By Mike Huntley
Tim Burton brought the most iconic comic book character to the
big screen in the 1989 smash hit Batman. Gone was the campy and
cartoonish family friendly Caped Crusader, replaced by a psychologically
damaged billionaire with a thirst for fighting Gotham City's criminals
under the cover of darkness. Batman became a pop culture phenomenon. By
being a blockbuster for Warner Bros. and DC Comics, a sequel was
inevitable. So, in the summer of 1992, Batman Returns graced the big
screen bringing back Tim Burton in the director's chair and Michael
Keaton in the title role. After facing his first major enemy, The Joker,
played brilliantly by Jack Nicholson, Batman's next big villains were
the freakish Penguin played by Danny DeVito and the sexy yet dangerous
Catwoman played by Michelle Pfeiffer. While Batman Returns did decent
business at the box office, Warner Bros. got a lot of flack from pissed
off parents that the film was too dark, too gothic, too violent, and too
adult for the youth of the world. Even the casual Batman fans (except
this one) complained that Burton had gone too far with making Batman
dark.
This caused Warner Bros. to want
to switch gears and make Batman fun again by bringing the character back
to his campy roots while still keeping a little bit of darkness left
over. Burton was reduced to a producer role and WB hired fellow stylish
director Joel Schumacher, who is best known for his 1987 cult classic
teen vampire flick The Lost Boys. Schumacher grew up loving the campy
1960s television series of Batman starring Adam West and Burt Ward. The
Riddler played by Jim Carrey and Two-Face played by Tommy Lee Jones
(who replaced Billy Dee Williams) were chosen as the villains of this
third Batman movie. Feeling that the franchise was backtracking to what
the 1989 film was meant to steer away from, Batman and Batman Returns
star Michael Keaton turned down the role. Liking his role in the film
Tombstone, Schumacher hired Val Kilmer to replace Keaton as The Dark
Knight. Finally joining The Caped Crusader was Robin/Dick Grayson played
by Chris O' Donnell. While it brought in a mixed audience and mixed
reviews, Batman Forever was a decent enough success financially to
please Warner Bros. and beat out Batman Returns at the box office. Is
the second sequel any good though? You'll just have to read on to find
out.
Gotham's former District Attorney Harvey Dent is now a rising criminal
known as Two-Face, who was horribly scarred after getting acid thrown
into one side of his face by crime kingpin Salvatore Maroni during a
court trial. Batman tried to save Dent, but was too late. Two-Face
blames Batman for not saving him. Apparently Two-Face has been in and
out of Arkham Asylum, giving Batman a hard time by committing all of his
crimes dealing with the number "2" and using his coin to decide for
him. This time, Two-Face is holding up the 2nd National Bank of Gotham
on the 2nd anniversary of the day that Batman caught him and is holding
the only security guard hostage. Batman arrives, beats up some of
Two-Face's goons, and attempts to save the guard who is tied up in a safe
only to realize that it is a trap. The safe is filled with acid.
Luckily, Batman saves the guard and tries to stop Two-Face who has
escaped in a helicopter. Meanwhile, a disgruntled employee at Wayne
Enterprises named Edward Nygma has an obsession with his Brain Waves
device and of course with Bruce Wayne who hired him. After realizing
that Nygma's new invention can be dangerous, Bruce turns it down.
Therefore, Nygma decides to get revenge by killing his boss and sending
Wayne riddles. Commissioner Gordon has brought in hot criminal
psychologist Dr. Chase Meridean to look into Two-Face and help Batman
out. Chase of course takes a fancy to Batman due to his scarred
personality and mystique while also taking an interest in Bruce with his
post childhood trauma of watching his parents murdered. While out to
see the circus with Chase, Bruce witnesses Two-Face crash the place and
murder The Flying Graysons, leaving the only survivor Richard orphaned.
Feeling that he can relate to Richard Grayson, Bruce offers him a place
to stay at Wayne Manor.
