The director preferred to focus on the psychology of the (successful) characters rather than on the spectacular effects. And he was penalized in the takings
On June 16, 1992 the highly anticipated “Batman – the Return / Batman Returns” by Tim Burton was presented in Hollywood in world premiere (to be released in American theaters three days later, and only in September), sequel to his “Batman” which in 1989 he smashed every box office record, inaugurating a new and long season of cinecomic blockbusters: a genre that today, thirty years later, seems to have remained one of the few real attractions for an audience now unaccustomed to the ritual of the cinema (as well as one of the latest sources of support for the consequently increasingly gasping exercise).
Faithful to the approach that made the prototype’s fortune (where the hero was the relatively little known Michael Keaton while the famous and bubbly Jack Nicholson in the role of Joker was stealing both the screen and the first name in the company), Burton (with screenwriter Daniel Waters) decided again time to focus on the centrality of the antagonists rather than on that of the protagonist, this time doubling the possibilities of attraction (including commercial). And not being able to bring back on the scene for a “revenge” the Joker, the historical nemesis of the Dark Knight killed at the end of the previous film, he recovered two other historical supporting villains similar to his dark and tormented sensitivity: Oswald Cobblepot aka “Penguin” and Selina Kyle / Catwoman. Burton struggled for a long time before agreeing to direct a sequel.
Although his style is grotesque and very personal had already been defined by the seminal and always somewhat neglected “Beetlejuice – Sprite pig” (1988: work for which still today one wonders what went through the heads of Warner’s local distribution team at the time when choosing a post -Italian title so idiotic), its commercial reliability at the time of the first “Batman” was still to be demonstrated; and the freedom granted him on that first occasion was not the same as he would have earned on the short-term field. Revised today, in fact, although the “Burtonian” aura still permeates it from top to bottom, the prototype really suffered from those defects that the director himself has never wittily failed to publicly underline in his numerous a posteriori declarations: a not very ingenious script , which proceeded by juxtaposition and accumulation of effect sequences, a second mechanical and “normative” part, almost entirely devoid of the mocking and iconoclastic grain of the first, and above all a spectacle that, while remaining “sui generis”, left a glimpse of the long manus of production not allowing too many figurative freedoms to Burton’s creativity and sensitivity.
But “Batman – The Return” came in one of the first moments apex of Burton’s directorial evolution, who with his previous masterpiece “Edward Scissorhands / Edward Scissorhands” (1990), a poignant gothic fairy tale about the acceptance of the “different” and a figurative homage to both classical horror and the artist Edward Gorey (who has always been the director’s imaginative tutelary deity), had finally made a leap without obstacles, defining his very personal vision of the world, of society, of feelings and of Cinema. It is therefore logical that these characteristics also reverberated in this project, for which (also in light of the commercial results of the previous one) Burton was guaranteed tighter control.
The script sees the deformed “Penguin” (Danny De Vito), who lives in the sewers, commands a gang of terrorist clowns and aims to run for mayor, allying himself with unscrupulous tycoon Shreck (Christopher Walken) who is building a power plant with the aim of stealing power from Gotham City instead of supply: a secret discovered by the man’s secretary, Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer), who is therefore eliminated. The woman, rescued from stray cats, will react to the psychological shock by transforming herself into the ambiguous Catwoman and seek revenge. And Batman (Michael Keaton) finds himself torn between his attraction to her and the need to save the city from the Penguin’s criminal plans.
The schematic (even a bit cumbersome) of events must be taken into account: this tour Burton is no longer interested in making a comic film, but continuing to pursue his personal obsessions and overturn them in a visual and spectacular structure that finally brings out all its signs and themes: Gotham thus becomes a gothic theater scenographically characterized by a fairytale and surreal architecture, that is the ideal stage in which to make its characters move triangularly, all characterized by an unavoidable nature on the margins of the community.
If of Batman the component are accentuated solitary and problematic, the refractory to a social life also suffered by his billionaire alter ego Bruce Wayne and the substantial psychological and sentimental frailty, the Penguin (who was originally a grotesque common criminal – and self-styled gentleman – with the characteristics of a dandy in tails ) turns into an outcast monster, resentful and vengeful towards the society that marginalized him for his “diversity” (and therefore basically a “black” antithesis, a double evil of Johnny Depp’s tender Edward), while the ‘ethical ambiguity of Selina / Catwoman, a character fought by the need to eliminate her benign side to avenge herself first of all, and again the equally psychotic and misanthropic double / mirror of Batman himself, becomes a prodrome of all those vamp and dark women with strongly emotions tablets that will then cross the films of Burton’s maturity.
To the majestic success of the characters (in addition of course to the terrifying make-up of the talented DeVito and the Sado-maso-inspired look of the costume of the no less memorable Pfeiffer) contributes a palpable “love” of the director for their tormented psychologies, much more refined than the “standard” ones of the superhero. And “Batman – The Return”, while effective in its continuous and inventive visual work and in its internal rhythm aimed at smoothing out the inconsistencies of some spectacular situations that are more postponed than functional to the unfolding of events, therefore becomes more of a key film, useful for to relate the director’s poetics and his dark side, which is a real spectacular machine for large audiences. It must also be for this reason that the revenues of the time were significantly lower than those of the previous film despite the fact that the film is still today one of Tim Burton’s works most intimately loved by fans.
June 16, 2022 (change June 16, 2022 | 10:19)
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