Among the many Batman movies, "Batman Returns" directed by "Hollywood Wizard" Tim Burton in 1992 and starring Michael Keaton is undoubtedly the most aesthetic benchmark. Its uniqueness has nothing to do with the story, the theme, or even Batman. Bolton, who holds the power of filmmaking, uses film as a canvas. The dark style of private shadows spreads across every inch of Gotham City. The gloomy and gloomy film noir, the twisted grotesques of German expressionism, the visual oppression of fascist architecture, and the Gothic. The gloomy and cold painting style, the highly stylized images and setting, made this Batman movie the darkest in history. And Michelle Pfeiffer's interpretation of Latex Gothic Catwoman has become the most memorable Phantom of Gotham because of fetish, BDSM, feminism and other labels. Today, on the 25th anniversary of the release of "Batman Returns", we might as well return to Gotham City, where the heroes are heavily influenced, and feel the unique charm of Tim Burton's aesthetics while relived the legend of Batman on the screen.
Back to Gotham: Three men and one woman composing troubled times.
Don't think that Tim Burton is a DC or Marvel black. This geek doesn't like superheroes dressed in red and green at all. Faced with the huge amount of text, he didn't even know which frame to start reading. Bolton’s main inspiration for filming "Batman" came from the screenwriter Alan Moore (V, the watchman), the classic graphic novel "Fatal Joke" about the origin of the clown. This is also the first time that he has an emotional resonance with comic characters, and he is deeply attracted by the love and killing between the ugly master and the master, the similarities and oppositions. He described the relationship between the two as: "a struggle between two freaks." It is also this legendary work that even the Great God Nolan used to learn from, and laid the foundation for Tim Burton's version of "Batman." The movie has a dark and mournful story style.
However, Bolton's personal interpretation of the original comic book did not continue in the return of Batman. The fight between the two freaks becomes a fight between the hero and the freak in this film. The master in this work has obtained a license to kill, and cannot convey the Batman theme motifs such as self-contradiction, procedural justice, and moral paradox. The soldiers couldn't hold back the master's small punches, and they washed away in the second after being framed. Without the ugly face, the bat master played more of a thug. Obviously, "Batman Returns" is not a heroic movie driven by Batman, but a noir movie dominated by villains and political conspiracies.
As we all know, Tim Bolton has an almost crazy love for monsters. Monsters are more sensitive than people. I am ugly but I am gentle. It is almost the motif of Bolton's movies. The bat master of Gao Daquan is obviously not black enough. In addition, Bolton became one of the producers of this sequel due to the box office explosion of the previous title. Without creative intervention, Bolton used almost all his pen and ink to portray a monster villain like Penguin. From severely deformed and tragic abandonment, to eagerness to respect and manipulate the political situation, to conspiracy to reveal its own evil results, the trio of penguins' fate runs through the film and successfully portrays a tragic villain who is self-destructive because of being unfair to others.
As for the black-hearted businessman Max Shreck, played by Christopher Walken, his name is taken from the actor Max Schreck, who is also known as Orr in the ancient vampire movie "Nosferatu". Earl Love. In the film, Max not only drew closer to the vampire earl in his clothes, his slender figure, gloomy face, messy white hair full of Gothic living dead is a sight, and his treacherous and vicious style is more terrifying than a vampire. However, the biggest highlight of the film is the sexy catwoman played by Michelle Pfeiffer.
Batman and Penguin fight, and Catwoman won. This kind of robbery case in which a supporting actress crushed two big guys seemed to have been staged in March last year. Compared with the black and white pros and cons, Catwoman is the only character in the film who has experienced a change of stance and emotional reversal. It is definitely the most eye-catching and emotional existence in the film. And Michelle Pfeiffer's interpretation of the sexy kitten not only helped hundreds of millions of teenagers to survive puberty, but it is still the sexy icon that crushes the Nolan version of the catwoman to this day. The rugged figure wrapped in the tights, the charming eyes, the endless amorous feelings, and the crackling of the whip is even more imaginative. And the love and killing between Catwoman and Batman, you chase me, rival and friend, flirting but not love, is also the emotional clue that impresses the audience the most in the film.
In Western Christmas customs, if men and women meet under the mistletoe, they must kiss ("Friends" and "Harry Potter" are both reflected). The two kisses between the master and the catwoman in the film are also witnessed by the mistletoe, which means that they will stay together for a long time. However, mistletoe itself is a highly poisonous plant. Bolton compared the relationship between the two of them to mistletoe, romantic but deadly. Catwoman is also like a thorny rose. Even if the master is moved with affection and understands reason, she will not give up her character for love, and she does not want to turn into a canary in Wayne Castle to spend time with him. Shou. At the climax of the film, Catwoman moths to the fire in the most provocative way, and she died together with Xu Ruik. The short-lived sentiment made us sigh at this involuntary love tragedy.
Of course, the Nine Lives Cat did not die here. At the end of the film, Catwoman looks at the bat signal light, Batman licks the cat sadly, and the romance between Meow Star Wild Rose and the Gotham Lone Ranger is to be continued... It is visible, and finally let Faye The Buddha version of Catwoman is not only long-legged, waist-up and hip-hip, but also like Wonder Woman, she is also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people with her independent female image that is not pleasing or vassalizing, and does not need to be rescued by men. However, if it weren't for Annette Bening to be pregnant and unable to play Catwoman, we might have passed by Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman.
In fact, Warner did take advantage of the heat after Catwoman became popular, and announced the "Catwoman" independent film plan. Bolton, who had no intention of directing the third part, led the original crew of "Batman Returns" to escort her. However, the whole movie was stuck in the production quagmire. When Pfeiffer gave birth to a baby, the film didn't even have a script. In 1997, a series of "Batman and Robin" made many viewers self-poke their eyes, and the DC movie was sentenced to 7 years in prison for this, and the "Catwoman" plan was completely stranded. Coincidentally, it is this Harry Berry version of "Catwoman" that brought DC hero movies back to the audience's vision in the new century. It seems that it is not the first time that DC hero movies have been saved by women.
Simple folk customs: Bolton’s Dafa created the Gotham landscape.
"Batman Returns" is a completely privatized film. Its privateness is not only reflected in the role of heroes abdicating and villain carnivals. The "unsophisticated folk customs" of Gotham City has also become an experimentation ground for Bolton's reckless personal style. As the most important image environment for shaping the image of Batman, every Gotham city has a different style of painting-the dark of the guide, the realism of Nolan, the vulgarity of Joe Schumacher, and the coldness of the TV series. Among them, the most valuable painting and architectural aesthetics is the Gotham City in "Batman Returns" that embodies Boltonian fantasies.
Because the box office reputation of the previous game made Warner Papa happy, Bolton became one of the producers in this sequel. Daxing Civil Engineering restructured Gotham City according to his own ideas. Inscribed "Boton is here for a visit". In addition to adding churches, cemeteries, castles, pointed arches, flying buttresses, steeple windows, spires and other standard Gothic architectural features in his movie, Bolton also tried to integrate fascist architectural styles and Russian architectural styles, while referring to Germany. Expressionism. The fusion of architectural styles and aesthetic schools not only gives people a grotesque and bizarre psychological and visual impact, but its function also goes beyond the superficial expressive power of scene shaping, becoming a key symbol of character shaping and emotional expression.
In the design of Gotham Plaza, Bolton referred to the fascist architectural style, which is characterized by its huge body, neat opposition and lack of change. The towering columns are arranged in rows to give people a sense of solemnity. The material uses hard limestone, not for beauty but for strength. The reason why the Nazis did this in the past was to attract more people to gather and expand the scope of brainwashing, and second to form a visual centripetal force, setting off the "noble" image of the head of state to nowhere. It can be said that the political and ideological effects of fascist architecture far exceed the aesthetic effects, and the same is true for Gotham Square. Let’s take a look at the people who stand in Gotham Square and deceive the crowd. Xu Ruik, the Penguin, and the Mayor of Gotham. Without exception, these characters are the “heads” of Gotham who stand at the highest point of power, and they are all respectable. Hypocrite. Bolton used the function and symbolic meaning of Fascist architecture to serve the dictator, subtly strengthening the screen image of the villain's wolf ambition.
In addition, the wide range of architectural scales and styles also play a key role in portraying the social ecology. For example, Gotham Plaza, Wayne Building and Xu Ruike's company are all rigorously symmetrical structures, so you can only look up to the sky. The buildings in Shijing Street are mostly asymmetrical, folk-customized, and colorful Russian folk styles, coupled with the red-light district style neon shining to hide dirt, creating a clear gap between the rich and the poor.
In addition to the architectural style that gives people a sense of weirdness, most of the scenes in the film have a strong sense of carving and posing. In fact, it is true; Warner vacated the largest studio No. 16 for this sequel, and even Using Universal’s largest studio No. 12 plus 8 medium-sized studios, almost all scenes of the film were shot in a closed studio, lacking the fluidity and natural light of the real space, airtight and dark, and a sense of oppression follows. It seems that the audience is imprisoned in the dirty streets and underground ecology of Gotham City in the "unsophisticated folk style", and imprisoned in this hell on earth dominated by Bolton, which makes the whole movie more like a stage play, and this is why , "Batman Returns" is often regarded as Bolton's screen attempt to capture "German Expressionism". The whole film emphasizes the line, light and shadow, setting and other formal elements in the creation of style and mood, and no longer regards nature as the only means of artistic expression. Crazy characters, sharp buildings, and lack of perspective are all features of German expressionism. The purpose is to create a crazy, distorted, and irrational "Gotham Sanshi".
In fact, Gotham City, which was born in 1940, was a combination of German expressionism and fascist architectural styles from the very beginning, a tribute to "Metropolis" and "Dr. Caligari's Cabin". And the Batman comics, as a "pulp fiction" for 5 yuan a newsstand, also blends the artistic characteristics of noir films in the 1930s. From this perspective, among the many Batman directors, only Tim Burton has truly penetrated the essence of the original art style and truly portrayed Gotham City as a vivid character. In addition, the aforementioned Schreck prototype film "Nosferatu", like "Dr. Caligari's Cabin", is a representative work of German expressionism.
On the other hand, Bolton, a master of formalism who was born as a painter, almost used film as a canvas. The entire lens of the film did not emphasize the depth of the real image at all; the perspective and the large perspective are almost all special effects and achievements, which makes the original two. The flattened Gotham City has a more comic color, and the grotesque and gloomy Gotham City seems to be isolated from the world, and its distorted and distorted human nature obscures the sky and covers the cursed land. Only when the bat signal light that cuts through the haze comes on, every soul struggling in pain has the hope of being rescued. Bolton knows that the more the evil diseases portrayed by Gotham City are entangled, the more popular will be the screen image of Batman saving the common people. Bolton has truly achieved environmental service by creating a high degree of opposition between heroes (people) and troubled times (environment). For the artistic effect of the character. This is why when talking about Batman, only the Bolton version and the Nolan version are the most impressive to movie fans.
Behind-the-scenes anecdote: Bolton & Penguin became the king of the set.
Although he is not a serious "author and director", Tim Bolton also has an unremitting pursuit of dominance in artistic creation. Even when dealing with the first big job of "Batman" (1989), Bolton was still neither humble nor overbearing, grabbing food from his mouth, and vying for the dominance of the film to the greatest extent. You know, the Hollywood bigwigs in the 1980s were without exception the most typical straight male aesthetic, and they only believed in "guns and carts" and "sudden". Not only did Bolton paint every frame of "Batman" with a non-mainstream gothic undertone, he was not at all opposed by Care producers and fans' complaints. Especially when it comes to casting, Bolton boldly used a medium-sized body with a high body fat ratio, no male dog waist and eight-pack abs, and even the "old man" Keaton, who had never acted in an action movie, played Batman because he felt that he was a muscular male star. Will destroy the realism of the character. To this end, Bolton was also splinted by the two producers.
The 1989 version of "Batman" was an unprecedented success. For the first time, the audience saw the coldness and madness of film noir in a superhero movie. The global box office of 410 million ranked second in the annual box office (the first is "Indiana Jones 3" ), aspiring to the top of the DC movie box office, it was not until 19 years later that the "Dark Knight" took the throne. After learning about Bolton's ability to attract money, Warner immediately begged Bolton to return to filming the sequel. Bolton, who was splinted in the last movie, naturally wanted to get his face back, and directly proposed to Warner the "three non-directives"-the script has no novelty and is not direct, without Keaton, is not directed, and is not given the dominant power. . Warner's side is also unambiguous, not only let Bolton be the chief producer, but also demote the two previous producers to give Bolton a hand. "Father of Batman" Bob Kane was also invited back to serve as a creative consultant. Bolton even replaced the previous screenwriter, deleted the roles of the double-faced man and Robin, and started to reshape the plot according to his own ideas. Finally, the God of Wealth was comfortably served, and the filming of "Batman Returns" officially started in June 1991.
Like its predecessor, "Batman Returns" is also one of the largest commercial production and marketing giants in film history. The two largest Hollywood studios—Warner Studio No. 16 and Universal Studio No. 12—are used by Bolton Park respectively. Take pictures of Gotham Square and the Penguin’s underground nest. In order to create a comfortable performance environment for the penguins, Warner poured 500,000 gallons of water in Studio 12, consuming a ton and a half of ice every day. Penguins soak in the private swimming pool and eat fresh fish shipped directly from the pier. This treatment makes PETA not faulty. Only then did 30 African penguins and 15 emperor penguins appear obediently and desperately in the film, forming a "Suicide Penguin Story" scene with CGI penguins, real penguins and the robot penguins of the special effects great Stan Winston. In addition, Warner also used 8 studios to build the interior and exterior scenery of Gotham City. The shooting area of "Batman Returns" accounted for more than half of the Warner studio.
In terms of stage and props, during the six months of shooting, Warner scrapped more than 60 catwoman tights, each worth $1,000, which is enough for Catwoman to perform various training, restraint, and explosive play. However, Batman's uniform has always been a headache for props masters, because from "Batman" in 1989 to "Mystery of Shadows" in 2005, Master Bat's headgear and cloak were all connected, which made him unable to twist. neck. Although the bat suit in this film is made of more flexible sponge latex, Keaton still has to violently tear off his headgear to make it look true. Even more bitter than Keaton is Danny DeVito, who plays the Penguin. Stan Winston personally designed makeup photos for him. Every time he appeared on the camera, he had to put on makeup for two hours, and he had to get into what made him feel uncomfortable. The penguin dress is bright, which makes Danny's twisting, sickness and madness all natural, and dare to love is not a pretend.
The production cost of "Batman Returns" is as high as 65 million US dollars, and the publicity fee is 15 million US dollars, which is more than twice the cost of the previous one. In order not to reveal the secret, Warner’s external secrecy work is extremely strict. The art department must close the curtains when working. Kadu ate Warner's closed doors and was forbidden to enter the venue. Even so, an entertainment magazine leaked Danny DeVito's Penguin makeup photo, and the frustrated Warner immediately sent a private detective to catch the insider.
In terms of the soundtrack, the classic theme set by Danny Yefman in the last film for "Batman" runs through the film, and Bolton, who is in power, gives Yefman more creative freedom. Yefman created 21 soundtracks for "Batman Returns", which lasted more than 90 minutes, more than twice the length of the original soundtracks of general blockbusters. However, 84 hours a week, coupled with Bolton’s almost paranoid vocal pursuits, Yefman and his old partner had a "creative disagreement" for the first time. Although the honeymoon period between the two came to an end, the old version of Batman was ups and downs. The main theme of the ups and downs is still thrilling today.
On June 19, 1992, "Batman Returns" was released in 2,644 theaters, with an unprecedented $45.69 million in the first week of painting. However, the film’s final box office was far worse than expected. Warner smashed $80 million but ended up in the third place at the annual box office. The global box office stayed at $266 million, which is a big loss compared to the previous film's 35 million rush of 410 million. So why this "Batman Returns" failed to rewrite Batman's box office miracle.
Not suitable for children: Cross dress & whip caused two levels of controversy.
In terms of artistry, "Batman Returns" really can't fault it. It is difficult for you to see painting, architecture, music, sculpture, etc. in the comprehensive seventh art. The high degree of fit of the six traditional arts. But Bolton’s formalist creation also has its fatal drawbacks. Paying too much attention to sound and picture performance will dilute the logic and drama of the story, which leads to "Batman Returns" becoming an aesthetic experiment in which the form is greater than the content, and the style is greater than the connotation.
First of all, as a Batman movie, Master Bat is a taboo if his presence is too weak. After defeating the Joker in the previous game and becoming famous, Batman has become the guardian angel of Gotham City. The citizens of Gotham and the police no longer regard him as a terrifying urban legend. He not only supports Batman morally, but also No one wonders whether this violent righteous policeman is above the law. This also caused Batman to turn from a self-contradictory anti-hero to a punishment machine without emotional waves. Once the characterized protagonist is typed, the audience's points of interest will be dislocated. Coupled with Bolton, who has always been fond of freaks, almost let the Penguins and Catwoman dominate the story. The master is more a passive role in cleaning up the mess, and his contribution to the promotion of the plot is almost negligible. In this way, the role of Batman was robbed by the three villains, and the sense of existence fell to the bottom. It is a real fake Batman movie.
In addition, "Batman Returns" also failed to bring the twists and turns of the confrontation between good and evil in the previous one. The Penguin is an incurable abnormality. Batman is a violent policeman who controls and kills. The confrontation between them has become black and white. The binary opposition between good and evil, which is forgotten after reading, is far from the previous one. In the ministry, the dual game of body and will between the ugly master and the master is impressive.
If there are differences in the plot, then as a PG-13 movie, the scale of "Batman Returns" is obvious to all. Many parents have questioned whether the MPAA is stupid after watching the film. The first is the collapse of the bat master. Batman, who never kills, burns one to death as soon as he drove, and then blows another to death. At Wayne's Mansion, the entrance to the Bat Cave turned out to be the "Iron Maiden", a medieval torture tool. This allows parents to explain to their children. Xu Ruike's grilled face in the film made an adult tremble when he saw it. Catwoman is wearing an upgraded Latex tights, her high-heeled whip and her mouth are full of sexually suggestive tongue kisses to Batman, and the children can't hold it. The Penguin not only looks wretched, but also has endless connotations. Kenner, a veteran toy factory in the United States, refused to sell the Bolton version of the Penguin for fear of scaring the children. McDonald’s has done even better. The toys of Batman, Catwoman, and Penguin are no longer sold, lest they once again anger the parent group.
Faced with the accountability of parental forces, who will bear this pot? There is no doubt that it is Tim Bolton, because after all, Bolton drove too fast. Take the Penguin as an example. In the comics, he is just a gangster with hands and eyes open to the sky, and his body is not deformed. But Bolton portrayed him as a bloated, distorted circus leader; plus catwoman with fetish and gothic labels, Nosferatu-like vampire merchant, underground circus The cross-dressing Play of Flurry of Crowd makes the whole "Batman Returns" a large-scale abnormal B-level show with full of fun. And German expressionism and Gothic style are not adult aesthetics that children can appreciate. On the other hand, Warner also forgot that movie craftsmen like Bolton are not movie businessmen. Even if it is a commercial film, the craftsman’s first consideration is to develop his own skills, rather than to please the audience to work hard on entertainment. Let the film craftsman dominate the production, and the result is mostly not popular.
Of course, adult audiences who can accept Tim Burton’s aesthetics still like this sequel very much. The film’s Rotten Tomatoes score is as high as 80%. Many mainstream media, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Rolling Stone, have highly affirmed Bolton's dark, eccentric, and changeable personal style, as well as his integration of traditional art. But for old film critics like Roger Ebert, the style is too avant-garde, but the lackluster story of "Batman Returns" is obviously not enough for him. In any case, the controversy about the masters of formalism has no face and no ambitions is not a day or two, this matter is hard to come by. Even if the Bolton version of Batman is indeed a paradoxical and gorgeous firework show, it is better than the "Gay in Gay" bat nipple of Joe Schumacher's successor.
From Batman's debut on the big screen in 1943 to the DCEU Batman independent film in 2018, the legend of the screen of Master Bat has been staged in more than 16 DC movies in turn. The ten Batman movies that have been released since 1989 have brought Warner a global box office of 4.9 billion U.S. dollars. As the first visual pioneer who gave the dark style to Batman on the screen, Timbo Dunn, with the help of "Batman Returns", achieved the ultimate in DC dark aesthetics 25 years ago. Although the current DC head is replaced by Jeff Johns who advocates optimism, humor, and heroism, the 25 years of "dark years" brought by Bolton are still indelible in the hearts of every Batman fan and DC fan. Image memory.
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