Batman Returns

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Batman Returns
Directed by	Tim Burton
Produced by	Tim Burton Denise Di Novi
Written by	Daniel Waters (screenwriter) Daniel Waters (story) Sam Hamm (story) Bob Kane (comic book)
Starring	Michael Keaton Danny DeVito Michelle Pfeiffer Christopher Walken
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	June 19, 1992
Running time	126 min.
Language	English
Budget	$80,000,000
Preceded by	Batman
Followed by	Batman Forever
IMDb profile

Batman Returns is a 1992 motion picture based on the Batman character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. It is the second entry into the original four-part Batman film series, the second directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Both Keaton and Burton left the franchise after the production of this film.

[edit] Synopsis

The story begins as the aristocratic Cobblepots give birth to a horribly deformed child. Disgusted, they dump the baby over a bridge. It drifts into the sewers, ending up under the abandoned, decaying Gotham Zoo surrounded by a group of penguins.

Thirty-three years later, the citizens of Gotham City are joyously preparing for Christmas. Meanwhile, corrupt businessman Max Shreck attempts to get Gotham’s Mayor Hill to greenlight the building of new power plant. Schreck’s secretary, Selina Kyle, offers a suggestion, but ultimately ends up embarrassed as Shreck, his son Chip, and Hill stare at her. The three men head to the tree lighting ceremony, where Shreck will be speaking.

During Shreck’s speech, a gargantuan present rolls into the plaza and explodes, revealing members of the Red Triangle Circus Gang, who wreak havoc. Commissioner Gordon activates the Bat-Signal and Batman arrives in the Batmobile.

Max Shreck, Chip Shreck and Mayor Hill are confronted by gang members, who demand Max. Batman saves Selina from an attack, but when she tries to thank him, he simply walks away. Max, knocked cold while trying to escape, awakens in the sewer hideout of the Red Triangle Gang's leader, the Penguin, who explains that he needs Shreck’s help to return to the surface and discover the truth about his past. He blackmails the corrupt Max, who hopes that he can use the situation to his advantage.

Returning to his headquarters, Shreck discovers Selina has been looking into confidential files for the proposed power plant. Selina promises her silence, but Shreck pushes her out a window, apparently killing her. Her pet cat and a collection of strays circle her body and Selina mysteriously returns to life. She returns to her apartment, dazed and confused, and destroys the possessions from her previously innocent, naïve life. She reworks a black vinyl raincoat into a skintight suit.

The next day, Mayor Hill makes a speech with his wife, their infant child, and Max Shreck in attendance. As he vows to restore order to the city, a Red Triangle Circus acrobat somersaults onto the podium, snatches the infant, and descends into the sewers. He feigns an encounter with the Penguin and hands over the baby. The Penguin is hailed as a hero. All he asks in return is to be allowed to search the city's Hall of Records to find out who he really is. After finding his birth certificate, he compiles a mysterious list of names. He announces to reporters that his name is Oswald Cobblepot, and he understands and forgives his parents for their decision, touching the people of Gotham even more.

Bruce, convinced that a link exists between the Red Triangle Circus and the Penguin, discovers that before the circus was shut down amid reports of missing children in towns they had toured, the Circus had in their freak show an "Aquatic Bird-Boy."

A mugger assaults a woman, who calls out for Batman to save her. Instead, the mugger is confronted by Selina Kyle, attired in her catsuit. She overcomes him easily and then turns on the helpless victim, explaining that she is "Catwoman" before backflipping away.

The next day, Wayne and Shreck meet to discuss the proposed power plant. Wayne reveals both his opposition, and his suspicions of Cobblepot's ties to the Red Triangle Circus Gang. Shreck feigns disgust at Wayne's accusations, and is about to show Wayne out when Selina Kyle, assumed dead, arrives. She escorts Bruce out of the building, impressing him with her strong new persona.

Max visits the Penguin and his gang’s new headquarters in the upper floor a Gotham City building. He tells the Penguin that he’ll arrange a recall and make him Gotham’s new mayor, but he’ll need the Red Triangle Circus to cause further chaos. Though reluctant to abandon his own secret plans, Cobblepot agrees to enter the race.

The Circus’ chaos and destruction support Oswald’s claim that the mayor can’t control crime. Batman subdues most of the gang before encountering Cobblepot. As they are speaking, Catwoman, having just destroyed a Shreck department store, appears. The building explodes behind her.

The pair fight on a rooftop. Catwoman escapes after being pushed off the building into a truck filled with kitty litter. Back at the Manor, Bruce Wayne removes one of Catwoman's claws from his abdomen, pondering the new development.

The Penguin's popularity with Gotham's citizens continues to grow. He is approached by Catwoman, who wants revenge on Batman for 'killing' her. United by hatred of the Dark Knight, the pair plot to frame him.

Mayor Hill decides to demonstrate Gotham’s safety by relighting the Christmas tree. Bruce invites Selina to Wayne Manor to watch the tree-lighting ceremony. Bruce mentions that his relationship with Vicki Vale had broken up because she could not deal with the "two truths" to his person. They kiss passionately, stopping when they realize they've nearly revealed their wounds from the previous night. A news report announces that the ceremony’s Ice Princess has been kidnapped, and both realize they are needed. Making excuses through Bruce’s butler, Alfred, they depart for Gotham Plaza.

Shortly after Batman secures the Batmobile in an alley, the Red Triangle Gang breaks into it, tampering with its controls. Catwoman seizes the Ice Princess before Batman can rescue her, and deposits her at the edge of a rooftop. Batman follows, but the Penguin distracts him by releasing a swarm of bats. The Ice Princess falls to her death, apparently by Batman's hands. As the Penguin slips out of sight, the police arrive on the roof and open fire, knocking Batman onto another building. Catwoman attacks Batman, who escapes in a glider.

The Penguin, assuming control of the Batmobile via the Red Triangle’s “modifications,” sends it on a rampage through the city, destroying what little remains of Batman's good name and appearing on the Batmobile’s console video to taunt Batman. Batman records the Penguin's ranting on a compact disc before disabling the remote control device and fleeing the pursuing police cruisers.

The next day, as Oswald speaks at a rally, Bruce and Alfred jam the microphone signal, substituting the CD, in which the Penguin insults the city. Furious, the Penguin fires the machine gun hidden in his umbrella into the crowd and flees into the sewer. Renouncing his humanity, he gives the Red Triangle Gang the list he made in the Hall of Records: names of the firstborn sons of Gotham's wealthiest. He wants them kidnapped and drowned in the contaminated water in his hideout.

At Max Shreck’s annual masked ball, Bruce and Selina share a dance, during which Selina reveals she came to kill Shreck. Each repeats comments the other made earlier, and their secret identities are revealed.

Penguin crashes through the floor to kidnap Chip Shreck. Max begs to be taken instead and, still bitter about Max’s manipulation and betrayal, Penguin agrees. Bruce and Selina flee to assume their respective alter-egos. Batman stops the Circus Gang's vehicle carrying Gotham’s firstborn sons and apprehends the drivers. The Penguin launches his backup plan, dispatching remote-controlled rocket-armed penguins into Gotham Plaza.

Batman approaches the Penguin's lair through the sewers in the Batskiboat. Dodging penguin-fired rockets, he finds the radio signal controlling the penguins. Alfred jams it with a radio array, confusing the penguins and sending them back to the zoo.

As the Penguin watches his plans disintegrate, he is informed of the arrival of the Batskiboat. The remaining members of the Red Triangle Gang desert him, and Batman stops him as he attempts to flee. After a brief fight, Batman pulls out the radio device that controls the penguin army. Penguin grabs it and the penguins launch their missiles into his lair. A flock of bats fly at Penguin from the wreckage of the Batskiboat, driving him through a window and into the contaminated water below.

Shreck escapes, only to encounter an enraged Catwoman. Before she can kill him, Batman arrives. He tries to persuade Selina to take Shreck to the authorities so they can go home together. Attempting to win her trust, he takes off his mask. Selina admits that she’s tempted, but if she did so she couldn’t live with herself.

Shreck shoots Batman, grazing him on the neck before turning the weapon on Selina. She tears off her mask and approaches Shreck, goading him into shooting. Shreck fires four bullets into Selina's body, but she reaches him before he can kill her. She puts a taser in her mouth and kisses him, electrocuting him. Batman tries to dig Selina out of the rubble to find that she has vanished. Meanwhile, The Penguin emerges from the water, but falls to the floor, dead. His body is carried into in the water by a group of giant penguins.

Driving through Gotham, Bruce sees Catwoman’s shadow. Investigating, he finds only Selina's pet cat, which he decides to take home. As the bat-signal lights up in the sky, the figure of Catwoman rises in response.

[edit] Cast

Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman.

