Batman Returns [Blu-ray]

Batman Returns [Blu-ray] Review

We're practically up to our knees in Batman movies by now. Comparing the newer series "Batman Begins" (2005) to the former "Batman" (1989): The more recent series is a rather staight-faced interpretation (good nonetheless) when compared to the previous series which often borders on satire. Jack Nicholson's over the top and enjoyable portrayal of The Joker is such an instance and Danny DeVito is quite funny as the Penguin. This approach, contrasted with Tim Burton's dark and forboding (and wonderful) production design, gives these two films their interesting and edgy atmosphere which is missing from the two succeeding films of this series. I've always thought that Michael Keaton was a fine Batman and players such as Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Kim Basinger and Jack Palance all add to the enjoyment, as does Michael Gough, drolly playing Bruce Wayne's valet. He is fondly remembered as the young businessman in the brilliant Alec Guiness comedy "The Man in the White Suit" from the British Ealing Studios in 1951! Happily, he is still active in the business.

The quality of "Batman Returns" in Blu-ray is superb in detail and color definition and technically superior, I think, to the Blu-ray of "Batman", a film made only three years before. And for some reason that I can't quite figure out, the audio quality of this disc and most other Blu-rays I've auditioned is significantly superior in clarity and dynamic range to equivalent earlier DVD releases. Perhaps audio quality is simply being given more attention these days -- a happy state of affairs if so.

Batman Returns [Blu-ray] Overview

Gotham City faces two monstrous criminal menaces: the bizarre, sinister Penguin (Danny DeVito) and the slinky, mysterious Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer). Can Batman (Michael Keaton) battle two formidable foes at once? Especially when one wants to be mayor and the other is romantically attracted to Bruce Wayne? Like the groundbreaking 1989 original, Batman Returns is directed by the wizardly Tim Burton. And like the first blockbuster, it’s a dazzling adventure that leaves you breathless. Special Features: • Commentary by Director Tim Burton • The Bat, the Cat and the Penguin Making-of Featurette • Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight Part 4: Dark Side of the Knight • Beyond Batman Documentary Gallery – 6 Featurettes: • Gotham City Revisited: The Production Design of Batman Returns • Sleek, Sexy and Sinister: The Costumes of Batman Returns • Making up the Penguin • Assembling the Arctic Army • Bats, Mattes and Dark Nights: The Visual Effects of Batman • Inside the Elfman Studio: The Music of Batman Returns • Souixsie and the Banshees Face to Face Music Video • The Heroes and The Villains Profile Galleries • Theatrical Trailer

Batman Returns [Blu-ray] Specifications

With 1989's Batman, Tim Burton's bold visual style, the late Anton Furst's stunning production design, and the dark dance between doppelgangers suggested by Michael Keaton's tortured Batman and Jack Nicholson's demonic Joker rejuvenated the caped crusader's franchise while setting a dauntingly high bar for any sequel. It's not surprising, then, that 1992's Batman Returns couldn't match the sheer impact of its predecessor, yet the subsequent passing of the baton to Joel Schumacher, and the title hero's retreat to a more conventional persona, make the second Burton Batman worth another look. Perhaps reasoning that the appeal of two dueling schizoids might be upped by adding a third, Batman Returns pits millionaire Bruce Wayne and his alter ego against two equally split personalities, Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer) and the Penguin (Danny DeVito). If the equation yields less than the desired sum, it still gives Pfeiffer and DeVito room for oversized, properly gothic performances, and the very feline Pfeiffer, in particular, has a field day. DeVito's cackling, mutant orphan is nearly as riveting, and the story might have fared better if the scriptwriting committee hadn't tossed in a third villain, Christopher Walken's rapacious industrialist, Max Schreck (coyly named for the actor who played the earliest screen vampire, Count Orlock, in F. W. Murnau's German expressionist classic, Nosferatu), thereby pushing the plot toward rococo excess. Bo Welch's production design sustains the brooding mix of deco and gothic established by Furst, and Danny Elfman's dark, stirring score helps pick up some of the slack. --Sam Sutherland

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