Awesome / Batman Returns

"Meow."

• Bruce Wayne sitting in the dark at the beginning (the junior novelization reveals it was one of the many times he was thinking about his parents) and then the bat signal shines in the room. He stands up, suits up and kicks ass.
  • And how he uses the Batmobile as a weapon afterwards deserves mention, too — he steamrolls mooks left and right, throws two guys off the hood by stopping suddenly, and sets another mook, a fire-breather, on fire with the exhaust flames. Bad. Ass.
  • And how he deals with the clown that has Selina hostage. He fires his spear-gun into the wall behind the clown, weathers his taunt of how he missed, and then tears loose a piece of the wall and takes him out.
  • Can we talk about how awesome the Batsuit looks in this movie? In the previous film it already looked pretty cool, although the texture of the mask and muscular body armor looked somewhat doughy and the Bat-symbol on the Chest Insignia had those two odd extra tail pointings. In this film, the mask looks way smoother, the Bat-symbol is corrected, and the body armor has a gorgeous metal plates aesthetic that fits the Dieselpunk vibe of this Batman's technology while being still fashioned in a way to suggest stylized muscles without being too visually "busy" like the Nolan Batsuits and many current superhero costumes that cover themselves in too many lines and extra patterns. The Returns Batsuit improves upon an already great costume and would still look great if it was standing next to modern superheroes.
• Catwoman's crime spree in the mall and her greeting to Batman and Penguin as it blows up.
  • Especially since Michelle Pfeiffer took out the mannequins in only one take, a shining testament to how scary good she became with that whip. Her doing jump rope with it afterward was a Throw It In! moment because she was so happy she did it right.
• Catwoman's "debut" rescuing a woman from a rapist in a back alley — then turning on and scaring the crap out of the woman in disgust at her for being so weak. "You make it so easy, don't you? Always waiting for some Batman to save you? I am Catwoman. Hear me roar."
• More than one film critic has argued that Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman was the female performance of 1992. Perhaps her Crowning Moment comes when she interrupts a confrontation between Batman and the Penguin, who are outside Shreck's Department Store. She has been in there setting it up to explode (its owner, Max Shreck, tried to kill her and triggered her Start of Darkness) and with a series of acrobatic flips she emerges to the surprise of both men. She has one word for them: "Meow." As if on cue, the building explodes.
  • Penguin and Batman both flinch at the explosion. Catwoman doesn't.
  • But in a close second? "You know, it's... a blur. I-I mean, not complete amnesia. I-I-I — I remember Sister Mary Margaret puking in church and Betsy Riley saying it was morning sickness, and I remember the time I forgot to wear my underpants to school and the name of the boy who noticed was Ricky Friedberg." (smile vanishes) "He's dead, now. But last night; complete blur. Couldn't you just die?"
  • Another Catwoman Moment of Awesome: As near the end, Shreck tries to shoot her, and she counts off each life she "lost" with every shot in a sing-song voice. "Six! Seven! All Good Girls Go To Heaven!" but still kept on going, until she used a taser and a cut electrical chord to give him a literal Kiss of Death.
  • Shreck himself got one immediately before that, during his confrontation with Catwoman:
    Catwoman: You killed me. The Penguin killed me. Batman killed me. That's three lives down — you got enough in there to finish me off?!
    Shreck: (draws his revolver) One way to find out.
  • Catwoman makes good on her threat: Shreck shoots her until he runs out of bullets with Selina just a few steps away from him and, ostensibly, two out of nine lives left. When the gun clicks, emptied, Selina laughs at him and delivers this line:
    Catwoman: Two lives left. I think I'll save one for next Christmas. In the meantime, how 'bout a kiss, Santy Claus?
    • She sticks the taser in her mouth and leans in to do just that. There's a huge electrical explosion, and when Batman goes over to investigate, he finds Shreck fried to a crisp.
  • And sure enough, she actually does turn out to have one life left, popping back up in the film's final shot to observe the Bat Signal, just like Batman himself at the end of the first film. Sadly, the sequels didn't pick this up, but the fact that she's still out there offers all kinds of Fanfic Fuel.
• Shreck gets another one when he discovers that Bruce Wayne is Batman.
  Shreck: Selena?! Selena Kyle! You're fired! And Bruce Wayne... why are you dressed up like Batman?
  Catwoman: Because he is Batman, you moron.
  Shreck: (with a casual shrug) Was. (BANG)
• Shreck's attempt to kill Selina was pretty good; first he's all intimidating, pretends he's not gonna do it, then immediately whirls around and throws her through his top-floor window.
