Batman Forever

Starring: Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, and Chris I’Donnell

Written by: Lee Scott-Batchler, Janet Scott Batchler, and Akiva Goldsman based on characters by Bob Kane

Directed by: Joel Schumacher

This was supposed to be the one that ruined the franchise. Schumaker took Burton’s genius and crapped on it. The only problem with the theory is that Batman Forever is a superior film to Batman Returns. True it’s not by a whole lot, but it is a better film.

Usually when I write my reviews, I know the grade I’m going to give it before I write it and the writeup just serves as the reasoning. But I am struggling right now between two grades. Part of me wants to give it a B-, but then I think of all the over the top campiness, such as baseball sound effects thrown in during the Riddler’s destruction of the batcave. Part of me wants to give it a C+, but then I remember Jim Carey’s zany antics that made me enjoy the film immensely.

To begin it is a different tone certainly than Burton’s. It is a bit less gothic and more comic-booky which is not a bad thing. It’s just different. In a way it’s a good thing because it allows the campiness to feel more intended. In a wink wink way, it lets the viewer in on the joke of sorts and allows the film to work in a way that it didn’t for Batman Returns.

Michael Keaton’s departure was probably for the best as his version of the Dark Knight would not have been as appropriate in this film and Val Kilmer does a credible job. His Batman is fairly non-descript and not nearly as interesting as Keaton’s but his Bruce Wayne is far more on target.

Then there are the villains. Again with two villains, it tends to take the focus away from the Dark Knight which is something that the later Batman Begins was able to focus on.

The villains in question are Tommy Lee Jones’ Two-Face and Jim Carrey’s The Riddler.

The difference in the two is as clear as Two-Face himself. Jones is terrible. TERRIBLE. Two-Face is probably one of the most in depth characters in the Batman mythos but Jones just bites as much scenery as he can and in no way do you ever sense that there is anything beneath his surface.

Jim Carrey however is phenomenal as the Riddler. The one criticism I have is that he plays it a bit more like the Joker, an evil psychotic with murderous tendencies. In my mind the Riddler was less homicidal and more playfully evil. BUT Carrey’s charisma wins the day. He is hilarious and over the top and steals the show in every scene he is in.

The introduction of Robin to this mythos was also slightly controversial, but in all honesty it was natural to do so in this film. O’Donnell is fine as the cocky Dick Grayson. The relationship between Robin and Batman is completely rushed and when they do decide to team up at the end it seems completely due to the need of the plot rather than any sort of actual character development.

And of course there is one thing that has to be mentioned. The nippled Bat-suit. Yes it’s stupid. Yes it’s ridiculous. But was it worth all the fuss? Not so much.

Overall, this is not a phenomenal movie by any stretch of the imagination, but I will say that I enjoyed watching it a hell of a lot more than Batman Returns and I don’t tire of this film. So I guess I’ll be generous.

B-