In Batman Returns the city of Gotham is getting into the
Christmas Spirit. When the disfigured Cobblepot (The Penguin) returns to claim
is birth right he is manipulated by Max Schreck to run for mayor so Schreck can
build is power plant that will slowly steal power from the city. The Penguin
has plans f his own to kill all of Gotham’s first born. In order to get revenge
for what his parents did to him.
Meanwhile Selina Kyle Max’s secretary stumbles on his plans, and is
thrown out of the window and then is transformed into Catwoman. She swears
revenge on Schreck and plans to ruin his company and kill him. Batman has to
confront all these villains while falling for Selina’s charm, and save Gotham
before Christmas.
The
biggest problem of this movie to me was the writing. There are too many plot
points that were not needed. I was kind of confused why this move take place
around Christmas, was because The Penguin abandoned on Christmas? For a kid who
was only and infant when that event happen and raised by penguins would know
that. Was the movie original release date was around Christmas and was pushed
back to June who knows? One last thing about the screenplay was it suffered
from having too many villains in it, similar to Spiderman 3. You might say
Catwoman and The Penguin were the only villains, but Schrek was planning to
steal Gotham’s power. It was one of the most forgettable threat in this movie
because it was an immediate one. The most powerful element in this movie is the
production design. Using designs so elaborate and industrial reminds of German
expression films such as Metropolis. It really brings to life the very
industrial Gotham. For example the two large statues of men pulling levers show
the hard work and struggle of the everyday citizen. Also the makeup of The
Penguin is very well done. The blackness around his eyes, the grotesque teeth,
and the hand flippers are really impressive.
Tim
Burton as always has big elaborate production designs. Of course this is
credited to Bo Welch in this film. The production design was the only technique
really effective to communicate to me as an audience. It showed me how powerful
industries have in the world. Also it help make me believe how real this world
is and its characters are. This element makes up for the ineffectiveness of the
screenplay. Which really confused me on who and what I should be caring about ,
or what I should be getting out of this film.
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| Batman Returns |
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| Metropolis |
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