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Batman Returns: (Danny Elfman) Few audiences could
have expected director Tim Burton to produce a success of the magnitude
of the first
Batman film in 1989. Grossing many hundreds of
millions of dollars on a budget a tenth the size, Warner Brothers did
not hesitate to allow Burton to follow up with a sequel three years
later. While Warner had kept Burton on a tight leash for the original
film, its success afforded the director substantially more artistic
control over his sequel. As such, the plot took on more of the style of
the original comics, replacing the serious edge of the first film with a
spirit of fantasy closer to
Beetlejuice than
Batman.
Expanding the number of villains to two allowed Warner to crank up the
merchandising machine even further, pushing the franchise with a
ferocity that would remain for two additional direct sequels. And yet,
even with Burton behind the camera, Michael Keaton in front of it, and
Danny Elfman's famous title theme over the speakers, the film failed to
live up to expectations outside of viewers already devoted to the style
that Burton and Elfman had perpetuated in several films at the time. For
these fans of the Burton sense of gloom and the Elfman sounds of
tragedy,
Batman Returns has interestingly remained the favorite
of the first two films in the franchise. Mainstream audiences and
critics eventually lost interest in the film, though, and
Batman
Returns is typically only mentioned as an afterthought when
conversation involves the far more revered
Batman. At a casual
glance, it's difficult to pinpoint where Elfman specifically went wrong
with
Batman Returns. The same triumphant title theme returns, and
the winter setting would seem to have lent itself well to the
Christmas-like innocence of his writing current to the time. These
elements, along with his maturing skills with an orchestral ensemble and
a broader role for a chorus in
Batman Returns, promised to result
in one of the best sequel scores since the
Star Wars and
Indiana Jones series.
Instead, Elfman takes one step forward and four steps
back, reverting to a less powerful style of action scoring more similar
to
Scrooged and
Nightbreed than that he had established in
Batman. The first backwards step in
Batman Returns is
Elfman's total abandonment of the classically rich orchestral
construction of the original, allowing the primary theme and the
presence of its hero to be dominated by the musical personas of the two
villains. As such, the score lacks conviction for the title character.
The wild ambience that had been restricted to the Joker in the first
score now permeates the entirety of the score, with some of the weight
of the action shed by the use of a lighter chorus, less conventional
themes, more bizarre orchestration, and less linear rhythms. In essence,
the spirit of
Batman Returns returns to that of
Beetlejuice, which is understandable given Burton's (and thus
Elfman's) broad creative control over the sequel. But that spirit
detracts from the power of the original score's approach to Gotham and
therefore reduces its effectiveness by comparison. The chorus used in
the first film was a mature, deep, adult one, assisting in identifying
Gotham City as a serious, gloomy, religious, and spiritual kind of haven
for the contrasts of good and evil. Compare that resonance to Elfman's
"la-la" style chorus, carried over most prominently from the
aforementioned
Scrooged and
Nightbreed, and that gothic
image is deflated. A more forceful choir with an enhanced male bass
would have been just as welcomed in the title theme performances,
continuing the established Gotham spirit and still capturing the holiday
season. Another step backwards is the Penguin's thematic representation,
for which Elfman never seemingly decides if he should apply the brush of
classical lyricism or one of cartoonish tragedy. Unfortunately, he tried
to use both, composing cartoonish themes for the character and then
suggesting them in a classically melodramatic fashion. In a few cases,
this combination worked, especially in the opening introduction to the
character's origins. From there, however, the score suffers from a
personality crisis that the original never had to contend with.
The Catwoman theme, on the other hand, is purely ingenious
in its employment of high-pitched strings to represent a cat's finicky
personality. The violins in such whining, high ranges are often tough on
the ears, but that's the entire idea behind mimicking a cat's voice. The
transformation cues are fascinating in their layering, and Elfman keenly
uses the repeating two-note rise or fall of the violins as a motif to
represent the character well throughout the score (and costume party
song). Only in the finale of the film, from Selina Kyle's electrocution
through the very end (at which she is seen perched like Batman on a
rooftop), does her theme true mix in the middle tonal ranges with the
surrounding underscore. Because Selina and her alter-ego don't have
massive armies of freaks and animals, the mass of action material in
Batman Returns unfortunately relates to the Penguin. The pompous
bombast that accompanies his marching armies of fluffy, tuxedoed killers
suffers from the same problem as the primary theme for their leader.
