DVD Review- Batman Returns
Date written- 01.10.05

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Batman Returns is the controversial one. Fans tend to either love and cherish it or despise it with the intensity of a thousand and one suns. Unarguably, it is the densest, most impenetrable of the Batman canon. The dark, psychological story coupled with the production design and haunting musical score create an atmosphere of dread, claustrophobia and darkness. In other words, this is pretty straight forward Tim Burton.

Batman fans tend to divide into two camps. One champions Burton's dark, scary visions arguing that these are truest to the spirit of everything Batman is supposed to be. And -- believe it or not -- subsequent Bat-director Joel Schumacher also has his support in the form of fans who prefer the comic book-style action set pieces, the garish production design and insipid dialog. It is at this point academic which version people prefer with the looming release of the Batman Begins prequel helmed by Christopher Nolan, which likely signals a relaunch of the franchise.

All that aside, how true to the comics is Batman Returns? Pretty true in spirit, not so true in character. Sure, the Penguin in Batman Returns is by no means the Penguin that fans have read about in comics over the years. And sure, Selina Kyle is a lot more of a nutcase in Batman Returns than she ever was in the comics, but it is worth noting that neither character ever enjoyed much development in the comics. Selina's motives for doing what she does in that realm seemed to vary depending on who was writing a particular issue. As for the Penguin, he was nothing more than an egomaniac obsessed with proving how much smarter he was than everyone else. Possibly the biggest transgression of all is Batman himself. His ethics don't allow murder. Ever. Yet in this movie, we saw Batman murder at least one person in cold blood. It's debatable if Batman is really responsible for the Penguin's death, but he did stuff a bomb down a Circus Freak's pants. It's a cool cinematic moment, but that doesn't matter. Batman never kills. Period.

So that's the bad. What's the good? A lot! Batman Returns offers tremendous character growth for each of the leads. The Penguin (or Oswald Cobblepot, if you prefer) is a pretty tragic figure. The poor guy never really had a chance, did he? Born with extreme deformities and tossed into a sewer by his parents, he is never even given a chance to live and possibly transcend his physical deformities. And poor Selina. She had to put on a mask to figure out who she really was. Before the devious Max Shreck attempts to kill her by pushing her out a window, she exists to serve others and never herself. It is her literally her whole life, both on the job and off. After becoming Catwoman, she becomes a lot more in touch with who she truly is, becomes a freer individual! Her Catwoman costume is far more symbolic than a simple vehicle for S&M and/or sexual liberation. The very fact that costume is literally stitched together piecemeal suggests a fragility in spirit that no matter how liberated she becomes, she'll always a little fractured, her mind held together -- so to speak -- by chewing gum and popsicle sticks. But even for as much as she enjoys her new liberation, a great big part of her hates Shreck for ruining her life. Despite the freedoms (personal, sexual and other) she now enjoys, she resents them as much as she also enjoys them. As for Bruce Wayne, well, he was never anything more than a mask for Batman anyway. He'd very much found a soulmate in Selina. After all, it isn't a coincidence that Bruce and Selina are the only ones who do not wear masks and costumes to Shreck's costume ball. They are most true to themselves wearing leather costumes and fighting each other on a rooftop somewhere. So by attending the ball without wearing masks, they are most assuredly in disguise. The problem is that the same liberation brought on by Catwoman's mask that Bruce loved about Selina was also fueling her thirst for Shreck's suffering and death. For as similar as they are and for as much compatibility as they have, the very things that would make them happy with each other will forever keep them apart.

And how sad is that?

