Batman Returns (DVD)

Batman Returns followed on the heals of the hugely successful 1989 film with Tim Burton returning to direct. Abandoning any direct narrative from the first film, Returns finds a brand new army of villians ranging from the mildly colourful to the sheer demented. Batman has to rid the streets of Gotham of a viscious gang who have been sent up from the sewers by an abandoned disfiguired man known simply as Penguin. Meanwhile, corporate millionaire Max Shreck is hellbent on using Gotham City as a poisonous waste dumping ground for his own financial gain. This is a secret harboured by his frumpy Personal Assistant Selina Kyle. When Selina discovers this, she ...  Read the complete review

This is the second of the more modern Batman films, released in 1992. As with Batman in 1989, it is directed by Tim Burton, and stars Michael Keaton as Batman. The Plot A new threat is terrorising Gotham City. The combination of corrupt businessman Max Shreck and the hideously deformed Penguin are threatening to take over the city, and only Batman has the power to stop them. In amongst it all, a new character emerges, the secretive Catwoman, who seems to have the powers of a cat, and who appears to have a hidden agenda of her own. She will let no one stop her, including the Dark Kinght, Batman. The Cast and Performances Michael ...  Read the complete review

Tim Burton's second (and final) stab at the popular comic character saw him take things in an even darker direction than his previous effort. It's a decision which pays off in bucket loads, creating a fun, yet atmospheric film. There's no doubting the star of this show. In a star-studded cast, one man stands out: Danny DeVito. Perfectly cast as arch-villain The Penguin, it's right up there with DeVito's most memorable on-screen roles. Revelling in the chance to be disgusting, filthy and menacing, DeVito is truly unnerving as the waddling freak. Yet, at the same time, evil and depraved though his character is, he still manages to retain a tiny sliver of ...  Read the complete review

Although Christopher Nolan's two Batman outings far outshine any of the previous iterations, Tim Burton still brought an impressive visual style to his two Batman films, borrowed from the German Expressionist movement of the 1920s (from films such as M, and the The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), with angular buildings and disorientating set design, combined with Burton's own gothic stylings. Although Burton's first Batman outing was fun, it was also lacking in bite (and of course, Nicholson's turn as The Joker is now entirely outshone by Heath Ledger). Michael Keaton returns to play the Caped Crusader with another impressive, steely performance, whilst joining the ...  Read the complete review

Written by Sam Hamm and Daniel Waters, and directed by Tim Burton Batman Returns is Burton's second film about the adaptation of the comic book hero, Batman, released back in July 1992. This is a review of the film only. ****Story line**** The Joker has been defeated but there are new criminals waiting in the wings, in the form of successful (but crooked) business man, Max Shreck (Christopher Walken) and the Oswald Cobblepot "the Penguine" (Danny De Vito), a mutated individual that was condemned to the sewers as a baby and forced to grow up with the penguins living beneath Gotham City's streets who longs to become accepted by Gotham's ...  Read the complete review