adamjackson-91071
When it seemed everyone and their mother complained of the adult material in Batman Returns, it's dark tone, the sexual references, the grossness, (both box office and nature), Warners were quick to change direction of the Batman franchise. When Burton dropped out into a producer role, (how much impact he had on the final film I do not know), Joel Schumacher was brought in as replacement, with the task to make it more easily accessible to kids, and more light hearted. Upon hearing this Michael Keaton also dropped out, meaning the new director needed to sought out a new Batman.
In steps Val Kilmer into the cape and cowl. A decent actor, and more in line with the physicality of Bruce Wayne, would seem on paper to be a deft replacement. But it's what was actually on paper, that let his performance down.
Everything about this film is a direct contrast to the earlier entries. No longer adopting a broody dark atmosphere, it instead adopts a lighter, more "heroic" approach. Gothic architecture also scrapped, in its place a neon drenched super city, utilising far more special and visual effects than maybe the first two films combined. It suffers from this however, the city never feels lived in anymore, just vast and bright, empty. It also looks computer-y in some scenes, namely the exterior of the circus shot, which doesn't help in drawing people into that world.
Everything about this film is weaker than the earlier entries, which is mainly down to the script. It's widely known there is a darker cut of the film with 40 minutes extra, and it is known to have a darker first draft script, probably when Burton and Keaton were both still attached. I NEED to see this directors cut. I feel it would completely change the film's legacy and reputation.
But the shooting script is somewhat disappointing. Making a great actor in Tommy Lee Jones, (replacing Billy Dee Williams), perform as a mixture of the Joker and channeling his co-star Jim Carrey. (There is a well known serious conflict of personalities between the two during filming.) I feel if the character were more true to its comic origins, Jones would have been an excellent Two-Face. Clearly Carrey has been cast to just be Jim Carrey with his Riddler, I feel he is one of the highlights of the film however, although he quite have easily, and more effectively, been a good choice for a darker take on the character also.
Nicole Kidman is the sexed up love interest, Chase Meridian. She spends much of the film in a permanent state of lust, and doesn't actually bring anything to the film other than her insane attractiveness, and that's it.
Chris O'Donnell is brought in as Dick Grayson/Robin, but his age does suspend belief in the majority of his scenes where he's clearly supposed to be someone of college age. Again it's mainly the writing and the crafting of the character, as opposed to his performance, that drags it down. Interesting to think how Burton would have tackled the character.
Danny Elfman is also absent, in his place is Elliot Goldenthal, whose score doesn't compare with Elfman's even remotely. But it's solid enough for the film, and does feel more light and heroic. More kid friendly.
Which is what the film succeeds in. It's far more kid friendly, in every aspect, but it pays a terrible price for it which drags the film down. There are elements of a good Batman film in there, but it's not enough to even be compared to its two brilliant predecessors. It doesn't even feel like it belongs in the same universe as them, could easily be seen as a reboot.
It's an entertaining film, definitely. The plot, as daft as it gets sometimes, moves quickly, and the whole film works, as a film. As a Batman film, it doesn't even hold a candle to the first two. What this film led to two years later is catastrophically worse, and although the cracks started showing in this entry, at least it never got to to the levels of Batman & Robin...
Ian
(Flash Review)Watching this after a couple 60's French heist films was an abrupt switch as this was an explosion of wild and garish visuals and jarring pacing with aggressive shot framing. Once I got into mental rhythm it started to grow on me after a lackluster beginning. It grew on me due to Jim Carrey perfectly getting into the role of The Riddler. He stole the show for me and easily overshadowed Kilmer as Batman. This time Batman is up against Two-Face as he wrongly assumes Batman was the reason for his facial disfigurement and then also The Riddler who transforms himself from a computer genius into The Riddler striving to build a device to drain all the information from all the brains in Gotham. To top all that off, Batman's future partner Robin is introduced and then mix in a romantic angle with Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian and you have many interesting storylines that are sufficiently intertwined. The humor in this was more deliberate, felt more comic-like and had more sexual innuendos. The scene esthetics felt more busy than the first two and the effects looked more fake and dated than the 'older' movies ironically. Overall, this was still wild fun yet loses a bit of the original Burton magic for me.
harrybrock
Ahh Batman Forever, the ultimate Joel Schumacher masterpiece, the sexy intro music, the impeccable CGI, the memorable quotes. Although the movie seems to be a masterpiece at first glance, there are many flaws, such as the overall rapiness of the movie. One of the memorable quotes from Jim Carrey's 'The Riddler' was "You were supposed to understand... I will make you understand", which made it seem like he will sexually assault Bruce Wayne. Furthermore in another scene Jim Carrey states "See you soon" in a gay rapey manner. The issue with this is that it seems to support the view from feminists that there is currently a rape culture. The costume design was also phenomenal... for a 5 year old. In addition to this it looked like a two year painted the side of two-faces head and at times Tommy Lee-Jones 'Two-Face' acted like a gay stripper. Nevertheless the script was almost perfect, the acting of Val Kilmer and Nicole Kidman is flawless, in which Kidman's superb role in the movie made the misogynists watching the movie want to gouge their own eyes out, and the immersiveness of Gotham City is exquisite. I have other problems with the movie, I believe Alfred may have sexually abused Master Dick and there is instance of misogyny where Bruce Wayne sighs and says "Women", the feminists have highly criticised this part of the script. The emotional shown by Chris O'Donnell who portrayed Robin was quite simply breathtaking and he should have won an academy award for his role in the movie. Overall the acting in this movie is quite astoshing and the effects had set the precedent for the future. The audio used was phenomenal and matches the likes of Hans Zimmer and Ennio Morricone. Even the movie had its flaws, it had became an instant classic and Joel Schumacher had made an incredible contribution to the movie industry.
So the movie is basically crap but funny because of how stupid and bad it is.
Mark
After Batman Returns, Warner decided that the Batman movies had to be child-friendly. That was ultimately a stupid move, because Michael Keaton and Tim Burton liked it because of two Batman movies. Val Kilmer, I find, is a lesser Batman than Keaton. He shows emotion. I also find The Riddler played by Jim Carrey The Joker 2.0.Pros of the movie: -Gotham City -Michael Gough as Alfred -Val Kilmer as Batman -Chris O Donnel as RobinNegatives of the movie: -Joel Schumacher as Director -Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face -Unrealistic images -Batmobil -Little tensionI give Batman Forever a 5.
