Batman Forever

If people go around saying that Tim Burton's Batman's were campy and cartoon-ish, then what are the Schumacher films? REALISTIC??? Not even close. Tim Burton's "Batman" and "Batman Returns" were brilliant and classic, dark and gritty with no cartoon in them. "Batman Forever", and it's brother "Batman and Robin" are foolish, cheesy cartoon films that have hardly anything to offer. Throwing Robin into the film was a desperate move to keep plot going, and really didn't keep me interested at all. I will say that Carrey was a bit of relief, unfortunately Tommy Lee got some pretty bad and cheesy lines, but I will give one of his lines 4 of the 5 stars I've given the film, his great delivery of, "Why won't you just die?!", classic. The other star is for his outfits, damn fine material. You want a good Batman film? Watch the first two by Tim Burton, and of course see the Christopher Nolan films. Hell, watch the T.V. show as well, at least that keeps a viewer interested.

I must admit that I was biased before I'd even seen this movie back in 1995. I was biased because I just didn't expect it to be any good due to the absence of Michael Keaton.

When I did watch it I thought it was okay. Val Kilmer did his best as Bruce Wayne although he just looked a bit too young to play a millionaire playboy-but he did do a good job.

Finally we saw the debut of Robin. I thought Robin's costume was cool-it was updated for the 1990's.

Once again the villains stole the show. Jim Carrey (a truly funny man) made a great Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones made a superb Two Face.

Nicole Kidman made a great love interest for Batman but I would have liked to see more interaction between them in the film.

Whilst I think the first two Batman films were the best, I have no problem in recommending this film to any Batman fan.

Is it silly? Yes, but it's intended to be a silly more kid friendly Batman movie and it does that great, but people hate on it for being silly. Don't listen to those reviews its actually a pretty nice movie. Is it a masterpiece? Not really, but if you're okay with a more wacky, light hearted over exaggerated Batman with a silly tone, it should be okay. I haven't seen Batman and Robin yet at the time of me making this but when I do I'll make a review.

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".

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.

I liked the first two batman movies, they were very, very dark, broodish and more in line to the actual dark comic book style. Burton is an amazing director and brought the best out of Keaton(when batman was out he became the coolest man around - and now he's not even given an eyelid!).

So what went wrong with this film. Was is Schumacher? Apparantly Keaton had doubts over wanting to do another Batman movie and after meeting Schumacher dropped out. It is amazing that such an actor can be put off a film such as this. But after seeing the film I can see why.

The film starts off pretty well, a helicopter crash into a statue of libery look-a-like - with Batman trapped inside, struggling to get outside before it crashed and blew up - it kinda took me back to old James Bond movies. The background song "Kiss from a Rose" provided by Seal is romantically well placed - but it isn't in the same OTT style as the film - unlike the U2 version.

The film lacks anything other than a flimsy plot of revenge. Batman (played by a boring, Val Kilmer) plays master to a vengeful Robin who wants revenge on a flat villan, Two-Face (underplayed by Tommy Lee Jones), who is working with the Riddler - played by an OTT Jim Carrey (I personally would have gone for Robin Williams, but I guess Williams is too old - he's probably fits "the Mad Hatter" rather than the Riddler).

I know Carrey was payed MegaBucks to carry this flimsy film, but this is no reason to make him the only star of this film. Why, when Carrey gets all the minds off tv-zombies, doesn't realize Batman's true identity sooner is beyond me.

Carrey's character is never explained properly, why is eccentric? OK - he never got praise for his work, but if you didn't get praise for your job you don't come crazy and wear green spandex overnight do you?

This film is pretty poor compared to the previous versions, Nicole Kidman although looking pretty - figures out Batman's true identity far too quickly. She's supposed to be head strong, but instead comes across as a dasmel in distress.

Overall I suggest you return to the old versions. And I would suggest avoiding the PAINFUL Clooney version: Batman and Robin.

Overall: 4/10