Batman & Robin

Batman & Robin, the big summer movie of 1997, I remember seeing this in the theater when I was 12 and even then I wasn't impressed. But when I was more grown up, I watched this film again, I figured since I loved the 3 previous Batman films, why not give this one another shot? Now, seeing this movie once again, I can understand the low rating on IMDb, this movie was just a pathetic attempt at merchandising Batman and making an over the top action movie that really had nothing to do with Batman. The casting was just oh, so plain wrong. We have Arnold Schwartzenegger as Dr. Freeze?! Not to mention the accent, the character was just someone you felt like you could laugh off. Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl, she was alright, but again, questionable casting since she seemed out of place. Now, George Clooney?! I couldn't believe how Val Kilmer got complained about, but George Clooney I can see why. He was just the most awkward Batman ever and didn't fit the role at all, he was only used for his popularity.

Batman is living it up with his bachelor lifestyle, but Robin is a bit upset that he is living under Batman's shadow and wishes to be the star. Alfred is becoming very sick and needs serious help; his niece, Barbara comes to his aid and hopes to help him and stays with Bruce Wayne. Dr. Freeze is our new villain and is looking for a cure for his wife who is frozen until he can find a cure for her, he also is intending for the world to pay for what has happened to him and his wife for some reason. Dr. Pamela Isley is a plant scientist/right activist and while her boss sees her finding out more than she needs to know about an experiment on his version of Frankenstien, named Bang, he "kills" her with her plants. But the plants chemicals have an effect on her and actually make her into Poisen Ivy. She and Freeze team up to take over Gothem and of course to split Batman and Robin forever, oh yeah, then kill them I guess.

Batman & Robin was really beyond over the top, the costumes were a bit silly and the story was just too family friendly. This is Batman, the Dark Knight, it's not meant to be this bright and so crazy. I couldn't believe Joel did this, I really wish I could get past this, I know he's going to get a bad rap for this film for the rest of his career. The acting was just stupid and not true to Batman at all. The problem here was that the story and setting just had nothing to do with what Batman truly is and was just an excuse to spend stupid money. Please, don't watch this film if you love Batman, or you'll be sorry.

2/10

I won't try and argue with anyone that says this movie is bad. It has a horrific script rife with far too many moments more interested in selling action figures than making sense. Arnold puts in the most camp performance as Mr. Freeze possibly ever that almost completely ruins what should be one of the most dramatic characters in the Batman lore.

George Clooney as Bruce Wayne isn't believable, Chris O'Donnell's Robin feels old and tired at this point after his kind of fresh feeling introduction in Batman Forever, the effects seem cheap and theme parkish (probably didn't help that Six Flags was really pushing live shows based on these movies back then) and so on and so forth.

If you were looking for a serious Batman movie, this totally missed the mark.

But what if, what if we just misunderstood what this movie was trying to do? What if the campiness, cheesiness, and ridiculousness was the entire point. What if instead of expecting The Dark Knight we should have been expecting Sharknado? Does it have any appeal as an expensive B movie satire?

In my opinion, it does. This movie is a BLAST to watch from the perspective that it's to be made fun of. Arnold Schwarzenegger's one liners become almost iconic when viewed from the lense of "what would be the dumbest, corniest, thing that could happen right now in this scene." Uma Thurman's over the top cringe worthy Poison Ivy is actually hilarious when you know what this actress is actually capable of when she's given a good role to work with. Bane looking something like a theme park mascot is impossible to take seriously when you've seen later, more serious versions of the character.

In short, for 1997 when this movie came out, and for a variety of marketing reasons, people didn't get that this movie was supposed to be a joke. People still had Tim Burton's Batman movies in their head they weren't expecting to go full Adam West.

That's a definite failure of the movie, to fail to make sure the audience understood what you were trying to do. But I think, 20 years later we can finally look back on this movie as being misunderstood in its time. It's suffered I think more than enough for the crime of being a joke that no one got. I think it's time people tried for a moment to rethink what this movie was.

If you still think this movie was the worst thing ever even after I've said my piece, I'm still not going to argue with you. I'm just going to smile as I agree with you.

The film does have nice costumes, and nice sets. Unfortunately that is about it. One major problem is some of the choices of actors.They were all wasted. George Clooney is quite a charming actor, but he is not my idea of Batman. Batman I don't think is supposed to be charming, he's supposed to be dark and brooding, and Clooney lacked that. What would Michael Keaten and Val Kilmer and even Christian Bale say when they see that Batman has turned charming? Chris O' Donnell looked uncomfortable, and in almost every movie where he is a hero, this includes the 1993 version of the Three Musketeers, he is rather lifeless. Uma Thurman does her best, but what they gave her to work with was ridiculous, and she just failed to deliver, while Alicia Silverstone was extremely annoying. The worst case was poor Arnold Schwarznegger. He was completely miscast as Mr Freeze, completely lacking the coldness and evilness that makes the character so memorable. Schwarznegger is a talented actor, but his skills are hidden beyond recognition in this movie, he just looked so uncomfortable and totally out of character. The direction from Joel Schummacher was disappointing as well, it lacked the artistic flair and the temperament that is needed to make a great film. This is further disadvantaged by a truly pathetic script that nobody in the cast could do anything with.(these actors deserved so much better)The special effects were okay, but very confused in terms of execution. In conclusion, not the worst movie, I have ever seen, but it is one of those films, where everything needed to make it memorable falls flat. 3/10 for effort. Bethany Cox

Back in the day, I felt disappointed when I watched it in theaters and I really disliked the movie for many reasons: it wasn't dark like the first two (same thing for "Foverer"), the dialogues ("chicks dig the car") the over-the-top silly acting, the props (batmobile, suits, weapons, etc), the goofy villains... However I loved the color palette and cinematography - it's pure Schumacher of course.

Over the years I have watched it again several times and when the BluRay came out I watched it more in depth and finally it happened: I like the movie now. Why? How? Well, nowadays I feel like I'm watching a "modern" take on the 60's TV series and it really makes sense to me for the very same elements I mentioned before: goofy villains, lots of colors, over-the-top cheesy acting, family-friendly overall tone. Gradually I started enjoying the movie in this context and I can say that I like it for what it is.

Unfortunately, this was the latest entry in the "comic-style" franchise.

A really dreadful Superhero movie, one of the worst you'll find unfortunately. It just has so many tacky moments so many awful lines and the production design appears to be out to just sell toys. The film is mind-numbing illogical, the whole bit with the space rocket and surfing and icecream hideout were maximum cringe. The sets look ridiculous and at times the performances from the villains are panto level over the top, not one announce of subtly or real human emotion. The movie also has such low stakes too it feels like, hardly anyone is actually hurt over the course of the movie and the introduction of batgirl is so poorly executed, she is given no motive or backstory really to want to fight crime.

The only real positives to mention are the film is gorgeous to look at in terms of its colours and lighting. The special effects and miniatures and cinematography in the Gotham City sequences also deserve some praise.

Uma Thurman also is extremely fun and playful in this movie at times, you can't deny that.