• Michael Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne
• Danny DeVito as the Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot
• Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman/Selina Kyle
• Christopher Walken as Max Shreck
• Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth
• Pat Hingle as Commissioner James T. Gordon
• Michael Murphy as Mayor Hill
• Vincent Schiavelli as the Organ Grinder, a henchman of the Penguin
• Andrew Bryniarski as Charles "Chip" Shreck, Max Shreck's son
• Cristi Conaway as the Ice Princess

[edit] Reaction

The reaction to the film was largely mixed. Although many lauded the film's dark atmosphere and intense characters as being the perfect translation of Frank Miller's Batman comics, many others found the film to be overly dark and sadistic and criticized it as inappropriate for children; McDonald's cancelled a planned marketing tie-in with the film after parents' groups protested it.

In addition to criticisms of the film's tone and demeanor, some found Burton's interpretation of the central characters problematic, arguing that the Penguin's physical deformity and homicidal tendencies, Catwoman's degenerative mental state, and Batman's brooding melancholy simply added to the somber and unsettling nature of the film.

The initially negative reaction to Batman Returns, however, prompted Warner Brothers to re-think their approach to the franchise, and the series was handed to director Joel Schumacher, who adopted a much more lighthearted and camp approach to the characters. However, the generally very negative critical and fan reaction to the Joel Schumacher films in the franchise, particularly 1997's Batman & Robin, sparked a critical re-evaluation of Tim Burton's dark, gloomy and expressionistic first sequel in the franchise.

[edit] Home Video

The film was first released to DVD in 1997, shortly after the format debuted; it was a single disc release featuring the ability to watch the film either in widescreen or in fullscreen but not featuring any bonus materials.

To coincide with the release of Batman Begins on DVD in 2005, Warner Brothers decided to give all four of the original Batman films new DVD treatments and special edition versions of all four films were created. The special edition DVDs feature newly restored audio and video, a re-mastered Dolby Digital audio track, a new DTS audio track and a second disc filled with bonus materials. Each title is available both individually and as part of a pack featuring the special editions of all four films in the franchise. The Region 2 DVD is missing the directors commentary although this is still listed on the box as a special feature, and is also censored. Although it restores the nunchaku sequence, the scene in which Catwoman places aerosal cans in the microwave is cut. The DVD also suffers from a very noticeable audio glitch.

[edit] Soundtrack

The Batman Returns score was composed and performed by Danny Elfman. The soundtrack also includes "Face to Face", written by Elfman and performed by Siouxsie & the Banshees, used to promote the movie prior to its release. Two versions of the music video were made (the other added shots from the movie), and a club version, remixed by 808 State, was released. Elfman added chorus to main theme making it similar but not as dark as the original.

[edit] Trivia

• Marlon Wayans is rumored to have been cast as Robin, before the script was rewritten. According to Daniel Waters, Robin was a "black character that works in a garage and helps Batman out of a jam. He´s wearing one of those old-fashioned garage mechanic uniforms and it just has an R on it".
• Sean Young was so upset about not getting the part of Catwoman that she went to the studio in a homemade Catwoman costume to prove that she was a better choice. Tim Burton had to hide to avoid her.
• Annette Bening was replaced by Michelle Pfeiffer for the role of Catwoman, after becoming pregnant. Pfeiffer's $3 million salary was $2 million more than was offered to Bening.
• Billy Dee Williams was contractually entitled to play Harvey Dent, and an early draft of Batman Returns included the role. That character was later renamed Max Shreck, all of Dent's lines were given to him, and all Two-Face elements were removed.
• In another version of the script, Max Shreck was discovered to be the Penguin's older brother.
• Dan Waters' original script originally had the Bat-Signal blinking on and off at the end of the film as a sign that Selina's electrocution of Max had disrupted the power supply of the city. Tim Burton decided later in the production to end the film with Catwoman looking out at the signal over a snowy sky, hinting at her survival and possible appearance in a future film. Pfeiffer wasn't available, so an articulated, upper torso dummy was fabricated for the shot, but ultimately a body double was used. Test footage of the dummy is included with the 2005 DVD release bonus features.

[edit] See also

• Batman Returns (video game)

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Batman Returns

• Batman Returns at the Internet Movie Database
• Remembering Batman Returns, by Greg Bray (Batman-On-Film.com)
• Batman Returns - A Critical Analysis by Jett (Batman-On-Film.com)
• Batman Returns score by Danny Elfman
• BATMAN-ON-FILM.COM - "The Burton/Schumacher Series," Part 1
• Batman Returns screenplay, final draft
• Dan Waters interview (Super Hero Hype)