Kevin Roegele
Do you mind if I don't?
- Joined
- May 2, 2000
- Messages
- 23,882
- Reaction score
- 76
- Points
- 73
#1 Batman movie: Batman Returns - I doubt any Batman movie could ever reach these artistic heights again. It's somewhat of an anomaly that Burton had such creative control on such a huge money-making project - something Warner Bros were quick to learn from. Returns goes inside Bruce Wayne's head to create a Gothic netherworld where the central, doomed characters all embody elements of Bruce's troubled psyche. To the sounds of Danny Elfman's ever-escalating choral mayhem, they attempt to work together, but eventually they clash and destroy each other. Is there any Batman story, comic or otherwise, with such a dark outcome? Throw in Michelle Pfeiffer's incredible Catwoman and Danny DeVito's horrific yet somehow sympathetic Penguin - Burton actually improved these characters - and somehow Christopher Walken is the sanest part of the film. You have film noir, German Expressionism, Dr Suess, penguins with rocket launchers - who else but Burton could pull off all these diverse elements? It truly does work on so many levels. Batman Returns is a beautiful, haunting, flawed masterpiece. No, Returns doesn't stay slavishly true to the comics, no it doesn't try and make Batman as believable as possible like Begins; Returns elevates the story of Batman to a whole new level.