The New Classics: Batman Returns

Now I know that I am not the only one with a limited amount of free time, but when I am blessed with a chunk of time where I have nothing to do, a common pastime for me (and many others) is watching movies. My brother has the new movies covered, but there are many movies that get lost in the shuffle over the years.

They fall into a sort of limbo, they sure aren’t new, but are not quite at the “classic” status yet. So I will label these movies as the “New Classics.”

One such example is Batman Returns, this movie has been in my collection for years now. This past weekend, I had the chance to sit down and pop this sucker into my VCR. It’s amazing how much of a movie you can forget in a few short years, but it all comes rushing back while watching it. If you are unclear which Batman movie this is, then let me clear it up.

This was the second in the series and Michael Keaton reprised his role as Batman. The villains that he faced in Batman Returns were none other than the Penguin (Danny DeVito) and Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer). This movie co-stars Christopher Walken as the cold hearted millionaire Max Shreck.

The movie starts with the birth of the Penguin. He was thrown into the sewers because he was born deformed. This causes him to be a twisted individual hell bent on making all of Gotham’s first born sons pay for his parents had done to him.

Catwoman is an interesting addition to the plot because as Batman and Catwoman, they are constantly battling. As Bruce Wayne and Selena Kyle (their alter egos) they are falling in love.

In my opinion, this was one of the better Batman films. Keaton is still my favorite actor to wear the cape and cowl of the bat. He was followed by Val Kilmer (Batman Forever) and George Clooney (Batman and Robin).

Kilmer made an excellent Batman but a horrible Bruce Wayne while Clooney was the exact opposite. Keaton however was great as both Wayne and Batman.

Batman Returns was directed by Tim Burton and it is dominated by dark images, much like the first release Batman.

With a fifth movie in the works, I hope they head back to their roots and sign Burton and Keaton on to help this ailing franchise.