The Best Batman Movie (And It’s Not The Dark Knight)

Gruesome, slinky and beautiful is Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, airing tonight. And the screenplay shows no interest in a true-to-life comic adaptation. That is exactly one of the reasons why Michael Keaton’s second stint in the juggernaut Gotham City should be number one in the ranking of the best Batman films (even if I could not assert myself with it in the editorial office).

Check out the trailer for Batman Returns here

Batman’s Return Entertains With Monstrous Bads (and Good Guys)

The 1992 DC film tells the story of two troubled millionaire sons with a penchant for costuming and quirky interior design. On one side is playboy Bruce Wayne aka Batman, who is even more ruthless than in his first film, riding his Batmobile through Gotham like a four-wheeled beast. On the other side sits Oswald Cobblepot (Danny DeVito), son of a wealthy Gotham family who was abandoned by his heartless parents because of his physical deformities.

Now, with the help of CEO Max Schreck (Christopher Walken), the outsider wants to be recognized by the masses and elected mayor. In between is the shy assistant Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer), who gets on the track of the horror plans, is pushed out of the window by her boss and as a lascivious femme fatale (or chat fatale?) Catwoman is reborn. While Selina hooks up with Bruce, the kitten hatches sinister plans for the penguin.

Why Batman Returns is the Best Batman Movie – The Short Version

What do you want from a Batman movie? Many people will have different answers to that question, but my answer would go something like this: A great film, an exploration of Batman and Bruce Wayne’s essence, and a distinct vision of Gotham City.

Batman’s return ticks all of those boxes. Gotham is a mirror of its hero’s violent soul. Endowed with gigantic skyscrapers and snowy dark streets, the city combines both the richness and splendor of Bruce Wayne and the Obsessions that he can only live out in a latex costume.

Likewise, the three brilliant antagonists in Batman Returns seem to have sprung from an in-depth analysis by Wayne. Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, a feminist icon in superhero cinema, not only shares his costume fetish, but also lives out her unscrupulous freedom in a way that Batman would never dare to enjoy. The penguin is also a caricature of Bruce Wayne. Both orphaned by Gotham’s cold, both want to control the city to win their love. Then there’s Christopher Walken’s Max Schreck, the ruthlessness personified in a city where only wealth is of value – as billionaire Wayne knows best of all. Anyone who sees too little Batman in this Batman film has not looked closely.

Tim Burton and screenwriter Daniel Waters (Heathers) tell their story as a cabinet of horrors with disturbing nooks and crannies that blockbusters usually shy away from. Supported by the expressive lighting, the grotesque set design and the iconic music by Danny Elfman, Burton creates a Batman film that feels totally liberated. Free from the shackles of the widest possible audience, free from the shadow of comics – and yet in every scene suggesting the creative freedom of an empty panel waiting for a (sick) idea. A trait missing from Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Dark Knight trilogy.

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