Batman Forever came along in 1993, directed by Joel Schumacher after the confusing mess that was Batman Returns. It was family friendly and was a big hit. Even if critics didn’t like it so much. And of course Schumacher went even more family friendly with the follow up…but we’ve discussed that elsewhere. And while it has it’s problems there are some things I really like in it.
First, five things I hated…..
Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face
I’ve mentioned this before but to put it briefly..I didn’t get the problem with Two-Face when I first saw this movie. It seemed like perfect casting! To bad Jones decided not to care, at all. But it wasn’t all his fault it was clear Schumacher didn’t get the character either. It wasn’t until The Dark Knight when I saw Two-Face done right I realize how bad this really was. It’s a shame too because could have worked. Carrey and Jones had decent chemistry together. But man, the way they took one of Batman’s most interesting villains and turned him into a cartoon character!
Stupid “Romance” Crap
Nicole Kidman’s character isn’t so bad. If they had just kept her on a professional level. Is it some kind of law that there has to be a love interest? The scenes with Chase mooning over Batman and then Bruce drooling over Chase are just unnecessary. Doesn’t help that Kilmer and Kidman had zero chemsitry whatsoever. In the end she’s just here to be the damsel in distress and that’s about all she offers. Though she does contribute more than Basinger’s Vicki Vale.
FYI, this was the stupidest thing in the entire movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stupid Plot
Ok, so what is the evil scheme of Riddler and Two-Face? They are stealing things to acquire capital so that Riddler can put one of his devices in every home. What is the device? It is a brainwave device that causes accesses people’s thoughts, and while viewers stare at the the device converts their brainwaves to signals that Riddler can absorb to become smarter and smarter. Ummmmm….what? Yeah this idea is really silly. Yeah I know comic book movie, but c’mon. Oh and how does Batman defeat this ingenious machine? He throws a batarang at it. Good lord, Superman III gave us a bigger menace that that!! The worst part is the name for this device. Through the movie it’s simply called “the box”. Really guys? And what was up with he pyrotechnic light show the thing generated?
Endless/Pointless Action Scenes
I don’t mind big action scenes, it is a comic book movie, and the opening is really pretty good. But the way these things are just thrown in throughout the movie gets annoying. For instance, at one point Batman is called away by the bat signal. We then get a two or three minute scene of Batman being chased in The Batmobile by Two-Face, which leads nowhere. The scene is utterly pointless and could have been cut right out of the movie. Another example is after a very long opening action scene we cut to Bruce Wayne meeting E Nigma. This lasts about two minutes…before Bruce gets to turn into Batman again! Look, I know there wasn’t enough Batman in the last movie but geez guys! Couldn’t get a little Bruce Wayne? Or some other character development? To be fair it’s not action but more flirting with Chase, and there is more later on, but still that always felt way to fast. There are others like the Dick Grayson’s pointless fight with the..skull guys (who were they again) and that underwater fight where Riddler and Two-Face play literal Battleship, which I never understood the point. Didn’t Riddler want Batman to find them?
Deleted Scenes
Not the scenes, I hate that they were deleted!! I’ve talked before about deleted scenes that are cut for reasons, but I wish they hadn’t been. One for this movie involves Two-Face escaping Arkham. I guess it isn’t to important, but it would have been better than just throwing us into the middle of an a action scene. And it would have introduced Dr.Arkham played bu Rene Auberjonois, so his appearance at the very end would have made sense!!! I found another deleted scene on YouTube which was a fantastic scene. Ever wonder why Bruce changed his mind about being Batman? In the theatrical version he just does, but a deleted scene gives us more. The scene involves Bruce in the batcave and is quite impressive. Of course it was cut, screw character development we needed more stupid action!
So here we go, five things I liked in “Batman Forever”.
The Soundtrack
Yeah this is a weird one but the soundtrack is really good. I even had the CD a million years ago. Of course this is where Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose” came from, and I do love that song. And the instrumental music is really good to, sure it’s not new but anytime I can hear that awesome Batman theme is awesome in my book.
Drew Barrymore
The Dark Knight DETECTIVE
Yeah what is it with these Batman movies forgetting this? My favorite thing in the Batman comics is the detective stuff. But in these movies it’s almost non existent. So I love the scene where Bruce and Alfred finally deduces that the riddles were all a clue to the fact that Riddler was Edward Nigma. It’s not a long scene, and yes we the audience knew an hour earlier, but it’s just nice to see the World’s Greatest Detective do some damn detective work!
Jim Carey
No I wrote that right. To be honest, Riddler gets kind of silly by the end of the movie. What I’m talking about is Carey, specifically his first scenes in the movie. There’s some decent acting here when we first meet Nigma, and remember this was before it was established Carey could in fact act. I think that if Carey had brought this effort to the rest of the movie, this villain would be remembered a bit more fondly. Not that Carey is bad after he dons the green suit, in fact he maybe the best part of the movie, it’s just that it gets to be to much building to that final scene which is so overdone that it’s almost..silly?
Batman & Robin
Ok so let’s get into this one. When people talk about the best Batman you hear Keaton, Bale, and even Conroy. But Kilmer often gets overlooked. And I am not saying he was perfect. But I think Kilmer made a damn good Batman. Ok, not so much Bruce. Keaton definitely knew how to balance between Batman and Bruce Wayne a lot better. You wouldn’t believe in a second Keaton’s Bruce was really Batman. Kilmer? Eh, not so much. But in the end I still like Kilmer as Batman and he did remember to inject the character with humanity once in awhile without making him a total buffoon like Clooney would later do. And the fact that the plot was kind enough to include Batman in it was cool, even if the flashback about the journal was only so so, it was nice to get into the hero’s psychology a bit unlike the last movie which ignored it entirely. What about Robin? The one thing this movie did 100% right was Robin. In fact not only did they get Robin right but they improved the character! Chris O’Donnell was a little to old for the part, since in the comics Dick Grayson was supposed to be 12, but I guess we can overlook it. The origin is very well done though with changes made like Two-Face being behind it and adding a second sibling for no reason whatsoever. And we could have used more “training”, I guess there was a deleted scene that elaborated more on that. I always love when Two-Face says that Batman taught him well, I’m always like “when?”. But despite my gripes they made that silly costume look pretty badass and Robin was by far one of the cooler things in the film. Sure he had to be rescued in the end, but you can’t have everything I guess. It’s no wonder the next movie would be called “Batman & Robin”, but man did it have to soooo awful?
So in the end, not a perfect movie but still a major guilty pleasure. What do you guys think?
You know, this wasn’t much a of a challenge. I think next time I need to try something a lot harder. I need to pick five things that I hate in a great movie that everyone thinks is great. Hey it is supposed to be the 50th anniversary of Star Trek. Ok, coming soon Five Things I Hated in Star Trek II-The Wrath of Khan!
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