Batman Forever

Link_Tristan wrote on IMDB:

Tim Burton got good actors to star in the first two Batman films, but Joel figured that he'd just use the Batman ploy to get as many top-quality actors as he could so that Nicole Kidman and Val Kilmer could say: "Hey! I was in a Batman film! Shows you what a great actor I am!" He also used Burton's ploy from 'Batman Returns' of using two villains at once. Personally, I wonder why he would want to use two villains when he can barely get one character right.

Don't get me wrong, Nicole and Val have been great in other performances like Moulin Rouge and Tombstone, but Joel is simply incapable of getting any good performances out of his actors. This is probably the worst I've ever seen Nicole. Don't believe me? There's a scene where she tells Batman to meet her at her place at midnight. Even though she's expecting company, she decides to sleep in the nude before he shows up. I can understand her character trying to seduce Batman, but you don't go to bed and fall asleep while you're expecting company. Hell, just listen to her character's inner conflict when she says "I can't believe it. I've imagined this moment since I first saw you... And now I have you and.... Guess a girl has to grow up sometime." I guess I can't blame Nicole on doing the best with the crap she was given. Someone needs to fire Mr. Script Writer.   [ show more ]

Joel turned Harvey TwoFace, a maniacal mad-man into a laughing idiot that hops up and down whenever he blows something up. And whereas Burton took time in his films to explain the villain's transformation (Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, they all have great scenes explaining why they're evil) they just did a quick twenty second explanation of how the lawyer Harvey got acid thrown on him during a trial, so he swore revenge on Batman... what? For the record, I have to say that Two-Face is pretty much Tommy Lee Jones copying Jack Nicholson's performance as the Joker with different makeup, and the Riddler wasn't too far behind in persona, Jim Carrey was acting like... well... Jim Carrey. As "good" as Carrey's performance might be, there's really no room for non-sequitur dance sequences and goofy voices to be thrown into the middle of a scene-- but that's what Jim is good at doing, I guess. As for Edward Nigma, they briefly went into how he became the Ridler (he was fired from his job, I know that tends to make people become super-villains), but never explained why he likes making riddles. His plot: become the smartest man alive by reading the minds of Gotham's citizens and then... and then... uh... aw hell, it doesn't matter because we all know Batman will save the day.

Don't forget Robin, the most hated side-kick in the world (I say that because in the comic book he was overwhelmingly voted to be killed off). Let's introduce this guy who wants revenge on TwoFace and offers absolutely nothing else significant to the story. He's just eye-candy to let the ladies (and Joel) swoon over in the action film. But then again, most male actors in Joel's movies are pretty much like that.

The biggest crime in Gotham was how Joel rebuilt the city. He demolished Burton's Gothic atmosphere and added colored lights and large bronze statues to turn the desolate wasteland of a city into a sparkling Las Vegas wonderland. He also introduced the phosperhous gang, a group of guys who glow in the dark and play heavy metal music... wait-- that wasn't in the comic book? I'll never forgive him for giving Batman rubber nipples.

I've heard some arguments standing up on Joel's defense, claiming that the movie would've been better with the deleted scenes put back in. Namely, two scenes: one which shows TwoFace escaping from Arkham, writing some sort of anti-Bat message in a victim's blood, and other scene where Bruce gets amnesia and has to remember why he's Batman. The first scene was supposedly cut for being too scary for kids, but I can safely say that it was filmed and edited to fit into the rest of this crap fest perfectly. And the amnesia scene was utter crap. Honestly: AMNESIA. As if a bullet grazing Bruce's forehead and causing amnesia isn't far fetched enough, how about the fact that he cures it in under five minutes? That scene wasn't cut for being too dark, or too slow, it was cut for being too stupid.