Dick wants
to seek revenge on Two-Face and gets into mischief by discovering the
Batcave and jacking the Batmobile for his own sense of thrill. Grayson
wants to be Bruce's partner, but Bruce doesn't want Dick to follow in
his footsteps by seeking revenge. Meanwhile, Edward Nygma teams up with
Two-Face under the persona of The Riddler dressed in all green with
question marks all over him. Riddler offers to use his Brain Waves
device to discover Batman's true identity. Nygma and Two-Face soon find
out that Bruce is The Dark Knight, raid his home, destroy the cave, and
kidnap Chase. Bruce must rescue Dr. Meridean and stop Riddler and
Two-Face, but will need a little help from his new ward becoming The
Dynamic Duo, Batman And Robin!
While it was definitely a downward spiral and a step
backwards from what Tim Burton did with Batman, I do enjoy Batman
Forever. In fact, I've always enjoyed this film ever since I first saw
it in the theater at 7 years old. Like with the previous two films, I
was a Batman merchandise addict. I got it all. Action figures, school
supplies, toysets, shirts, Halloween costumes (I actually had a Batman
mask, a Two-Face mask, and a Riddler costume!), and I even had the
movie's poster taped to my bedroom door. The story to Batman Forever is
definitely easy to follow because the movie plays out like a live action
cartoon. Screenwriters Lee and Janet Batchler, with a little help from
Akiva Goldsman, wrote a screenplay that took the character of Batman
pretty seriously, yet made the villains over the top and campy like the
'60s television series. While Batman was portrayed more in the shadows
and a straight up psychologically damaged vigilante in the previous two
Burton films, Joel Schumacher took Batman in the complete opposite
direction. While still dealing with the painful memory of that night in
the alley where his parents were gunned down in front of him, Bruce has
realized that the darkness was consuming him and doesn't know if he
wants to be Batman anymore. Plus, he's met a woman who likes both sides
of his personality. Vicki Vale liked Bruce, but couldn't deal with
Batman. Selina liked both sides, but was too far going into a different
direction that their relationship wouldn't work. But now with Chase,
Bruce had finally met somebody who takes an attraction to both the man
along with the beast in the shadows and who is not a criminal herself.
Another strength about Batman Forever is Bruce flashing back to
that fateful night after witnessing Two-Face murder Dick Grayson's
family at the circus. Memories he had hidden from himself of forgotten
pain begins to surface, which ultimately leads to him accepting Dick as a
partner when he realizes that Dick will follow his legacy whether he
wants him to or not. While many look at Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson as
a father/son relationship, I always looked at it as either a brotherly
kinda bond or a buddy cop friendship. In buddy cop movies, you usually
get the older more experienced cop who gets partnered with the much
younger rookie and trains him while also formining a close friendship
either in a father/son or a brotherly kinda way. Robin was actually
created in the comics back in 1940, exactly a year after Batman himself
was introduced to give kids reading the comics a character that they
could identify with. Personally, I prefer an older Robin like in Batman:
The Animated Series, or even here although I kinda wish they had made
him around 15 or 16 instead of early 20s. My only problem with the
portrayal of Dick Grayson in this movie is that they write him kinda
like Jason Todd, who for those who don't know was the second Robin after
Dick grew up to become Nightwing. Jason Todd's father was murdered by
Two-Face. Jason Todd tried to jack the wheels off the Batmobile and was
caught by Batman who took the orphaned teen in as his ward and trained
him to be the next Robin. While Dick actually did everything Bruce told
him and followed his example, Jason got into mischief and talked back to
Batman, which actually ended up getting him killed in an explosion by
The Joker. Here, Dick is kinda the rebellious young man who breaks into
the Batcave, steals the Batmobile to take it for a spin, and tries to
impersonate Batman.
While most of
Dick's characterization in this film is similar to Jason Todd's, I do
think that the guy is just doing this to deal with the pain of his
family's death. I'm sure Bruce probably did some punky stuff too when he
was Dick's age. Remember that time in Batman Begins when Bruce brought a
loaded gun to the court trial of the man who murdered his parents and
was planning on seeking revenge himself? Even though that was a total
separate continuity and different Batman movie saga, Bruce too was
Dick's age and thought the only way to get justice was to kill the
killer that took his parents. In the previous films, Batman was a
vigilante who killed The Joker by making him fall to his death from the
Bell Tower, blew up Axis Chemicals with Joker's men inside, strapped
dynamite on a circus freak, and set a guy on fire with the Batmobile. I
guess after seeing what the thirst for revenge did to Selina Kyle, it
made him realize that revenge wasn't the answer anymore and that he had
to stop killing the criminals. Just like the line Bruce tells Dick in
the Batcave...
