My Rating: 7/10
Should I watch it?
If you like Tim Burton and enjoy some interesting characters, you’ll like it. It’s well-cast and well-made, and fun to watch, though it’s a little campy for our time.
It is with this film that I step into Tim Burton’s realm of storytelling, a place that is always exciting to explore. Burton has always had a solid and stylized voice throughout his film career, and this is especially more potent in his art. I had the privilege of seeing his artwork on display at the LACMA, where I bought a heavy tome of all of his personal doodles and artworks. His work is organic and truthful, with his own personal flair being so recognizable it’s easy to tell when you’re watching a film of his.
Michael Keaton is a suitable Batman. He slips into the role easily, and I enjoyed the subdued nature in which he plays Bruce Wayne. I did think that Bruce’s attraction for Selina Kyle was a little too orchestrated, but their romance evolves into something fiery and fun to watch. Unfortunately, his role is heavily eclipsed by the antagonists, Catwoman and the Penguin, as the most interesting parts of the film are when they appear on screen. He’s not too scary as Batman himself, and the two personas are not so divided. One of the main character points of Batman is that there are two sides of himself that he is constantly endeavoring to balance, often times with no success. Watching him toe the line between herald of justice and rogue soldier is interesting, and brings up the discussion of the success and failures of actual vigilantes.
It goes without saying that Michelle Pfeiffer’s performance as Catwoman is iconic, but most people who say this are usually referring to the suit she had to wear. Of course, despite the impracticality of the stillettos she stomps around in, the design of the suit is spectacular. It’s loud and ostentatious in a way that reflects the extreme nature of Selina Kyle’s transformation, from a victim into a predator. The explanation for her survival after her attempted murder is not clear, except that a bunch of cats swarm around her and lick her a lot. This was okay, but I think it could’ve been better. I’m not sure how, as I’m certain her ability to stay alive came from a simmering rage that had finally boiled over. It’s difficult to display this myriad emotions visually. Perhaps a montage of her many moments of submissiveness or humiliation could have led to a more dramatic moment of breakage. Still, watching her stand back up and go forward to do so much damage was gratifying in the most feminine of ways. The vandalism of her own apartment reflects such a potent moment of “I can’t take this anymore” that it was impossible not to be mesmerized. Her transformation has the most merit, and I think Michelle Pfeiffer’s over-the-top performance is largely to thank. Her ability to seem always on the point of tears while still emanating such rebellious strength is inspiring. The scene when she saves a girl from being robbed makes her into an accidental hero, but she immediately reprimands the girl for “…making it so easy for them.” When I watched this movie as a young girl, I felt significant confusion at her hostility. Now, this scene makes more sense. Why sit down and let yourself be bullied? Even if you seem weaker, you can always fight back. Even if you lose. This moment added so much to Catwoman’s depth as a character, as she is a person who has decided not to allow herself to become a victim anymore. The comment I first interpreted as hostility has a whole new meaning of empowerment.
The Penguin is probably one of the most tragic villains in the Batman cinematic universe. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of room for sympathy, because he is designed in such a repulsive (albeit excellent) way. His hands, created by the incredible Stan Winston, are so convincing, and are truly an example of “movie magic”. I wanted to feel bad for the Penguin, but was constantly thwarted by his many moments of dehumanization. Tim Burton has a habit of creating monsters that are ugly or outcast, but he also places humanity in them, which is what makes his works so beloved. In Batman Returns, the Penguin is so repulsive in appearance and behavior it’s hard to maintain sympathy for him.
Perhaps instead of being a creepy pervert to all of the women around him, he could have attempted to be more romantic, or try to get a woman to fall in love with him. I think it would’ve come across as cute or naive, and this way, the extreme level of anger (or hurt) he feels at Catwoman’s rejection of his advances is more justified. This chink in the armor of his villainy would have given us some insight to his loneliness, a trait shared by all of humanity. This way I could truly feel sad when he passed-all the music cues in that scene want us to feel sad, as does the sad penguin parade, and sure, we do, but we don’t know why. Besides, Danny DeVito’s performance is so incredibly fun to watch, I know he’s capable of such a range of emotion, and it would’ve been great to see him try to romance Catwoman with a dead fish or a few withered roses.
Another interesting character, although minor, was Max Shreck. He would’ve been otherwise unnoticeable if not for Christopher Walken, who is pretty hunky in this film, and leaves you feeling confused about whether he’s sexy or terrifying or both (Scare-roused?). Walken’s performance reminds me so much of his role from True Romance, and the same kind sinister sexuality his character emanates. I’m pretty sure that’s just Christopher Walken in general, though.
Shreck is a great villain because he is real. There are so many people like him in the world, and I think Burton had lot of references to choose from. He’s “The Man”, the more privileged, wealthy, and untouchable elite that get away with so much wrongdoing it’s infuriating. For some reason, though, I didn’t really feel like I wanted him to be defeated-or rather, I realized it wouldn’t matter if a person like this was defeated, since another one would pop right up. This is where Selina’s desire for revenge was unsustainable, but wonderful, since men are so often easily forgiven for their crimes against the innocent.
Catwoman’s slaying of Shreck was supposed to be sexy, but the taser-in-the-mouth-while-I-kiss-you probably read better on paper than it looked onscreen. I think this could have been executed a bit better, and would have tied in perfectly to when Shreck killed Selina earlier on. That scene was particularly sensual, and had such an exciting tinge of danger that I originally thought he’d try to seduce her instead of kill her. I think the filmmakers were trying to call back to this scene of seductive murder, but it didn’t happen. The tension was missing and the blocking was a little clumsy, seeing as Pfeiffer had to hold a taser up to her mouth and kiss Walken simultaneously. Yes, it definitely sounds sexier when it’s in writing.
This film is a broadly told story, and the development of the main character (Batman) doesn’t really come into question. Bruce Wayne doesn’t change that much during the course of the film, not including falling in love with Selina, which is underplayed. Many critics claimed this version being one of the darkest Batman stories up to date, which makes sense for that era, but these days it feels a little fantastical, especially with the stylized costumes and production design. This is probably because we live in a post-Nolan Batman era, where efforts were made to portray the outlandish as realistic. Although, it’s inadvisable to compare two such different interpretations that are nothing alike, but both rich in their own right.
This film is really enjoyable, and is distinctly well-made. I’ll probably watch it again, but mostly for Catwoman’s sake. Her character arc followed a path that was really interesting to watch, toeing the line between justice and insanity. I think there’s more that can be explored in this archetype, and I hope to see more of it.
Success?
Yes.
Cry Count:
0
Bonus image:
