so what be batman return and anyway . it be market a an action film and and many people who have see it seem to think that they have watch an action film but really and there isn not that much action and and tim burton barely seem interested in it . people often align it with the grittier superhero comic of the late eighty and but honestly and if you have read the dark knight return and that seem just a little absurd while burton excessive imaginings have more in common with the day glo sixty tv series ( the penguin drive around in a giant plastic duck and for goodness sake ) . burton style be often describe a gothic and and that a little close to what we see on screen while the penguin deform and malign and with a tangled history and a subterranean lair be a gothic menace dress up in more respectable dickensian clothes udolfo masquerade a uriah heep . but what of catwoman . she may be raise from the dead and but that pvc catsuit be decidedly twentieth century and and her alter ego selina kyle world be all boardroom and apartment reminiscent of a 1930s romantic comedy . and then it click . the smart but downtrodden secretary romance by a lonely millionaire . the ensue complication cause by deception and disguise . batman return be and quite clearly and a romantic comedy in the old hollywood style and filter through burton s and m dungeon sensibility . it have more in common with the hudsucker proxy ( include expressionist set ) than it do with other superhero film . like many a romantic comedy and it centre around the make over of the heroine while not from ugly duckling to swan and but from doormat to dominatrix . michelle pfeiffer give one of the performance of her ( often remarkable ) career while she iconically sexy a catwoman ( poor halle berry never have a prayer ) and playful and vindictive and memorable because she know how to act with her whole body . in retrospect and though and it her scene a selina that impress while almost every one of them be a little comic gem and particularly the glimpse we get of her lonely home life . it a delicately balanced tragicomic performance and and it in these scene that the film really spark to life . nothing move me quite like selina and bruce wayne dance under the mistletoe to siouxsie and the banshee and a gun held between them and simultaneously empower and trap by their alter ego and doom to conflict . forget the easy sentimentality of big fish or the gossamer emotion of edward scissorhands this be the most heartfelt scene in all of burton film . love and revenge and fatalism and fetishism and insanity and self loathing and not a little wit and all in a few short line and absolutely nail by the actor particularly pfeiffer . elsewhere and danny de vito almost match her and find the wounded dignity bury beneath those truly repellent long john . the upper crust villain of the comic be reveal to be nothing more than a sham while burton penguin be a feral creature subject to his own and eliza doolittle style make over ( almost literally an ugly duckling ) . it burton most radical and funny reinvention . christopher walken max schreck complete a perfect triptych of villain and slide between casual charm and blank eyed psychosis with unnerving ease ( and be it just me and or do his company logo bring to mind mickey mouse . perhaps we should ask former disney animator burton ) . christopher nolan batman begin a real action film have be much praise a the first film to do justice to batman while i admire nolan film and but it would be a pity if it be allow to overshadow this idiosyncratic gem .