"Your pain won't die with
Harvey, it grows. So you walk out into the dark to find another face and
another and another until one terrible morning you wake up to realize
that revenge has become your whole life and you won't know why."
While the characterization between Bruce Wayne/Batman, Dr.
Chase Meridean, and Dick Grayson is taken seriously, the
characterization of the villains is all camp and fun. Edward Nygma has
always been a guy with one obsession, which is to outsmart Batman. He
sets traps with a puzzle to solve in order to get out of the traps, save
the citizens, or to locate him. He is very similar to the horror
villain Jigsaw or the real life murderer The Zodiac. He's totally
narcissistic. Here, Edward Nygma/The Riddler is characterized as being
obsessed with Bruce Wayne and using his new device to suck out peoples'
memories and gain their thoughts and secrets. When his invention is
rejected, Nygma goes even more nuts. Now, being psychotic can go down
two streets in movies especially comic book movies. There's psychotic in
a scary way like The Joker in The Dark Knight or The Scarecrow in
Batman Begins, and then there's laughable crazy such as Jack Nicholson's
The Joker in Batman (1989) or the way Riddler and Two-Face are portrayed
in this film. Now, The Joker while humorously psychotic, was never
extremely over the top. Here, Riddler and Two-Face chew up the scenery
with VERY over the top portrayals of two of Batman's famous rogues.
Riddler however was one of the big super villains in the 1960s Batman
television show who was a pretty wacky guy. With that said, Riddler can
get away with being very loud and cartoonish. Plus, when you have Jim
Carrey playing the part who I thought was good casting for the time,
you're going to get a wildly energetic character. Two-Face however was
never meant to be a funny character. In fact, Two-Face is a very sad and
tragic character. Harvey Dent is a guy who was so good hearted and
wanted to clean up Gotham City, something that only The Dark Knight and
Commissioner Gordon were willing to do before Dent became Gotham's
District Attorney. Then, an accident occurred leaving Dent half scarred
and half sane.
Honestly with the more split direction that Schumacher was going
with Batman and Bruce Wayne in this movie, Two-Face seemed like the
perfect choice for the film's main villain. Unfortunately, Two-Face is
portrayed as a Joker copycat or to put it better, what Two-Face would
have been like if he was one of the super villains in the Adam West
Batman show. While I am definitely entertained with this more looney
Two-Face, it still saddens me that Warner Bros. and Joel Schumacher
didn't make Two-Face out to be the tragic fallen hero he is in the
comics, or Hell even in Batman: The Animated Series. They could have
still made it work as a lighter film and show Harvey Dent's war on the
mob lead to him becoming what he had sworn to fight against. If kids can
understand it in The Animated Series, then I'm sure they could handle it
in a live action movie. It ain't like he got half his face blown off
like in The Dark Knight where you could see his skull! Having a tragic
fallen hero story could still work in a more family centered Gotham City
if they weren't so set on making the villains more like the '60s style
for the '90s. We barely even get to see Harvey Dent as he is already
Two-Face when this film begins. We do get a quick news report showing
the court room accident, but that's it. Real shame. We also get a
different actor with Tommy Lee Jones replacing Billy Dee Williams who
played Harvey Dent in the first movie. Personally, I would have loved to
have seen what Billy Dee Williams would have done as Two-Face. The man
is a great actor and even though he wasn't a young white guy, he was
still a good Harvey Dent in my eyes and would have been an interesting
Two-Face. But oh well, we got Tommy Lee Jones hamming it up as
Two-Face, which was I admit pretty amusing yet disappointing at what
could have been done with the character. However, I did dig the whole
thing with him having two girlfriends reflecting his diverse
personalities and the look of his lair was similar to The Animated
Series. I did however take issue that in one scene he kept flipping his
coin until it landed on the side he wanted.