Elfman provides a ripping snare rhythm as compensation for the
cartoonish tragedy of their ascent, but in reality, that tragedy is not
convincing in such a carnival atmosphere. Lacking completely in the
score is the elegance of the thematic treatment for Bruce Wayne, and
this is yet another step backwards. He contemplative and troubled motifs
are absent. There are no flourishes of the title theme in the middle
portions
Batman Returns that can compete with the original. The
title theme performances sound like Elfman forced the freaky atmosphere
of
Nightbreed onto them, especially with the funky drum work at
the very outset of the opening titles. All the mystique of the character
is gone, muddying the waters with the style of the villains to such an
extent that you never get the impression from listening to the score
that Batman ever proves victorious. The finale, for instance, is so
concerned with Selina's continued lives (which doesn't really make sense
given that Michelle Pfeiffer's role would never return in the franchise)
that the hero is sold short at a time when audiences need to be reminded
that Batman is indeed the focus of the stories.
All of these shortcomings could likely have been
excused, however, if not for the one most fatal flaw in this sequel
score: a poor performance and recording. This final step backwards is
the most painful, for the original
Batman score was performed
with extremely robust energy under the direction of Shirley Walker in
London, and its sheer power was enveloping and awe-inspiring. The sequel
score, due to reasons unknown (though probably monetary), was the
product of a regular studio orchestra at Sony's scoring stage, and the
difference between London and Los Angeles has never been more evident.
In
Batman Returns, the timpani do not resound, the chimes are
distant, the gong does not impress, the piano is not sharp, and the
brass are completely flat. Take, for instance, the sixteenth-notes
performed by muted trumpets throughout the battle sequences in
Batman. Due to a combination of uninspired playing and more
deliberate pacing in
Batman Returns, the heralding trumpets are a
valuable asset lost. Along these lines, incidentally, all discussion
about the influence of Bernard Herrmann on the original score goes out
the window with the sequel. Emphasized in
Batman Returns is a
lighter chorus, the continued heavy presence of the organ, and a
different array of medium-range drums to spice up the mix. And,
unfortunately, without the depth of the original ensemble's sound, this
alteration doesn't convince. The mix of the score is extremely dry by
comparison to
Batman, reducing the effectiveness of the metallic
percussion particularly (what happened to the wicked combination of gong
and cymbal crashes that provided the first score with so much grace?).
Ironically, the mix of the song "Face to Face," co-written by Elfman and
the performing group Siouxsie and the Banchees for the costume ball
scene, is a highlight if only because it features a far more dynamic
range than the score. There is simply no substitute for power, and no
dull studio orchestra on a poor day --no matter how brilliantly mixed
and rearranged-- can compete with a superior singing and playing force.
In its shallow soundscape,
Batman Returns sounds, for lack of a
more precise word,
lame.
Fans of this score --and there are certainly many of
them-- will contend that Elfman's changed direction with
Batman
Returns suits the film well. In regards to the fact that film was a
far more accurate reflection of Burton's sensibilities, the score is
thus a product closer to the true heart of Elfman's writing. There are
many pieces of
Edward Scissorhands,
Nightbreed, and other
popular early scores by Elfman in
Batman Returns, and there is no
doubt that this music resided closer to the comfort level of the
composer. This isn't an insult, for the score would have seemed average,
if not quite good, had Elfman not established the franchise with a
completely different and incredibly successful sound in the previous
film's score. The score for
Batman is often mentioned as the best
superhero music ever recorded for cinema, and if that's truly the case,
then the sequel was destined to disappoint. To aggravate the situation
even further at the time, Warner Brothers pumped out an incomprehensible
album for
Batman Returns. While significant in length, the cues
are left merged together without distinction, and with the track breaks
occurring at odd moments, the packaging offers absolutely no help in
distinguishing the cues. In fact, the only track listings on initial
pressings existed on the CD itself, and Warner (probably in a panic
after realizing the blunder of its designer) slapped a sticker with the
name of
every other track on the outer plastic wrap of the
product. The listings provided below at Filmtracks have been expanded to
give a more accurate representation of the cues' placements. Even aside
from the packaging of the score on album, the Elfman's music is simply a
major disappointment. The song at the end is inconsequential (Elfman
fails to integrate its theme into the score as he did with Prince's
material in the first entry) and the score, like Bruce Wayne and Selina
Kyle, suffers from an obvious identity crisis. Overall, the score gains
a point for its loyalty to the original
Batman theme, but loses
many more for its total disrespect towards the personality and power of
its predecessor. Even Elliot Goldenthal's
Batman Forever, while
providing only a faint mutation of Elfman's title theme, better captures
the grand essence of Gotham and its hero.
**
| Bias Check: | For Danny Elfman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.14 (in 42 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.28
(in 93,536 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
Track titles on the packaging are incomplete. The ones offered by Filmtracks
here expand upon those on the packaging for more accuracy.
