Batman Returns (Special Edition) (DVD)

BATMAN RETURNS

1992 was a welcome return for Batman as the first film went down so well in 1989.
Since the structure was now set director Tim Burton decided he could put two main villains in this film that were always fan favourites. He chose the Penguin and Catwoman, in my opinion this was a great choice.
Michael Keaton was back as Batman while Danny Di Vito had the role of the Penguin and Michelle Pheiffer was cast ...
...order of Commissioner Gordon and Batman fights back to help the people of Gotham from the Penguins minions.
Selina is caught up in all this as she makes her way back to the office and is saved by Batman, she is not so lucky however when she breaks into protected files at Max's office, he finds her and pushes her out of the top window to her death.
As she lies motionless cats arrive from everywhere and are all over her. Catwoman is born….
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BATMAN RETURNS

1992 was a welcome return for Batman as the first film went down so well in 1989.
Since the structure was now set director Tim Burton decided he could put two main villains in this film that were always fan favourites. He chose the Penguin and Catwoman, in my opinion this was a great choice.
Michael Keaton was back as Batman while Danny Di Vito had the role of the Penguin and Michelle Pheiffer was cast as Catwoman. Christopher Walken also had a part in this film as Max Shreck
It's great watching how the Penguin and Catwoman started off and how Bruce Wayne has been since the last film.

Again I shall not tell you too many plot lines of this film just in case a few of you haven't seen it out there, but just a brief outline ….

It starts with a baby being born at the Cobblepot residence but as it is disfigured the parents are appauled and want to get rid of the baby straight away, they throw the baby in the river in a cot he is in. As the baby drifts away crying you hear the sound of penguins and see them pull the cot with the baby in towards them…
You see the ruthless industrialist Max Shreck in a board meeting with some of businessmen and Selina Kyle is there serving the drinks. He is rude to Selina and makes a fool out of her. Later that night she gets home to find she has to go all the way back to the office to dig out the Bruce Wayne file.
Meanwhile the Penguin has been plotting to return to the surface to find his parents and to ask them why they did what they did 33 years ago, also to hatch a plan involving Max Shreck.
The Penguins minions meanwhile start to terrorise Gotham City.
The Batsignal is turned on from the order of Commissioner Gordon and Batman fights back to help the people of Gotham from the Penguins minions.
Selina is caught up in all this as she makes her way back to the office and is saved by Batman, she is not so lucky however when she breaks into protected files at Max's office, he finds her and pushes her out of the top window to her death.
As she lies motionless cats arrive from everywhere and are all over her. Catwoman is born….

I shall not tell you much more of the plotline to this Batman film as this could ruin it for people who have not seen the film.
This has a lot of new characters in this film and goes in depth about the penguin and Catwomans backgrounds. You also see some old favourites like Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, and Michael Keatons return to the role as Batman.
During the film you also hear a little from the first film with Bruce in a conversation to Alfred about Vicki Vale, who Bruce was seeing in the first Batman film.

This special edition comprises of two disks of which I shall go through with you.
The DVD I am reviewing is a region 4 but also compatable with region 2

Disk 1 contains :

Batman returns, this has Dolby digital and DTS sound, English and Italian languages, English and Italian subtitles, also a theatrical trailer.
The film has a runtime of 126 minutes.

Commentary by Tim Burton. This is a valuable insight to the film as he takes you through start to finish of what he intended on this film, also comments on the actors, the choices for the roles, gadgets, also the two villains he picked for this film. You do not tired of hearing how he wrote and directed this film as he really wanted to bring the Bat back to the big screen.
Sadly this was Tim Burtons last Batman film, also it was Michael Keatons last Batman film.

Disk 2 contains :

The Bat the Cat and the Penguin - this is members of the cast and crew of the film taking about their roles and their time in the film.

Face to face music video by Susie and the Banshees

Beyond Batman documentary gallery - a lot of documentaries here including Gotham city revisited, the production design of batman returns, the costumes of Batman returns, making up the Penguin, arctic army, Bats Mattes and dark nights, the visual effects of Batman, the music of batman returns.

Shadows of the bat, the cinematic saga of the dark knight part 4 : dark side of the night.
This tells you more about Batman and the goings on in Gotham City.

The heroes and villains profile galleries - this takes you through more of the heroes and villains from the comic strips to the films.
This is very good into giving you clips from the characters and taking you through the film with segments from each character. It helps if you have seen the film first but is not really that much of a spoiler. This will take you through all of the main heroes and villains related to this film.

The design of the packaging is very good with shiny effects on back and front of the box, it has a Bat design on the front and pictures from the film on the back with details of what is on the two disks.
The disks have good artwork on them also that show the three main characters from the film.

In my opinion this is my favourite Batman film as I thoroughly enjoyed it all the way through as it is very well thought through, a very good story and has my favourite villain in "The Penguin" Danny Di Vito played this part great and he was no doubt the best for the part, the acting all around was marvellous.
I also think that the special features are a main part of the package and this did not disappoint.
I think it is good the way these Batman films lead on to each other as well by bringing up some of the facts about what has happened before in just conversations or flashbacks to the previous Batman films.
I especially enjoyed hearing the music again, and the continuing shadows of the Bat. But all in all this is another great release for DC comics and for the Batman franchise.
If you do buy just one of these Batman films then I recommend this one as it's all action packed and brings out all of the characters very well.
The DVD can be picked up very reasonable if you look for it.

 

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