The look of Gotham with its more warm and colorful design
was actually pretty decent. While I obviously prefer either the dark,
gothic, and netherworldly Gotham or the gritty realistic Gotham, this
new Gotham wasn't so bad. Although, the neon was weird and would get
weirder in the next film. Loved the new look of the Batcave and the new
Batmobile. I enjoyed the two new Batsuits except for the nipples. Like
everybody else, the nipples was something I had issues with. I also
really dug the Robin suit, both the Flying Graysons one and the official
outfit. Just didn't like the nipples. The look of Two-Face was weird.
Looked pretty cartoonish. Could have been better. The Riddler had like I
swear three different outfits. You had the natural Riddler outfit with
the green spandex decorated in all question marks with the green mask
and green hat. You had the light up Riddler suit for one scene. And then
you had the glittery Riddler suit for the finale. Should have just
stuck with the first outfit. You didn't see Two-Face constantly changing
his outfit. While the orange hair was interesting and probably used to
disguise himself, I would have preferred it if Carrey had just worn a
green suit with question marks on the jacket, a question mark tie, a
purple mask, and the green question mark hat. The Riddler's question
mark cane was pretty awesome though. I will say that the villains'
dialogue are very quotable especially..
"Riddle me this, riddle me that, who's afraid of the big black bat?"
The music by Elliot Goldenthal was actually pretty fitting. I still
prefer Danny Elfman's, Shirley Walker's, or Hans Zimmer's Batman music
scores though.
The direction by Joel
Schumacher is actually decent with Batman Forever. Although, I think he
could have lost the Bat and Robin nipples, toned down Riddler and
Two-Face, and not used the neon. But, I really dug the characterization
of Bruce Wayne here. The flashbacks are handled very well, especially
when young Bruce falls into the cave and sees a bat flying towards him. I
do wish that Schumacher had kept the complete red book scene where
Bruce as a kid reads his Dad's last journal entry where Thomas Wayne
wrote that him and Bruce's mother, Martha, were going to stay in that
night, but Bruce wanted to go to a movie. This obviously made Bruce
blame himself for the murder of his parents and would have been an even
stronger plot point in Batman Forever. Another thing I loved is that
Bruce comes to realize that he never had to become Batman to begin with.
It was a choice he made for himself, not a choice that was forced on
him.
The acting was pretty good for the most part. Val Kilmer is
definitely no Michael Keaton, Christian Bale, or Kevin Conroy but I dug
his portrayal of Batman/Bruce Wayne. It was interesting to see coming
off Keaton's more revenge driven/psychologically damaged version of the
character. It's basically like a deeper and darker version of Adam West.
Jim Carrey was fun to watch as The Riddler/Edward Nygma although he
did get a little too over the top for me in areas. I still prefer John
Glover in the role. Chris O'Donnell was okay as Dick Grayson/Robin. I
just wish that the character was written more like Dick Grayson than
Jason Todd, but O'Donnell did alright with what he was given. Nicole
Kidman was good as Dr. Chase Meridean and looked very sexy. I thought
she was hot back in 1995 when I was 7 years old and I still think she
was foxy to this day. She's definitely my favorite love interest behind
Selina Kyle. Tommy Lee Jones, while a terrible representation of
Two-Face/Harvey Dent, was fun to watch and made me laugh. Drew Barrymore
and Debi Mazar were decent as Two-Face's main party gals Sugar &
Spice. Batman creator Bob Kane's wife Elizabeth Sanders played the
annoying gossip journalist really well as Gossip Gerty and would return
in Batman & Robin. Michael Gough did great as usual playing Alfred
Pennyworth. Pat Hingle did nothing but turn on the Batsignal and cheer
Batman on as Commissioner Gordon. All in all, not a bad cast.
Overall, Batman Forever is a fun movie. It may not be up to
par with Burton's two films, but it did do some things right. Too bad
that the next film killed the franchise for the next eight years, but at
the same time helped make room for the greatest movie trilogy of all
time.