Is that saying Batman Returns is a perfect film? No, not by any means. The Penguin, for as rich as his character is in this film, is simply not as interesting as Bruce, Selina or Max. Which would be fine except that Burton's fascination with villains placed more of the story than was really necessary on the Penguin's shoulders. Frankly, the scenes between Bruce and Selina (or Batman and Catwoman, if you prefer) are more interesting than anything else in the film. That's true in a narrative sense, but it's also true in a performance sense too. Michael Keaton and Michelle Pfieffer simply could not have had better chemistry. Keaton's scatterbrained, slightly nutty approach to his character is perfect for Pfieffer's aggressive take on hers. In fact, I'll take that a step further and say that this is really Selina's (and Pfieffer's) movie. Her character arc is, for my money, the most fascinating in the film. None of this is meant to take away from Danny DeVito's Penguin or Christopher Walken's Max Shreck. DeVito exhibited acting chops that I never knew he had. The Penguin isn't a likeable character, but then he wasn't supposed to be. He is, however, a sympathetic one. Walken's Shreck, on the other hand, is a fairly straight forward corporate baddie who wants to own the city. We've seen it before, but Walken mixes menace with whimsy enough in his role to create a truly memorable performance out of an imminently forgettable character. He did as much as anybody could've asked and more than anybody could've hoped.

Yes, Batman Returns is the best of the Batman ouvre. The first Batman film had script problems out the wazoo, a terrible performance by Jack Nicholson (I don't care what anybody says, his take on the Joker sucked) and a lousy love interest for Bruce. Batman Returns corrects every single one of those problems. It's a pity that Burton and Keaton didn't stick around for further Batman films. There are very few redeeming values in the Schumacher Batflicks. Yes, there are some, but the few good points are so easily overpowered by the bad ones that I seriously doubt I'll ever own those DVD's because I refuse to pay money for them. Anyway, I've yammered on enough. Let's talk about the actual DVD, shall we?

Batman Returns is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The results must have been very impressive back in 1999 -- when the DVD was issued -- but frankly it's mediocre by modern standards. And I'm being nice on that! Plain bad DVD authoring rears it's ugly head here in the form of pixel break up, compression artifacting, halos, dimness and an overall soft picture, which wreaks havoc on small object detail. There are problems with the source print. Nicks, scratches and other blemishes are intermittent through out the entire presentation. Frankly, at the time of the DVD's release, the film was only seven years old, so it couldn't have been too hard to locate (or create) a better print from a high definition master. Ah well, perhaps on the elusive on special edition reissue...

Just how bad is the occasional pixel break up? Pretty bad. Check out the picture below to see the most extreme example. This phenomenon is common enough in DVD supplemental features because -- let's be honest -- nobody really cares how good those look. It's nice to have them and everything, but bottomline how they look doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. The feature film though had better frickin' look good though! Anyway, enough rambling, check it out.


The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is just okay. The surrounds are engaged during some of the big action sequences, but mostly they're quiet during the film's runtime. And that's a blackmark because there are numerous missed opportunities for ambience during Shreck's costume ball, crowd gatherings and other things. Even the score sees only occasional presence in the surrounds! Worse, the high end seems a tad strained and bass never hits the bottom most octave and again between the fairly high pitched musical score and the numerous explosions and other obvious uses for the subwoofer, this is a pretty serious flaw. Likewise, overall fidelity seems a little dated and dynamic range exhibits limitations that I would not have guessed a film of this vintage might suffer from.

All that said, it's safe to say that the film has never looked better... considering the capabilities of modern DVD authoring techniques as well as the demand for a better transfer and a remixed Dolby 5.1 soundtrack, well, the rumored special edition can't come soon enough for my taste!

What goodies are there? Few. So few, in fact, that there's not even a trailer! That's a crying shame because there were some good ones. We do get some halfway decent production notes and a few cast bio's, but that's pretty much it.

Again, a special edition Returns disc is long overdue, folks! And word on the street is that Warner Bros. is, even now, prepping special editions for both Bat-Burton films to tie into the aforementioned Batman Begins release this summer. Here's hoping for new transfers for both films, deleted scenes, commentary by Burton and Keaton (and Pfieffer!) and maybe a few retrospective documentaries. One can hope!