• The Penguin: After Batman completely ruins his kid-killing plan, he determines the logical step is to destroy the entire city. Using penguins armed with rocket launchers. His insanely hammy yet awesome "motivational" speech he gives to his penguin army has to be seen to be believed.
  Penguin: My dear penguins, we stand on a great threshold. It's okay to be scared — many of you won't be coming back. Thanks to Batman, the time has come to punish ALL of God's children! First, second, third AND fourth born — why be biased?! Male and female! Hell, the sexes are equal with their erogenous zones... BLOWN SKY HIGH! FORWAAAARRDDD MARCH! THE LIBERATION OF GOTHAM HAS BEGUN!!
  • Danny Elfman's score is what makes it really awesome; just as Penguin is about to deliver the last line of that speech, the orchestra shifts to a rapid military-style drum cadence.
  • The sight of hundreds of fuzzy little penguins carrying missiles on their backs waddling through the streets set to Danny Elfman's epic and chaotic score.
  • When he mocked Batman on their first meeting, then instantly turned serious and said "You don't really think you'll win, do you?" Batman himself turning Penguin's words back on him. "Things change." Indeed.
• How about Batman exposing the Penguin as the lying villain he is simply by playing the recordings of what Penguin gloated to Batman while trying to kill him?
  • As if that wasn't enough, even Alfred knows that Bats has got this one in the bag, sharing a smug little smirk with him as Bruce coyly scratches the CD as though he were a radio DJ broadcasting Gotham's newest #1 single.
    Batman: Things change.
  • Penguin actually being Crazy-Prepared for the Produce Pelting from the outraged crowd, using the loaded umbrella he's shielding himself with to open fire on them, instantly scattering them.
  • Penguin cracking into the Batmobile in order to cause carnage and make Batman look like a Card-Carrying Villain gets points for sheer audacity.
    Penguin: Now, just relax! I'll take care of all the squealing, wretched, pinhead puppets of GOTHAM!
    • Batman's freeing the car from Penguin's control - smashing through the floor of the Batmobile to retrieve the device - is topped only by his smashing the display screen to shut up Penguin's enraged screaming.
• Batman saving the children at the beginning of the third act. Lightning flashes, and his silhouette with cape spread like wings appears in front of the circus train. The driver is so distracted and petrified by fear that he doesn't notice Batman breaking into the cabin until it's too late. Textbook Batman.
  • Even the monkey is so terrified, that Batman made him go back to the lair and deliver a note to Penguin personally that simply states he failed. This became the first step in Penguin's Villainous Breakdown-
    Penguin: So, where are all the children...? (takes the note from the terrified-looking monkey, and starts reading) "Dear Penguin, the children regret that they are unable to attend. BATMAN?!" (Beat as he shakes violently, before screaming in sheer, incoherent rage) UUURRRAAAARRRRAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHH...!
  • Then, after Penguin sets his back up plan into motion, one of his mooks on a loudspeakers warns him that her radar shows Batman is bringing the fight into the zoo in his Bat-Boat. Penguin looks around to see that the remainder of his gang, even the woman on the loudspeaker, is nervously shuffling out of the lair.
• The opening credits. The title appearing as a swarm of bats fly over baby Penguin's carriage floating down the river.
• When Max is relieved when Batman arrives, thinking he's saved, only for Batman to face-mush him and reply, "Shut up, you're going to jail" as he shoves him aside. Hardcore Bat-fan Kevin Smith points out that this is probably the quintessential, classic, true Batman moment in the movie.
• Batman's second fight with the Red Triangle Gang starts out with the Gang causing mayhem in the streets of Gotham while Circus of Fear-style music plays. Then, the music suddenly shifts with Batman's Leitmotif, showing the audience that the evil clowns are in for a world of hurt.
• The dialogue has so many clever uses of alliteration it's uncommonly literate for a mainstream blockbuster, and stands as its closest link to the goofier Silver Age and Adam West versions of Batman. "How can you be so mean to someone so meaningless?", "Cobblepot can clean it up", "Eagle scouts into crazed clowns and happy homemakers into Catwomen" are a few that come to mind.
• Both the Penguin and Catwoman's dying moments, both have been brutally mutilated and are barely able to stand, but still hold onto The Power of Hate long enough to make one final hit on their adversary. It doesn't quite work for Penguin (he might have killed Batman if he hadn't used "the cute one" by mistake) but Catwoman not only definitely kills Shreck but is shown to inexplicably survive in the very last scene of the film.
• Batman versus the circus strongman. The strongman is an Implacable Man who No Sells punches and dares Batman to hit him. Batman simply straps a bomb to him and tosses him into the sewer.

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