Sunday, May 27, 2012

Batman Returns (1992)

Rating: 70%
Well with Dark Knight Rises coming in roughly 53 days, 22 hours and 27 minutes by the time I have written this part of the intro, it's high time that I get ready to having all of the movies (except for the Adam West) seen and reviewed (or updated for some that have been done already.) So that I'm well set and ready to go for the conclusion to the so far brilliant trilogy. Now I do have the first Batman movie review to update, but let's take care of this guy first since I just saw it.

Plot: Thirty-three years ago, a baby named Oswald Cobblepot is thrown into the river by his parents because of being born deformed. Over the years, Oswald has grown up in the sewers with the help of some penguins under a zoo and has taken the name, The Penguin. Now it's Christmas time in Gotham, where Penguin has a circus gang and is black mailing a business man named Max Shreck to help him leave the sewers to become accepted in Gotham and to find out about his parents. Meanwhile, Max's lonely secretary, Selina Kyle, discovers documents about his power plant which result in him pushing her out of a window where she survives but has a breakdown that results in her making a costume and becoming the Catwoman as a way to get her revenge against Max. It is left up to Batman to try to stop both The Penguin and Catwoman while he also falls in love with Selina as Bruce Wayne.

Now the most common issue people have with this movie is that it's too dark. And it's true. While it's dark in the normal sense when it comes to Batman, it's too dark when it especially comes to the Penguin and his minions. The Minions especially fall in line to that because oh how they're these former circus performers with big skeleton heads and a bunch of other weird and scary looking stuff just popping at you with dark circus music playing and all of that jazz. Now how Penguin fell in line, I'll say when I get the the Actors/Characters section. But I liked how had some things that kids could also enjoy like defeating enemies in ways that could be considered funny in a Loony Tunes- ish sort of way like planting the bomb on that blown or setting that devil guy on fire with the Batmobile. But it's still a fun film with how we get to explore more of the world of batman with new villains, different adventure, and a couple of new tricks up his sleeve with the Batmobile or even having the Bat-Sub.


Actors/Characters:
Michael Keaton/Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman: Well I'll say right now that I am over the fact that it's Bettlejuice being Batman. But anyway, Keaton once again did a very good job portraying Batman. What I especially liked about him is how we were more focused in him as a main character. I mean the first batman is awesome, but no Alex Knox or Vicky Vale does help us focus on him more both as Batman and as Bruce Wayne.
Danny Devito/The Penguin: Now before I started watching the movies again I went through the original Batman animated show. And the show portrays him and a sort of "gentleman of crime" which is what he generally is for move versions of Batman. They did touch that, but on the whole he was being the monster that could be the soul reason to some people as to why the movie's too dark. Because he was very creepy and  he did have evil plans like killing babies and stuff like that.
Michelle Pfeiffer/Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman: Now even Anne Hathaway has been concerned about her being Catwoman for Dark Knight Rises because Pfeiffer's is suppose to be such a classic. That, I do agree on. Because Pfeiffer gave this lonely woman who all of the sudden becomes a crazy woman wanting revenge as Catwoman, which throughout the film was really fun. *WARNING SPOILER* Personally, I really don't like that Catwoman's part in the series does go any farther, cause I would've liked to have seen more of her and the romance between her and Batman. *END OF SPOILER* Does Hathaway have what it takes to give us a Catwoman that is just as memorable? we'll have to see. 

Music: Now the dark circus music was good in terms of it being dark in general (even if it's too dark). I liked the song that was played while Bruce and Selina were dancing. Just sounded like a nice song I suppose. The music that was more to the Batman theme was very good, no questions.

Editing: my one issue with the editing was how when Penguin's minions were blowing up stores, they kept showing different shots of the explosion which I thought were necessary.

And that's my review for Batman Returns. It may be a little too dark, but it's still a fun movie with more development in term of giving us the world of Batman, lovable characters, and a different adventure to enjoy all around.

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