Batman Forever
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DVD details
Actor: Chris O'Donnell, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Tommy Lee Jones, Val KilmerBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 121 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-02-10
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Batman Forever
DVD Review: Look at it for what it is
Summary: 3 Stars
Batman Forever. The first Batman movie that was not directed by Tim Burton, and did not feature Michael Keaton in the lead role. Because of this, the tone of the movie is very different. It is noticeably less dark than either of the two Burton films. Batman Returns got a lot of parental backlash because it scared the crud out of many younger kids. With this movie, Joel Schumacher tried to make a Batman movie that the kids could enjoy, while still appealing to adults. The result is kind of a go-between between Burton's two previous movies and Batman and Robin. This movie starts to revert back to the camp of the 60s television show, but they still put in some dark subplots, like Bruce re-living his parent's death, or Robin losing his family and wanting revenge. Most fans will criticize this as the prelude to Batman and Robin, and the end of that Batman movie series, but I still think this movie has some qualities to it.
The plot has a lot of things going on. Two-Face, played by Tommy Lee Jones, is introduced in the opening scene. He wants revenge on Batman (it is never really explained why, does he blame Batman for his condition?) and he pursues this vendetta throughout the story. The Riddler, played by Jim Carrey, is obsessed with mind control. He invented some kind of box that beams television signals directly into the human brain. He can then read people's minds, and extract information. Bruce Wayne initially rejected his idea, and so Riddler harbors a grudge. Batman, played by the bland, emotionless Val Kilmer, is reliving his parent's death in his dreams. He is starting to doubt if he wants to continue to be Batman. He is also starting to date Chase Meridian, played by Nicole Kidman, probably the only actor in this movie who knew what she was doing. Robin, played by Chris O'Donnell, makes his first appearance onto the big screen. His parents were killed by Two-Face, and he wants revenge. Bruce takes him in when he has no place to go, and begins to guide him. In my opinion the plot had too many subplots. There just wasn't enough time to develop one individual character.
Many of the motivations for these characters are either underexplained, or just plain silly. For instance, it is never really revealed what Bruce's dream is about. In the novelization, he remembers as a kid looking in his father's journal and reading that the reason his parents were murdered is because they were taking him to the movies. He feels guilty about this, and understandably so. In the actual movie, however, this is never revealed. Bruce is talking to Nicole Kidman, and he is about to tell her. Then they start making out. This entire plot point is never mentioned again. The Riddler, after having Bruce Wayne reject his idea, turns into a supervillian. He goes completely insane and decides to kill his boss and steal everyone's mind. Two-Face, whose back story is only revealed in a brief video clip, is way too silly. He does his best worst Joker impersonation in my opinion, and is always jumping around laughing and cackling like a lunatic. Harvey Dent is supposed to be one of the more tragic characters in the Batman universe, but here he's just a joke. He doesn't really come across as evil. Along those lines, I didn't care much for Jim Carrey's performance as the Riddler. He's just playing his roles from The Mask and Ace Venturra all over again. He, along with Two-Face, is far too silly to be viewed as a villain. But I suppose it fit with what they were trying to do: make a lighter Batman movie that was mainly aimed at kids.
