The Batman has gotten rave reviews for its darkness and grounded approach to the source material. That makes it all the more interesting that out of all the previous Batman movies, it's most similar to the very comic and goofy Batman Returns. Between sharing the same villains, featuring an extremely tortured Bruce Wayne, and creating a truly living, breathing Gotham City, there are so many parallels between the two movies.
The 1992 movie has a strange place in the Batman franchise, as audiences didn't exactly know what to make of its gothic but comic aesthetic upon its release, but it has since become a favorite by a huge camp of Batman fans. Between the fascinating depiction of Gotham that director Tim Burton created and the villains' iconic appearances, Batman Returns is the ultimate Batman movie.
It's The Most Gothic Gotham
The newly released The Batman is getting praised to no end for its depiction of Gotham, and it expertly builds the world and uses the fictional city's landmarks like The Iceberg Lounge. But while it might be rainy, that isn't enough for it to be inherently gothic. No other Batman movie does as good of a job as Batman Returns when it comes to depicting Gotham as a truly Gothic-looking city.
Not only are there bad weather conditions, but it's full of cathedral-looking skyscrapers with gargoyles sitting on the top, pasty-white wrongdoers dressed all in black, and it's equally haunting and romantic. While it isn't exactly the most comic book accurate depiction of Gotham, it is by far the most gothic.
The Villains' Looks Are Iconic
DC is almost the exact opposite of Marvel in that DC doesn't have the most cherished superheroes, but Marvel lacks the menacing villains compared to Batman's gallery of rogues. The movies have portrayed the villains in such unique ways, especially the villains who have been depicted more than once. However, as all the Joker portrayals have been completely different and every fan has their own favorite, there's only one nose-biting, sewer-dwelling Penguin.
The character actually rides a rubber duck in the sewer and has red and white explosives attached to penguins, and everything about it is so unique-looking. And while every other movie featuring Catwoman since has tried to ground her in reality, Batman Returns' Selina Kyle is so unpretentious, as she's leather-clad from head to toe and literally acts like a cat.
It's A Shakespearean Tragedy
Though Tim Burton isn't putting out instant classics anymore, he used to be known for making irresistible quirky movies that were also incredibly dark and depressing at their cores. And even though Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is far from his best work, it still has that achingly heartbreaking narrative between Willy Wonka and his father.
Batman Returns is no different, and not only does it continue to depict Bruce Wayne's troubled past, but it triple's down with both Catwoman and the Penguin's haunting history. Penguin's upbringing is particularly lamentable, as he was abandoned by his parents, in a zoo of all places, and left to raise himself. It's impossible not to sympathize with the character, even despite how psychotic he is.
Batman Is A Straight-Up Mass Murderer
As all fans know, Batman has only ever had one rule, no killing. However, every single Batman movie ever since 1989's Batman has shown the caped crusader clearly being pretty cavalier with people's lives, to say the least. Every movie has tried to defend the hero's actions in some shape or form, with the most example being in Batman Begins when he tells Ra's Al Ghul, "I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you," before leaving him for dead. That's called manslaughter.
However, Batman Returns doesn't bother trying to defend Batman's actions and it wastes no time in hiding the fact that Batman is totally a murderer. The caped crusader set a henchman on fire and blew up another one of Penguin's men. When it comes to Batman, filmmakers should simply drop the facade that he doesn't kill, and Burton knew this 30 years ago.
It Has The Best Villain Duo
Batman movie villains are at their best when they work together, and even when the franchise is at its worst, it's still entertaining when villains team up. There's nothing better than Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze trading puns in Batman & Robin. And while Catwoman and Penguin are two of Batman's best movie villains, they work together better than any other villainous duo.
The two are meticulously evil together, but even when they're not on the same page, such as when Penguin makes creepy remarks and Catwoman quickly puts him in his place, it makes for some great theatrical moments. Batman Returns was also the first major blockbuster movie to have a villain dynamic like this, again establishing what would become a tentpole trope in the Batman movie franchise.
It's A Christmas Movie
There are so many things that shouldn't go together but do, such as dipping french fries in ice cream, and another is Christmas and the gothic aesthetic. This is something that Burton realized early in his career and was quick to capitalize on. Whether it's Edward Scissorhands or Nightmare Before Christmas, the director has expertly combined the two so many times, and Batman Returns is easily the best example of that vision.
There's something about Christmas that lends itself to Gotham, and as Batman Returns screams "Halloween," it's such a weird but alluring amalgam. The aesthetic landed so well that it was endlessly repeated with the copious amount of Christmas-themed episodes of Batman: The Animated Series too.
It's Unapologetically Cartoonish
Along with the explosive-strapped penguins, there are so many other sequences and props that prove Burton is having so much fun in this world. Whether it's the Penguin spinning a spiral-designed umbrella at Shreck in a hypnotic way or Catwoman literally acting like a cat, the 1992 movie often feels unashamedly like a cartoon.
Burton took cues from Beetlejuice in the way that it's so over the top and goofy when it comes to the action sequences. Even the moments when Batman clearly murders people are played for laughs. When Batman sets one of the henchmen on fire, it's from the Batmobile's exhaust pipe, and it feels like something from an old Tom & Jerry episode.
Max Shreck Is The Best Made-Up Movie Character
Batman has such a rich and dense catalog of characters, but some of the shows and movies take it upon themselves to create their own characters. Matt Reeves created Bella Real for The Batman, and more famously, Harley Quinn was created for Batman: The Animated Series.
And for Batman Returns, Burton created Max Shreck (Christopher Walken,) a businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. From his snow-white hair to the way Walken delivers the lines in his typical manner to the immoral way he conducts business, he fits in perfectly with Gotham's other shady and corrupt businessmen and politicians.
Michael Keaton Plays A Tortured Batman Perfectly
Before 1989's Batman was released, people were skeptical when Michael Keaton, a predominantly comedic actor and Saturday Night Live regular, was cast as Bruce Wayne. But the actor proved every naysayer wrong and played a tortured Bruce Wayne perfectly, not to mention that he captured the duality between Wayne and Between so uniquely too.
But it's even more impressive in Batman Returns because in the middle of everything that's going on, whether it's the ridiculousness of Catwoman's feline habits or Danny DeVito's hammy performance that borders on parody, Keaton's portrayal never once feels out of place. It's almost like when things in the movie are getting too outrageous, Keaton's performance pulls it all back in.