Batman Returns is really where Tim Burton got a chance to rub his stank all over Gotham. With his first shot at Batman, you can plainly see that the cartoonish director made more concessions than he did with Batman Returns. The first go-round had his scent on it, but not his signature. That holds especially true for the antagonists. Just look at how macabre he went with The Penguin. This is where Burton can really shine, allowing his characters to morph into various permutations of miscasts and outsiders that feels too personal to be drawn directly from the source material. Danny DeVito is grotesque and disturbing, but with a weirdly amiable energy. And of course, there's Michelle Pfeiffer's sexually charged Catwoman, who oozes sensuality as well as a certain, subtle bit of ickiness. The BDSM nature of Batman's relationship with his "other half" is certainly taken to new heights in Batman Returns, but it's not just for show. The backbone of Catwoman is her feminist, righteous anger, which she just happens to put out into the world with the help of a dominatrix costume. Also, this movie has Christopher Walken, playing nefarious politician Max Shreck, in a more understated role than he typically delivers these days. All in all, there's not much in the way of a storyline in Batman Returns. It's just about delivering memorable characters, which it does in spades.