Val Kilmer made an adequate Batman, I guess. The problem was, he did his Batman growl throughout the entire movie, whether he had his mask on or off. And he seemed bored with the role, like he was about to fall asleep. Say what you want about George Clooney's performance, at least he seemed like he was having fun with the role. One positive thing I have to talk about, which doesn't really reflect Kilmer's performance, is the action scenes. The action scenes are much better this time around. I know some of the scenes were cheesy, like the scene with the bank vault near the beginning, or the part where Batman drives the Batmobile up the side of the building. But I mean the hand-to-hand stuff. Of the three actors to play Batman in the 90s movie series, Val Kilmer is really the only one who can play an action hero. In Michael Keaton's movies, the action scenes were not very good. This was caused primarily by the fact that Michael Keaton is not much of an action hero. There were other reasons, such as the restrictive batsuit (which was finally changed in this movie) or the fact that Tim Burton cannot direct action scenes very well (this isn't a knock on Burton. He's a good director, action just isn't his genre). But wheras Michael Keaton was kind of small and skinny, Val Kilmer was big and muscular, which you kind of need to be to beat up seven or eight guys by yourself. The fight choreography was pretty good this time around. People might say that I'm spending too much time focusing on the action scenes, when there is more to the movie than that. But seriously, Batman is supposed to be one of the best martial artists in the world. In Burton's movies, I could have beaten that Batman in a fight. Don't get me wrong, as far as performances go, Kilmer's performance is not equal to Keaton's. But with all the mistakes this movie made, it's good to know they at least did this one small detail better.
The character people usually tend to regard as the low point of the film is Robin. Because of these movies, many people to this day cannot stand Robin, and regard him as a worthless character. That is simply not true. Chris O'Donnel is not playing Dick Grayson, he's playing Jason Todd, the second Robin. Jason was a whiny cry-baby, who got so intolerably annoying that they killed off his character. Dick Grayson is not supposed to be this big of an annoyance. He's supposed to be an interesting character, and kind of a foil for Batman. Robin was originally created because the writers of the Batman comics were worried that Batman was becoming too dark. So they created a young character to be youthful and lighthearted and brighten up the story. That could have worked very well for what they were trying to do with this movie, make a Batman movie that more kids could enjoy. Robin is supposed to be a very likeable character, and instead we got someone who rivals Anakin Skywalker as the insufferable protagonist.
Whining about his dead family, lording it over Bruce after he saved his life, and ordering Bruce to train him to be his partner. Many people say they hate Robin in general, simply because of these movies. If that is you, I ask you to reevaluate your opinion of Robin. He is a pretty interesting character, they just messed him up here.
In conclusion, this is a very average film. It is considered a bad movie, because many people misunderstand it. It is kind of silly and campy, but they wanted to make it a movie for kids to enjoy. They really tried to find a balance between being dark and creepy and being silly and cheesy. In my opinion, they did a pretty good job, for what they were trying to do. It wasn't like the following movie where they went completely insane and did the most outlandish things they could think of. The most important question to ask yourself when watching a movie like this is "was I entertained?" And yes, I was entertained. I've even gone back and watched it a few more times over the years.
Description of Batman Forever
Riddle me this, riddle me that, you'll adventure on the wings of bat! Brace for excitement as Val Kilmer (Batman), Tommy Lee Jones (Two-Face), Jim Carrey (the Riddler), Nicole Kidman (Dr. Chase Meridian) and Chris O'Donnell (Robin) star in the third spectacular film in Warner Bros.' Batman series. Joel Schumacher (The Client) directs and Tim Burton co-produces this thrill-ride of a movie that thunders along on Batmobile, Batwing, Batboat, Batsub and bold heroics. Hang on!When Tim Burton and Michael Keaton announced that they'd had enough of the Batman franchise, director Joel Schumacher stepped in (with Burton as coproducer) to make this action-packed extravaganza starring Val Kilmer as the caped crusader. Batman is up against two of Gotham City's most colorful criminals, the Riddler (a role tailor-made for funnyman Jim Carrey) and the diabolical Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), who join forces to conquer Gotham's population with a brain-draining device. Nicole Kidman plays the seductive psychologist who wants to know what makes Batman tick. Boasting a redesigned Batmobile and plenty of new Bat hardware, Batman Forever also introduces Robin the Boy Wonder (Chris O'Donnell) whose close alliance with Batman led more than a few critics to ponder the series' homoerotic subtext. No matter how you interpret it, Schumacher's take on the Batman legacy is simultaneously amusing, lavishly epic, and prone to chronic sensory overload. --Jeff Shannon
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