Could be worse though... you could be watching the next installment "Batman and Robin." At least the plot for Batman Forever wasn't as poorly juggled as that movie. The worst you get with this movie is a bunch of clichés, poor acting direction, unbelievable (not in a good way, unbelievable as in "why would only thirty or so members of the circus audience slowly form a circle to look at the only casualties in this scene?") moments, and basically undoing everything dark and dramatic that made the first two films good so it can be spat up as this kind of campy, kid-friendly movie that anyone with a brain would tell is just a cheap knock off of the first two Batman films. [ show less ]

Lee Eisenberg (eisenberg.lee@gmail.com) wrote on IMDB:

Some people talk about "the stick of straw that broke the camel's back", meaning when something reached the tipping point. So when did the Batman franchise go bad? Well, "Batman Forever" was getting silly, but it still had Jim Carrey to steal the show as The Riddler ("Batman and Robin" had about as many good qualities as a barrel of toxic waste). Personally, I don't know why they had to have Batman (Val Kilmer) going through therapy; remove that and he still would have been a cool superhero with neat gadgets. Tommy Lee Jones wasn't bad as Two-Face. Nicole Kidman and Chris O'Donnell, as Dr. Chase Meridian and Robin, respectively, didn't really add anything.

Overall, the point is that when Joel Schumacher took over directing, the franchise went downhill. Part of the problem was that while Tim Burton created an eerie Gotham City that looked like New York in the 1940s, Joel Schumacher created a Gotham City that looked like it was trying too hard to be "Blade Runner".   [ show more ]

So, the franchise starting getting stale with this one, but Jim Carrey kept the movie from being unwatchable. As Edward Nygma, one of Bruce Wayne's employees, he had some great lines. In the movie, Nygma proposes a device that rests atop TV sets and reads peoples' minds, but Wayne rejects it, considering it too dangerous. Thus, Nygma becomes The Riddler, and he's the best character in the movie. [ show less ]

Derek237 wrote on IMDB:

I loved the first two Batman movies, and honestly would have loved to see Burton go on to direct more entries in the series, but Joel Shumacher's Batman Forever is not at all an unwelcome change. I think some people recollect this film and automatically associate it with Shumacher's awful second Batman attempt, Batman & Robin. That is the bad movie. This is not. People also seem to forget how big of a hit it was. Artistically, there were things it got wrong and didn't do as well as the others, but there were things it did so much better, too. For one thing, this is the only 'Batman' with a decent soundtrack to its name (including 2 great songs by U2 and Seal).

In some ways you can look at this as a transition from the dark, tortured Batman to a Batman who has finally conquered his personal demons and gone on to be happier in being a man who fights crime in the night dressed up in rubber. For this one it was good, 'cause that's essentially how it ends, but the result of this led to the campy and just plain boring 4th episode.   [ show more ]

But I really was surprised at how psychological of a movie Batman Forever is. I'm not saying it's particularly deep, but when you look at Edward Nygma's obsession with Bruce Wayne (stalking him, to imitating him right down to the mole), Harvey Dent's schizophrenia as Two-Face, and the fact that both Bruce Wayne AND Batman end up romancing the same psychologist is all enormously amusing. The romance isn't to be taken that lightly, though. I thought out of all 5 films Chase Meridian was Bruce's best girlfriend. The whole Vicky Vale relationship was pretty stale if you cut out all of the conflict with the Joker, and obviously Selina Kyle didn't work out so well for Bruce. Having this woman who could understand the mind of the tortured Bruce Wayne was a great idea, and I don't need to tell you that the gorgeous and talented Nicole Kidman pulled it off well.

Something I liked (and would have liked to have seen more of) was the competitive relationship between Bruce Wayne and Edward Nygma. They're enemies as Batman and The Riddler but also as regular people in everyday life. Take that scene at the Nygmatec Ball when Edward gloats about how well off he is, but Bruce is totally unflinching. Jim Carrey does a great job with a character that is so obsessed with this person; who idolizes him but hates him at the same time and is generally evil, but still can make us fall on the floor laughing.

This is a rousing and dynamic picture. It's basically the lighter side of being Batman. It was exciting with some great action sequences: I loved the end where both Robin and Chase are dropped and he saves them both. That piece of Elliot Goldenthal music when Batman finally grasps Robin's arm is excellent.

I liked Burton's 2 films and obviously Batman Begins better than Forever, but when you're in the right mood for it, it really is a fantastic movie that, if nothing else, thoroughly entertains.

My rating: 7/10 [ show less ]