GRADE
C+
In the summer of 1995, Batman Forever was released that
brought Batman back to being more appealing to family audiences rather
than the dark, gothic, and psychologically damaged Dark Knight we got
with Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns. The financial success of
Batman Forever meant that a third sequel was a go. Making loads of money
off toys, video games, and McDonald's merchandise, Warner Bros. decided
that they wanted to make even more merchandise with the next film. They
even had toy companies design the look of the costumes, vehicles, and
gadgets for the film. And what better way to make more action figures
than to add more characters. We got Batman. We got Robin. We got Mr.
Freeze. We got Poison Ivy! Let's just toss in one more villain with Bane
and another iconic Batman sidekick with Batgirl! Where Batman Forever
indeed had campy villains, Batman and Robin were taken pretty seriously.
Warner Bros. wanted Joel Schumacher back in the director's chair and
told him that they wanted it strictly family friendly and not to be
taken seriously. Due to scheduling conflicts, Val Kilmer wasn't able to
return as Batman/Bruce Wayne so Schumacher hired television star George
Clooney to replace him in the cape and cowl. Chris O' Donnell returned
as Robin/Dick Grayson. Michael Gough and Pat Hingle returned as Alfred
and Commissioner Gordon. Arnold Schwarzenegger was hired to be the cold
hearted Mr. Freeze. Uma Thurman was cast as Poison Ivy. Wrestler Jeep
Swenson joined the super villain's trio as the back breaking Bane. And
sexy Alicia Silverstone joined Batman and Robin as Batgirl. Already,
people were getting worried by this strange line of casting. Batman
& Robin opened in the summer of 1997, exactly two years after Batman
Forever, and bombed horribly at the box office. Critics and fans alike
called it the worst comic book movie ever made and a disgrace to the
Dark Knight legend. So, how does Batman & Robin hold up after all
these years? You'll just have to chill and read my review.
There's a new criminal in Gotham City calling himself Mr.
Freeze. Dressed in an armored suit to keep his body at zero degrees and
armed with a high tech freezing gun, Freeze has broken into the Gotham
Museum to steal some diamonds that help keep his suit at zero degrees in
order for him to survive. Batman and Robin crash Mr. Freeze's diamond
heist and Freeze freezes Robin, which will keep Batman busy so Freeze
can escape. Meanwhile, Dr. Pamela Isley is upset that her co-worker Dr.
Jason Woodrue is always messing up her botany experiments. Woodrue has a
mad plot to make super soldiers out of hardened prisoners. He tests his
Venom experiment on prisoner Antonio Diego. The Venom drug turns
scrawny Diego into a huge hulking man wearing a luchador mask named
Bane. After discovering that Dr. Isley has seen what he's been up to,
Woodrue pushes Dr. Isley into her experiments, which supposedly kills
her and buries her underneath the floor of the lab. Isley survives the
ordeal and has turned into a femme fatale of sorts who has cracked and
has a poisonous kiss. Now going by the name Poison Ivy, Pamela Isley
sets her sights on turning Gotham into her own garden of evil. Seeing
that the Dynamic Duo will get in her way, she uses her plant pheromone
dust to make them fight over her. Poison Ivy sees a likely alliance with
Mr. Freeze, who plans to freeze all of Gotham in search of a cure to
save his dying wife who is cryogenically frozen. Meanwhile at Wayne
Manor, Alfred's niece Barbara Wilson comes to stay, discovers the
Batcave, and decides to help out the Dynamic Duo by becoming Batgirl.
I will say it now. I actually enjoy Batman & Robin.
There, I said it. Is everyone right though that it is one of the worst
comic book/superhero films ever made? Indeed they are. Just because I
personally enjoy the film does not in any way, shape, or form make it an
actual good movie. Batman & Robin is what I like to refer as being
an epic failure. It is a movie so outrageously terrible that I can't
help but to be entertained by whatever the hell it is I'm watching.
This film is so cartoonishly hilarious to the point where it is still
fun. Granted, it is a convoluted mess of a superhero flick, but it is
one hell of an entertaining mess. There were a few serious and heart
felt moments that somehow managed to sneak into the film such as the
scenes between Bruce Wayne and his butler/father figure Alfred
Pennyworth. Of all the Batman movies pre Christopher Nolan, Batman &
Robin has the most emotional Bruce and Alfred scenes. There's an
amazing scene where Alfred tells Bruce...
