A bizarre mixture of poetic brilliance and clumsy ineptitude.
Batman Returns (1992)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:43
Fresh:33
Rotten:10
Average Rating:6.5/10
Consensus: Director Tim Burton's dark, brooding atmosphere, Michael Keaton's work as the tormented hero, and the flawless casting of Danny DeVito as The Penguin and Christopher Walken as, well, Christopher Walken make the sequel better than the first.
Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Synopsis: In director Tim Burton's sequel to his successful BATMAN (1989), the Caped Crusador (Michael Keaton) is pitted against the demented, ravenous Penguin (Danny DeVito), a pitiful, orphaned... In director Tim Burton's sequel to his successful BATMAN (1989), the Caped Crusador (Michael Keaton) is pitted against the demented, ravenous Penguin (Danny DeVito), a pitiful, orphaned psychopathic freak who once went on a baby-killing spree, and a "power" hungry capitalist villain Max Shreck (Christopher Walken). As the two criminals plot to gain domination over Gotham City, BATMAN must plot to stop them. In the highly stylized BATMAN RETURNS--complete with dark, Gothic architecture and moody lighting--Batman (and his alter-ego Bruce Wayne) is thrown a third enemy, a terrible distraction: Cat Woman (fearlessly and fabulously played by Michelle Pfeiffer). She is the slinky, sharp-clawed alter-ego of Shreck's secretary Selina. Batman must overcome his own dark past, and his present love entanglements, to rid Gotham of it's evil enemies, this time with even more intricately designed sets and tongue-in-cheek humor, making BATMAN RETURNS an action-packed, but darkly fun adventure. [More]
Starring: Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken
Starring: Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Michael Murphy, Cristi Conaway, Andrew Bryniarski, Paul Reubens
Director: Tim Burton
Director: Tim Burton
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Reviews for Batman Returns
Bigger, louder, more relentlessly action-packed than its predecessor, Batman Returns batters its audience into submission.
Burton['s] staging is expert, and his character conceptions are distinctive and gratifying.
A fast, funny, exciting assault on the senses that outshines the overrated original.
Darker, more brooding and weirder than the first Batman. It's also funnier and layered with more texture.
Like a hyperactive 11-year-old, the director seems both uncomfortable with adult emotions and unable to focus on the overall portrait.
Of all the Batman pictures, this is the most striking, atmospheric and effective.
This is less of a sequel than reworking of the first film's themes, with greater attention paid to the villains (all colorful and more intriguing than the hero) and more visually inventive set pieces, albeit contained in a less coherent work.
Most of what we see is simply entertaining as hell, even if it falls short of brilliant.
Because the film's predominant motif is that of wounded individuals re-inventing themselves as wily villains, its most memorable episodes are early ones explaining each main character's transformation.
Where Burton's ideas end and those of his collaborators begin is impossible to know, but result is a seamless, utterly consistent universe full of nasty notions about societal deterioration, greed and other base impulses.
Michelle is just amazing. Every move is unpredictable, every line is said perfectly and she makes her character so seductive, she could make Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy look like Mr. Freeze.
More of the same, but nowhere near as good (funny, disturbing, obsessive) as the uneven original, revealing arrested development on every level.
This dark, brooding film, directed by Tim Burton, is no ordinary movie.
The movie in which Tim Burton mostly fixes what he got wrong ... Unfortunately, he also screws up the stuff he got right.
Latest News for Batman Returns
July 11, 2008:
Revisiting Old Batman Trailers ![]()
We've all enjoyed the long parade of trailers for The Dark Knight -- but do you remember the trailers for the earlier Batman movies? JoBlo does, and now, so can we. More...
June 02, 2006:
"Heathers" Creators Reteam for Indie "Sex"
Fans of the dark comedy classic known as "Heathers" should be pleased to learn that screenwriter Daniel Waters and leading lady Winona Ryder are re-teaming to deliver... More...
January 03, 2006:
Vincent Schiavelli Passes at 57
Character actor Vincent Schiavelli, the long-faced veteran of over 150 film and television appearances, died of lung cancer December 26 at home in Sicily. He was 57 years old. More...
August 16, 2005:
Three More Climb Aboard "X-Men 3"
Stax over at IGN Filmforce has scored a nifty little exclusive that may prove interesting to you "X-Man" fans: Bill Duke, Michael Murphy, and Olivia Williams have... More...
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