Batman Returns is definitely one of my favorite Batman movies. The balancing act of two villains (technically three with Max Shreck) vs. Batman was done so well. It’s “A” movie. It’s not certain what type of movie it wants to be, but at the very least it’s a movie.
Batman Returns overall make spartan use of dialogue, and what dialogue does exist is largely reflective of Burton’s expressionist goals for the film.
In addition, Burton frankly wasn’t really interested in making Batman movies, he did because it helped his career and garnered him the power necessary to pursue his other pet projects. The first of his Batman films followed studio mandates, but for the sequel he demanded and was granted wide leeway to pursue his own artistic vision. That vision was less about Batman or Bruce Wayne as characters, so to speak, than about the director’s own specific thematic interests that happened to overlap with the few elements of Batman’s world that interested Burton in the first place.
Bruce is literally sitting silent and alone in the dark, awaiting the signal that will transform him into the monster lurking inside of him. The impression is that he has no true purpose except transforming into that monster, and later in the film when he attempts to imagine a normal life for himself and argues/pleads (to Selina/Catwoman) that they should resist and reject their inner monsters, she rejects him and he comes to understand the futility of resisting his true nature.
Superheroes are supposed to be triumphant. That doesn’t mean they always win. It means they overcome.
In Thor: Ragnarok, Thor overcomes the loss of his hammer, his father, and his eye. He overcomes the nearly unbeatable Hela by releasing Surtr and getting his people to saftey.
In Wonder Woman, Diana overcomes the forced ignorance of her mother, the helplessness of the frontlines, and the manipulations of Ares.
In Man of Steel, Superman allows his father to die when he could have easily saved him, allows his city to be demolished without seeming to care, and fails himself by resorting to killing Zod at the end. Even that was a moment I could have accepted if the movie had set it up properly.
For better or worse, Batman Returns was a “Tim Burton movie.” Batman Returns isn’t necessarily a superhero movie. It’s more like a dark, fantastical fairy tale full of monsters and lovers and nightmares aplenty. Tim Burton made the movie that he wanted to make and, if audiences didn’t like it, that was fine by him. He told a great story about falls from grace, redemption, abandonment, depression and more. There were many layers to Batman Returns, which is why we’re still discussing it 25 years later.
I hope now you agree worth to watch “batman returns” and that’s the reason it’s trending now in social media platforms.
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