"Death and chance stole your parents, but instead of becoming a victim,
you have done everything in your power to control their fates. For what
is Batman if not an effort to master the chaos that sweeps our world. An
attempt to control death itself."
There's also a scene that always makes me kinda tear up when Alfred is
dying and laying in bed, Bruce sitting at his bedside. Bruce takes
Alfred's hand and says "I love you old man" with tears in his eyes and
Alfred smiles and replies, "And I love you too." Just an amazing
emotional scene. The Bruce/Alfred scenes weren't the only serious parts
of Batman & Robin. Even the ice pun master himself Mr. Freeze had a
few serious moments. There's a great moment when it is revealed that his
wife, Nora Fries, is still alive and is cryogenically frozen in a tank
that is located in a secret room hidden at his hide out. We also get a
scene with Victor Fries watching old videos of him and his wife when
they first got married. And then there's a scene where he thinks his
wife is dead and he begins to cry but the tear drop freezes . For a
movie that was set out to be a straight up campfest, these serious
moments while nice, also make people even more pissed off about the film
because these moments should be the tone of the WHOLE MOVIE and not
just snippets among a bunch of cartoon comedy.
Mr. Freeze, like Two-Face, is a very tragic villain. He
was just a regular guy who was a cryogenics scientist who's beloved wife
came down with a rare disease and was dying. In an attempt to save her,
he cryogenically froze her until a cure to her illness could be found.
An accident occurred one day where the cryogenics liquid got on him,
mutating his body where he could not survive outside a subzero
environment. He then creates a suit to keep him alive and makes a high
tech freezing gun to use on anyone who tries to stop him as well as make
Gotham as empty and as cold as he has become. Before the '90s, Mr.
Freeze had no origin story. He was just a guy in a suit who froze people
with a freezing gun. In the episode "Heart of Ice" in Batman: The
Animated Series, writer Paul Dini and director Bruce Timm finally gave
Victor Fries a tragic origin story, which manifested itself into the
comics and became part of the character's mythos. While I liked that
Schumacher kept true to Mr. Freeze's origin story and some what of his
mission, the character became really over the top spirting out ice puns
and laughing maniacially in the tradition of Two-Face and Riddler in
Batman Forever. Even though it wasn't the Mr. Freeze that I knew and
loved from The Animated Series, Mr. Freeze was one of the best and most
fun parts of Batman & Robin aside from the few serious moments. His
terrible ice puns made me laugh especially...
"Tonight's forecast, a freeze is coming."
"What killed the dinosaurs? The Ice Age!"
"Freeze in Hell Batman!"
While Freeze was enjoyable, the portrayal of Poison
Ivy was way too over the top and a bit annoying. I don't remember her
actually having an origin story. In The Animated Series, she was just a
botanist who had a weird immunity to poisons and toxins and wanted to
kill anyone who didn't respect plants and the warm green Earth. Here,
her origin story is very quick with no real build up. It's not like with
Selina Kyle in Batman Returns where it had build up to her becoming the
femme fatale Catwoman. Poison Ivy just came across as a weak copycat of
Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman. I know some people liked Uma Thurman's
portrayal of Poison Ivy, but I prefer Diane Pershing from The Animated
Series. All Poison Ivy did was give guys poison kisses, monologue way
too much, tried too hard to be sexy, turn Batman and Robin against each
other, and bark orders at Bane who she made her errand boy. Oh and she
got kicked around by Batgirl. Not much to really talk about. Where were
the giant Venus Flytraps that try to eat Batman whole? One thing I
enjoyed about Ivy in the animated show was all the giant plant monsters
she created. We're talking about a woman who made Human/plant clones to
make it look like she had gone sane and had a family. We're talking
about a woman who actually made Bruce Wayne a wife just to steal his
money. We're talking a woman who poisoned District Attorney Harvey Dent.
