Batman Returns

  Gotham City has always been depicted as a shadowy city filled with crime and terror, who's only hope lies in the hands of Bruce Wayne, who we know better as Batman. Tim Burton (director) and Bo Welch (production design) create a city of gotham that is darker and stranger then we are used to. Batman Returns (1992) explains the origins of two characters from the Gotham universe: The Penguin (Danny DeVito) and Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer). Evil businessman Max Shreck (Christopher Walken) uses The Penguin in a scheme to take control of Gotham and turns his secretary, Selina Kyle, into Catwoman in the process. Of course, it is up to Batman (Michael Keaton) to save Gotham from the corrupt and power hungry and decide what place Catwoman has in his life.

  Batman Returns is a film that brings it's audience into a world that only seems to exist somewhere between the DC comic books and the macabre mind of Burton. Burton's background as an animator and past films lend to the style he has created that relies heavily on art direction and set design (which we can also attribute in part to Bo Welch). The cinematography and editing of the film are composed of longer shots that give the brilliant cast time to show off their chops and allows the audience to gaze in awe at Gotham with it's looming buildings, maudlin streets, and it's nearly constant depressing state of winter nighttime. Certain scenes give this movie the extra kicks it needs to excite the audience, such as Selina Kyle's transformation into Catwoman as she works feverishly in her destroyed apartment, surrounded be felines. The script for the film brings a slight frustration in the way it jumps from points of high energy to lows. Even a scene such as the first attack by the Penguin's henchmen feels lackluster as Batman uses his batmobile to end the terror with little emotion.

  While Batman Returns is visually an enjoyable movie and shows a darker side of the world of Gotham, Burton did not make a perfect film. The slow plot could have been improved through a good editor, or should have been fixed before production even began. Burton essentially had free-reign over this film and fell short on this occasion.