Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Batman Returns [M]


Gotham can sleep safely knowing that Batman is protecting the fair city. But when two new villains; the Penguin and Catwoman burst onto the scene, the dark knight has his work cut out for him. Facing two villains who have joined forces in order to turn Gotham against its protector, is going to be no easy feat. Is the caped crusader up to the task? 

A little darker and saucier than the first movie, but nevertheless just as twisted and brilliant, Batman Returns is a rare sequel that meets the standards of its predecessor. Filled with hot costumes, haunting music, masses of penguins, and plenty of action and suspense, it’s another classic. 

With Batman on the watch, the city of Gotham can sleep soundly. But this changes when two new villains make their presence known. The Penguin, a disfigured baby abandoned by his parents, seeks to punish Gotham by drowning all first-born sons. Catwoman, a poor secretary who was killed by her boss, seeks revenge. Together, the two concoct a plan to take out Batman by turning Gotham against him. Facing two villains and a city that no longer trusts him will be the toughest challenge the dark knight will face. 

Again, directed by the immortal genius Tim Burton and packed with heaps of familiar faces, suspense, eccentric characters, romance, and action, Batman Returns is quite easily my second favourite of the Batman movies. It did get a bit darker and housed more violence than the first one, but that’s the style and quite frankly, despite the PG rating, I don’t think the first Batman was really appropriate for kids under the age of 13. 
Michael Keaton reprises his role of the caped crusader, this time with a more emotional and reflectively meaningful edge. 
Danny DeVito is the Penguin and he was great. Frightening, child-like, aggressive, and sometimes comic, he delivered a knockout performance. 
Michelle Pfeiffer is Catwoman and she is just sooo sexy. With her fetish-style skin-tight outfit, her boots, and her whip, she’s absolutely deadly. Like Michael, playing a dual role (one with a mask, one without) Michelle delivered a great range of emotions, going from sexually teasing to manically laughing and crying in 60 seconds… wow, absolute brilliance. 
Also starring Michael Gough and Christopher Walken, and with a haunting soundtrack by Danny Elfman, Batman Returns is a great follow-on film packed with action, sinister plots, sexual teases, murder, live animals, brilliant costumes, and romance. An instant classic. 

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