We're talking an ecoterrorist, but sadly we don't get that here. All
we get is a Catwoman wannabe who's half Rita Repulsa from Mighty Morphin
Power Rangers. Granted, this may have been what we'd get in the '60s
television series if Poison Ivy was part of the super villains squad.
And then we have Bane. A character who is one of Batman's
deadliest enemies besides The Joker and Ra's Al Ghul. The Bane we get is
nothing more than a Frankenstein/Solomon Grundy/Hulk hybrid who just
happens to be named Bane. The only thing they kinda got right is the
origin story that Bane was a life sentenced prisoner who was part of an
experiment to make super soldiers by inducing a drug called Venom into
their head, which would pump them up to being huge and destructable
fighting machines. Bane in the comics and in The Animated Series is
actually a very intelligent guy who has a plan to destroy anyone who he
feels is a challenge to him, which would obviously make Batman a target.
Lucky for us, we get to see a more real Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. I will say while heavily disappointing, the horrible
portrayal of Bane in this film does make me giggle.
One thing that constantly and has always annoyed me about
Batman & Robin is the portrayal of Robin especially when he is under
Poison Ivy's love dust. He is a fucking prick in this movie. He's okay
when he isn't under the love dust. He's like any sidekick. He wants to
be trusted and wants to also kinda be his own identity rather than
following in Batman's shadow. This I can understand and tolerate. He
hates that Batman gets the car, he gets the motorcycle. Batman gets the
signal, he gets nothing. I get it and can see where the guy is coming
from. He just wants Bruce to trust him. Just like Alfred tells Bruce...
"Master Dick follows the same star as you, but gets there by his own course."
Yeah, Robin made a bad call launching at Freeze, but he learned
from it. Batman was a little too protective like a father or older
brother would be because he doesn't want Dick to be hurt or killed. But
once Robin is under Ivy's love dust, he turns into a total douche to
Bruce and says that Bruce is jealous that Ivy wants him instead of
Bruce. The constant back and forth of that really got on my nerves. I
do love the whole museum showdown with Mr. Freeze and that Batman and
Robin popped ice skate blades out of their boots.
The portrayal of Bruce Wayne was okay, but Batman was pretty
bad. It still entertained me and oddly fit with the cartoonish tone of
the film. I just wish that he was like he was in Batman Forever. He was
just a billionaire who liked dressing up as a bat and fighting super
villains with his sidekick Robin.
Batgirl was another big problem I had with this movie. While the
Batgirl character is a decent character when done right, she fits better
into television or animation than a 2 hour live action movie. Plus,
the portrayal of her in this film is all wrong. For starters, she is not
Commissioner Gordon's daughter, she is Alfred's niece. This is a big
plothole because Alfred is not supposed to have any living relatives as
far as I know, which is why him and Bruce were so close. They were each
other's only family even though they weren't blood related. If Alfred
had a niece this whole time, why didn't he mention it to Bruce or Dick?
Doesn't make sense. There is also the whole thing of Batgirl being a
redhead or a brunette where she is a blonde in Batman & Robin, but
that wouldn't bother me being that Selina was a blonde in Batman
Returns. With already being crowded with three super villains, another
sidekick was just too much. She just felt tacked on for the sake of
more action figures. Also, why didn't they give her a bat cowl? Her
action figure is wearing a cowl, yet in the movie she gets a female
Robin mask. What the fuck? For someone who really loves to show off
nipples on his heroes' suits, Schumacher could have given nipples on the
Batgirl suit to satisfy the straight guys and lesbians of the world!
She was the only rubber ass that I actually wanted to see during the
costume change. And how the fuck would Alfred have the time to make her
a costume anyway? It made sense making Dick a costume in Batman
Forever, but he's laying in a bed for the last act of this film. And
why even bother keeping the Batcave a secret anymore when everybody who
enters Wayne Manor can easily find it? Vicki Vale, Dick Grayson, The
Riddler, and now Barbara. Sheesh, they should just post a sign up saying
ENTRANCE TO THE BATCAVE. WATCH YOUR STEP.
Speaking of suits, I hated the new suits for Batman and
Robin. I prefer the suits they had in Batman Forever minus the nipples.
