Welcome to part three of my look at Batman as he appeared on the big screen. If this is your jumping on point of my retrospective please look back at my other two articles.
Also before the review I would like to set some things straight with how I will continue the retrospective. First of all I won't review Mask of the Phantasm despite it having a theatrical release. The reason for this is because I, like many of us, didn't see this movie in theaters but on video so it might as well have been a straight to video movie. Second I will do two reviews today and two tomorrow so I can get the retrospective done around the time of the Dark Knight Rises release and so I can review that movie on friday as well.
Anyway let's get on with our review of Batman Forever.
HISTORY
After the negative reactions of Batman Returns, the studio decided to go for a more family friendly Batman movie in order to get a larger audience and to market more toys to the kids. In order to do this they kicked Tim Burton off the project and hired Joel Schumacher, who has gone down in geek history as the man who put nipples on Batman.
Something I found interesting here is that in order to get a more family friendly Batman movie they fired Tim Burton, well known before Batman for his work on Pee Wee's Big Adventure, then hired Joel Schumacher, known more for rather adult oriented films. I'm not sure what they were thinking with that decision but at least the end result was a more family friendly movie then what Burton had presented us.
To this day the first movie from Schumacher has gained a mixed to negative reception from the general public as well as fans of the character. But the question is can this interpretation still hold up today? Let's find out.
1) THE PLOT
The movie follows Batman who's become well liked in the public's eyes. During his ongoing battle with the new villain Two-Face, he has to deal with not only another villain, the Riddler, but also take care of a young Dick Grayson who goes through similar circumstances that caused Bruce to become the Caped Crusader in the first place.
The plot is what really suffered from the change of tone and director. The first thing you will notice is that it disregards plot points that weren't resolved by the end of Returns, such as Batman being liked by the public yet we never saw any resolution to the fact he was a suspect to a murder (I know about the recording Batman played that explained Penguin's corruption but that didn't prove Batman was innocent). Also Catwoman was shown to be alive at the end of Returns with no mention here but there's a reason for that that I'll get into in another review. The tone also feels strange when you consider this is supposed to be a continuation on what Burton had done. Any other issues with the plot I'll get into with my talk of the characters.
2) THE HERO
Once again our hero is the one and only Bruce Wayne/Batman though this time played by Val Kilmer (Micheal Keaton backed out when he read the script and didn't like the direction it was going in). The main issue I have with Kilmer's portrayal is because of the script which has him say a good amount of cringe worthy one-liners. Other than that I actually rather enjoy his take on the character. When we see him in the Batcave we see a lot of the torment his character is going through and I like the storyline he goes through with the introduction of Dick Grayson that causes him to rethink continuing the mantle of Batman. While not as intimidating as Keaton, he still looks awesome in the costume and it's refreshing to see an actor who's up to the physical standards of Batman and can perform certain action scenes even in the get up. Also thanks to a scene where Batman emerges from a fire that no one knows how he escaped from (and the fact this was the first movie I saw in theaters) Kilmer is the person I associate the most with the role. Keaton's still my favorite in the role though and Bale does do a better job in my opinion but I feel that Kilmer deserves to at least be mentioned alongside these actors when talking about live action Batman movies and there were certainly worse things to talk about in this movie. Speaking of which...
3) THE VILLAIN(S)
Here we have our first team-up of villains (I don't count Penguin teaming up with Catwoman) in a Batman film and this is where the movie definitally fails so let's start off with the closest to the main villain the Riddler. In this movie we have Edward Nigma, played by Jim Carrey, who's an employee of Wayne Enterprises who's invention gets rejected causing him to become insane (rather spontaneously) and becomes the Riddler after being inspired by the other villains of Gotham namely the other villain Two-Face. Just as Jack Nicholson played his villain as himself so does Jim Carrey and while I don't have a problem with this in theory (Riddler's so similar to the Joker that it makes sense for a comedian to play him) it's quite a bit too much Carrey in this making the film feel less like an official take on the character and more like a parody of them. I mean there was a point where Jim was chewing so much scenery that I'm pretty sure he switched to his Ace Ventura persona by accident and was fighting the urge to talk through his bottom. Considering this was aimed for kids more than adults this could be forgiven and it comes off as just a bit annoying until you account for the other villain of the picture.
Enter Two-Face played by Tommy Lee Jones who has apparently been active since some time in between movies. Now while the concept of such a talented actor playing one of the most psychologically scarred villains in Batman's rogues gallery sounds incredible all I can think of are negatives for this character being here. First of all he's being introduced in the kid friendly of the Batman movies. What were they thinking with this choice? Two-Face has half of his face burnt. That's the same reason Adam West's Batman never introduced Two-Face but a made up character in his place. Second, he just shows up in this movie as Two-Face assuming we know all about who this character is yet he barely had a role to play in the series so far. Unless we get to know the character at all any emotional impact this character would bring to the table is instantly lost, meaning the main reason he's a great character doesn't apply in this movie. Lastly and most importantly of all, he's more like the Joker than Two-Face. I wish I was joking with that statement but it's true. Here's a Two-Face who laughs kills for no real reason other than that he thinks it's fun. How often in other media has Two Face laughed or tried to kill someone who he didn't have a distinct reason to kill? It's also distracting when he teams up with the Riddler who's virtually the same character so any awesomeness of watching these great villains coming together is again lost in translation.
4) SUPPORTING CAST
Same as with the other movies the bulk of the supporting cast consists of Alfred and Gordon. Both of these characters get a bit more of a role this time around than in Returns but in the case of Gordon this could actually be considered a negative. While in the original movie he was a strong and capable leader here he comes off as more of a typical token cop only completely inept so Batman can come in and save the day. Alfred, on the otherhand has a more prominent role as a father figure to both Bruce and Dick. Dick Grayson is also introduced in this movie played by Chris O'Donnell. This is again one of the pluses of the movie which I'm sort of impressed by considering I've always been annoyed by Robin. We see the pain he's going through, his desire for revenge, how it impacts Bruce, and an update on the costume that actually seems pretty cool.
Also there's a reason why for this article I didn't include a category for love interest and that is because we went from interesting female leads to the most cliched damsel-in-distress I've seen outside of a Disney cartoon. Here we have psychologist Chase Meridian, played by Nichole Kidman, who tries to find out Batman to study him. While this sounds like it might be semi interesting and unique we then learn she only wants to study him because she has a thing for him. From there she contributes nothing to the plot except to be kidnapped at the end with Robin so it would be harder for fans to make a gay joke. It's just a disgrace and a waste of a talented actor.
5) FINAL VERDICT
All in all this is a very mediocre entry in the franchise. It makes no sense in context with the rest of the series, and while the introduction of Dick Grayson gave us an interesting dynamic with Bruce the main plot is destroyed by the terrible excuses of villains we get. It's not terrible but it's also not that good. But while it doesn't hold up well it's at least worth a look for nostalgic value.
So there's my review of Batman Forever. Please like if you liked and comment on your thoughts on the movie. Also keep your eyes open for my next retrospective where I look at quite possibly the worst comic book movie ever made, Batman and Robin. See you then.