After seeing this in the theater in 1995, I swore I'd never see another Batman film it was so bad. Well, I decided to revisit it and finally see Batman and Robin in the past week and well, this movie still has absolutely no redeeming values.
We can't even get a minute into the film when we are introduced to Val Kilmer as Batman in the batcave as the corporate sell out. "I'll get drive thru" he responds to Alfred after he had offered him a sandwich to go (I remember the stupid McD's tie-in commercial). Good to know the filmmakers are straight with us and let us know there is no integrity in this bat-world.
Kilmer is a robot as Bruce Wayne AND as Batman. Some lines almost sound as if they can't even get out because he is just so incredibly rigid. The dialogue is of course, idiotic, but then what did we expect. Joel Schumacher began his deconstruction of the franchise with non-stop MTV cuts and completely gratuitous dutch angles, not to mention every damned shot has every color in the spectrum represented in it! That's not art, that's a bad excuse for not having a visual style.
The villains - ugghhh!!! It was such a bad idea to combine two villains that are basically identical. They are both totally 100% insane. They don't compliment each other at all, instead they annihilate you with a never-ending barrage of craziness and bad over-acting. Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey were two of the five most in-demand actors at the time and they got top billing, but Carrey is simply the wrong choice for the Riddler and worse, the character of the Riddler is now a scientist!!!??? Two-Face is a poor man's version of the Joker without the grandeur and presence of Nicholson's great madness.
Drew Barrymore is utterly wasted in a nothing role. Chris O'Donnell is given the thankless role of Robin and gets to be the sidekick to the robot, Batman. I don't even remember seeing Commissioner Gordon; his role was so useless. Nicole Kidman looking so beautiful is actually the single thing that got me through the film.
I could go on and on, but ultimately this film is really responsible for killing the Batman franchise. The series lost its' soul, as we no longer followed Batman the character. In this film there are weak attempts to copy the first film by showing Bruce Wayne contemplating over his parents' deaths again. This is pointless because we've tread down this path before. We don't get anything new.
Batman Forever actually launched this modern style we are stuck in with tons of ridiculous effects and ignoring the great story and artistic style that made the first two Batman films good. Most recent films such as Van Helsing are carbon copies of this empty film. Glitzy colors, cuts and famous actors - no script or care for characters and no care to create a plausible world within the realm of fantasy.
***BTW - Worst moment - Batman avoiding getting trapped in the alley by Two-Face's gang and then driving the Batmobile up the wall. And then they cut to the next scene as if we naturally can figure out where the hell he drove next after heading skyward. Or how about the capsule with acid that gets pulled out by the helicopter and then released by Batman and it just naturally swings right back into the hole it came from. Please!
We can't even get a minute into the film when we are introduced to Val Kilmer as Batman in the batcave as the corporate sell out. "I'll get drive thru" he responds to Alfred after he had offered him a sandwich to go (I remember the stupid McD's tie-in commercial). Good to know the filmmakers are straight with us and let us know there is no integrity in this bat-world.
Kilmer is a robot as Bruce Wayne AND as Batman. Some lines almost sound as if they can't even get out because he is just so incredibly rigid. The dialogue is of course, idiotic, but then what did we expect. Joel Schumacher began his deconstruction of the franchise with non-stop MTV cuts and completely gratuitous dutch angles, not to mention every damned shot has every color in the spectrum represented in it! That's not art, that's a bad excuse for not having a visual style.
The villains - ugghhh!!! It was such a bad idea to combine two villains that are basically identical. They are both totally 100% insane. They don't compliment each other at all, instead they annihilate you with a never-ending barrage of craziness and bad over-acting. Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey were two of the five most in-demand actors at the time and they got top billing, but Carrey is simply the wrong choice for the Riddler and worse, the character of the Riddler is now a scientist!!!??? Two-Face is a poor man's version of the Joker without the grandeur and presence of Nicholson's great madness.
Drew Barrymore is utterly wasted in a nothing role. Chris O'Donnell is given the thankless role of Robin and gets to be the sidekick to the robot, Batman. I don't even remember seeing Commissioner Gordon; his role was so useless. Nicole Kidman looking so beautiful is actually the single thing that got me through the film.
I could go on and on, but ultimately this film is really responsible for killing the Batman franchise. The series lost its' soul, as we no longer followed Batman the character. In this film there are weak attempts to copy the first film by showing Bruce Wayne contemplating over his parents' deaths again. This is pointless because we've tread down this path before. We don't get anything new.
Batman Forever actually launched this modern style we are stuck in with tons of ridiculous effects and ignoring the great story and artistic style that made the first two Batman films good. Most recent films such as Van Helsing are carbon copies of this empty film. Glitzy colors, cuts and famous actors - no script or care for characters and no care to create a plausible world within the realm of fantasy.
***BTW - Worst moment - Batman avoiding getting trapped in the alley by Two-Face's gang and then driving the Batmobile up the wall. And then they cut to the next scene as if we naturally can figure out where the hell he drove next after heading skyward. Or how about the capsule with acid that gets pulled out by the helicopter and then released by Batman and it just naturally swings right back into the hole it came from. Please!