They also had some grey looking suits for the finale when they had no
time to change before stopping Freeze. Even fucking Batgirl got a second
suit when helping fight Freeze! More merchandise please Warner Bros.!
I will say that some of the FX were done well, especially
the freeze gun effect. It felt exactly out of The Animated Series and
comics. I still wish they gave Freeze a better suit with the red
goggles. That was cool in the comics and animated show.
The direction by Joel Schumacher was a mixed bag. While the
film looked cool except for the over use of neon lights, everything felt
jumbled up. Three villains. Three heroes. Alfred sick and dying. Batman
and Robin fighting over Poison Ivy. And a few decent moments in between
all the camp. Akiva Goldsman who wrote some parts of Batman Forever did
a really bad job turning out a Batman script. It was all over the place
and too campy. Batman Forever had a nice mix of seriousness and camp
while Batman & Robin was more campy and less serious. It was a 2
hour toy commercial than an actual superhero film. I did however love
the opening credits sequence where the Batsignal turns into a block of
ice.
The acting was mostly bad
with a few highlights. George Clooney was totally miscast. Clooney is a
great actor when given the right material, but was just wrong for
Batman. He was an okay Bruce Wayne though. I would have liked to see
Val Kilmer play the role again as I kinda liked his duality of Batman
and Bruce Wayne. Chris O' Donnell got pretty annoying as Robin/Dick
Grayson especially when under Ivy's love dust. O'Donnell was also upset
with the direction of the film so that may explain things. Arnold
Schwarzenegger was a pretty bad Mr. Freeze, yet was very fun to watch
with his silly ice puns. Uma Thurman was probably the worst in the cast
as Poison Ivy/Pamela Isley. She was way too over the top to the point of
annoyance and tried to immitate Michelle Pfeiffer. The late Jeep
Swenson was an abomination as Bane. Tom Hardy is a much much better
actor to play Gotham's reckoning. Alicia Silverstone was pretty bland as
Batgirl/Barbara Wilson. I do like Silverstone as an actress, but she
was just wrong for this part and plus she didn't have a cowl except for
riding that bat bike thing. John Glover was awesome in his small role as
Dr. Jason Woodrue. Glover has played in two other DC Comics productions
with being the voice of The Riddler in Batman: The Animated Series and
playing Lex Luthor's father Lionel Luthor on the television show
Smallville. We also get a cameo by rapper Coolio. Michael Gough was
great as usual in his final performance as Alfred Pennyworth. And Pat
Hingle did nothing as usual in his final cameo as Commissioner Gordon.
Overall, Batman & Robin is a terrible movie, yet is
mildly entertaining for all its awfulness. It is the best worst comic
book movie as far as I'm concerned right beside Steel. This may have
ended this set of Batman movies, but also paved the way for the greatest
Batman trilogy in cinema from 2005 to 2012.
GRADE
D+
I have three words for HOWLING IV: THE ORIGINAL NIGHTMARE:
My biggest issue with the screenplay is the attempt to create some sort of great mystery that didn't need to even exist. In the original film, the mystery worked because the theme of the "howling" meant more than just standard werewolves. It was a metaphor for the beast within all of us. There was subtext in terms of the wolves, as well as the mystery of what they looked like. By the time you get to PART FOUR, what's the mystery? The werewolves?? THERE'S A FUCKING WEREWOLF ON THE COVER! I KNOW WHAT THE MOVIE IS ABOUT! WHY ARE YOU MAKING THESE CHARACTERS SO FUCKING STUPID JUST TO SELL A NON-MYSTERY?? AND WHY IS THE MYSTERY SO BORING?? AND WHY AREN'T THE CHARACTERS SMARTER OR MORE SUBTLE ABOUT IT?? WHY?????
There are a few worse sequels than HOWLING IV: THE ORIGINAL NIGHTMARE. I honestly don't know what anyone was thinking while filming this. The story, which is the same as the original film, is just lifeless, pointless, and terribly written. The direction by John Hough is awful. The acting is miserable. Besides the special effects, there's nothing worth watching about one of the worst horror sequels I have ever had the displeasure to watch. I couldn't recommend a movie less. This is one full moon worth skipping for sure.
