appreciate that as an adult, you don't really get it as a kid.  When you're little, a 7, 8, 9, 10 year old and you're in love with Batman, you want to see him kicking ass against Penguin and Catwoman.  You could care less about some crooked, devious fiend tycoon. And yet it was Shreck whom the film focuses on as the main antagonist. Seeing the target audience was a demographic whose basic understanding of politics is that they exist and have something to do with why mom and Dad are in a sour mood most of the time....I'm not sure if this was the wisest choice. Counter act if you will that perhaps BATMAN RETURNS was going for a more mature audience but I don't know many  teenagers, let alone adults with a good thorough understanding of dirty politics, who get Happy Meals at McDonalds or shop in the toy section of Wal-Mart for themselves.  Both of which sold a large assortment of toys from the film.

This along with the film being overtly sexual, especially the Penguin and Catwoman with their consistent innuendos. Penguin himself was an oppressed sexual deviant, deprived of what he could only fantasize about. Catwoman an exploratory hedonist, eager to explore both her masochistic and sadistic sides.  Again, not sure if this type of material was suitable for an audience made up of at least 50% or more of kids between the ages of 7 and 13.

And now for Selina Kyle aka Catwoman

I never quite got the character.  I paid as close attention as I could and I never quite got her.  Who exactly she was. What exactly her motivation was.  I mean I understood it to a point.

You have an awkward, goofy, shy, diffident individual who views herself as worthless and pathetic. She yearns to be important, desired and powerful.  Upon being pushed out a window by Max Shreck, she snaps. Suddenly she's tough, important, desirable and a bad ass.  Behind the mask and the skin tight leather she is the exact opposite of who Selina Kyle is.

And I had to ask, is this conscious or subconscious?  Was it a split personality? Were we dealing with a schizophrenic? Selina and Bruce talked about duality in their conversation, so it was certainly suggested, but I do think overall Selina Kyle realized she was Catwoman and Catwoman realized she was Selina Kyle.

I say this because as badass as she wanted to be, she did show genuine concern as well as resentment against Penguin for killing the Ice Princess.

So I have to ask myself this question...

Why did Catwoman find Batman such a threat?  And why did she want to help Penguin to destroy his image? 

My conclusion here is that she was fixated on destroying Max Shreck in every way that she possibly could. Her vision was so clouded with a vengeful plot to blow up his buildings and eventually kill him that she would let nothing stand in her way. And I have to think that she must have felt that Batman would stand in her way.  That he would try and stop her.   It's the only way I can make sense of why she was so eager to help Penguin against him.

Yet the actual physically fighting him I can only speculate was built up anger and frustration she felt from men over her life. Rejection, abuse, neglect, chauvinism, and an assortment of other psychological issues she had developed over the years.  Batman represented masculinity at its finest and she wanted a chance to show that she as a woman could not only stand up to it, but take it down.  She thrived for the fight, because within it she could display that she was anything but weak and helpless.

She says to Alfred upon leaving Wayne Manor that Bruce makes her feel the way she really hopes that she is.   Touching line, although contradictory to post actions.

And now we get into the ending of the film which I have an assortment of problems with. 

First structurally.

Things happen way to fast.  Problems are followed by solutions, only to be followed by more problems and then more solutions in a matter of minutes. Sometimes even within a matter of seconds. This is problem throughout the whole film, but especially at the end.

Penguin sends out his fleet of circus performers to kidnap all of the kids, and Batman stops it with relative ease.  Penguin who didn't even have a backup plan, suddenly goes to plan B and has an army full of penguins with missiles strapped to their backs ready to blow up the city.  Batman who hasn't even discovered Penguin's next move, already has a counter plan cooked up to spoil the Penguin's plan B.  This all happens in a matter of minutes without a proper buildup. Hell there isn't any buildup.  It just happens.

Secondly, why didn't the poisoned water have any effect on Max Shreck?  Catwoman pulls him down into the water, he spends a good amount of time consumed within it and he comes out of it completely unaffected.   Yet the same water ends up killing Penguin.  How am I supposed to make sense of that?

Penguin was in the water longer than he was?  Well maybe, but I would also think that Penguin might have a greater, not weaker immunity.

Maybe it was Tim Burton's way of showing that Penguin was more of a human being than Max Shreck was.  I don't know.  All I know is that it ends Penguin's life and Max Shreck comes out of it unscathed.

Thirdly!!  Batman removing his mask in front of Catwoman and Max Shreck!!  Jaret and I already went over this and made our statements.  I said it was uncharacteristic and illogical of Batman to do this.  He said that it was an act of compassion and love, to demonstrate to Catwoman that they were one in the same and that she could trust him.  Jaret argued what would it matter, because she already knew he was Batman.

And now I answer it this way.

Batman's original intention was for he and Catwoman to take Max Shreck to jail and for them to go away together. He did not know that Shreck was going to be killed. And think about that for a second.  If Shreck goes to jail knowing the true identity of Batman, he would certainly expose that information as quickly as he could to as many people as he could. As powerful and important of a man as he was, even behind bars, his voice would be heard loud and clear. There's nothing Batman could do about it and it'd be less than 24 hours before the whole city of Gothom....the whole world knew that Bruce Wayne and Batman were one in the same.

And Batman is intelligent enough to know this.  He's wise enough to have calculated this inevitable risk. Therefore I have to continue to sum up this script or directorial choice as a poor one.

To be Nit picky for a second....
While I sincerely appreciated Commissioner Gordon's role in this film, I could have used a bit more of it. I loved how he was the one that always had Batman's back and knew Batman's true intention even while Batman was being framed. I would have liked a bit more development on this, even if it were simply a thank you from Batman at the end.


The last of the random thoughts....
Oddly enough I also tip my hat to the film's acknowledgement of Vickie Vale from BATMAN. She's mentioned a few different times throughout the film and in referencing the relationship she had with Batman/Bruce Wayne it helps to further the development of that character. It also helps to illustrate why he has such a deep, rooted fascination with Selina Kyle.  In juxtoposition to a more "normal" (if I dare use that word) woman like Vickie Vale,  Selina Kyle is as abnormal, and deranged as is he. A desire for intimacy, perhaps met through the mutual attraction of a woman as dark and demented as him.

Also have to say that the scene that turned me off the most as a kid was where Penguin bites the nose of the image consultant during the surprise party Max Shreck has in honor of convincing Penguin to be mayor.  I always thought as a kid it was disturbing and out of place.  Now I appreciate it for what it was.  A demonstration of how bizarre and corrupt the world of politics is.  How someone can literally bite the nose of one of their workers and everyone goes about their merry way campaigning because of they're getting paid to do so. 

I also visualized what would happen in 2018 compared to 1992, when Penguin gave his actual opinion on the citizens of Gothom and ended up shooting at them at the end.  I can't help but think the people of today would be ok with him saying such things.  After all Donald Trump declared that he could literally shoot someone and people would still love him.  Twenty six years ago people brought eggs and tomatoes to a speech.  Today they bring bright red baseball caps sporting "Make American Great Again" in bold white lettering.

Overall I think BATMAN RETURNS is a decent film.  Better than BATMAN FOREVER, way, way, way, way, way (add another 10,000 ways) better than BATMAN AND ROBIN.  Yet a distant second to BATMAN and not as good as the Christopher Nolan films.