

Val Kilmer, replacing Michael Keaton after two films, was a potentially strong Batman, more dynamic and central to the story than the character had been in the Burton films. Batman Forever was a different animal: establishing one villain right in the opening sequence, it did away with too many tedious origin stories and left room for a better fleshed out story and arcs for the rest of the characters, cartoon-like as they might have been. What the Burton films possessed in style and imagery, they lacked in narrative cohesion or story structure. But the movie did not pretend to be what it wasn’t, and it did have its positive aspects.įor one - and we’ve argued this before - the screenplay by Lee and Janet Scott Batchler and Akiva Goldsman is easily the best of the four films made between 19.
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Batman Forever was maligned by fans who felt that the Burton movies had finally gotten the character out from underneath the massive shadow of the TV series. It was nearly a 180-degree shift from the darker, more subversive trappings of the two Burton films that had come before.
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Schumacher went all in on creating what was essentially a big-screen version of the Adam West series (arguably combined with elements of the comics from the 1940s and 1950s). “I didn’t want to look at what Tim did and try to be different,” said Schumacher at the time to Daily Variety. Schumacher’s stated goal was to make a “living comic book,” but he seemed to conflate the Batman comic books - which had grown in sophistication over the decades - with the Batman 1960s TV series, a deliberate campfest that, while fun in its own way, was the dominant image that entire generations had of the Bat. Pictures’ corporate partners like McDonald’s - the studio brain trust decided a change was in order.īurton would not be back to direct a third Batfilm that task was bequeathed to Joel Schumacher, who was mandated to bring a lighter, more playful vibe to the proceedings.


The back story of Batman Forever has been well documented before, so here it is in brief in case you were napping: following the less than stellar box office returns of Tim Burton’s 1992 Batman Returns - a Gothic fever dream which frightened not just children but Warner Bros. It is certainly the fulcrum on which the entire history of the series balances: the point where the franchise changed course in pursuit of instant gratification and success, only to pave the way for abject failure and supreme rebirth. Oh, and the Dark Knight's body armor sports Bat Nipples.A quarter century after its release, Batman Forever remains perhaps the most divisive of the Caped Crusader’s 10 big-screen appearances to date. Batman & Robin is pretty much a live-action staging of The Super Friends. The villains take precedence over the heroes and over-the-top sets and costumes take precedence over the story. Schwarzenegger rates the marquee spot over Clooney because the inmates are running the Arkham Asylum at this point. Nicholson gained top billing over Keaton in Batman because he starred in Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, and Terms of Endearment which proves both his box office clout and acting chops. The less said about this franchise killer the better. Freeze (Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman) from freezing Gotham City. In this embarrassingly bad PG-13-rated sequel, Batman (Clooney) and Robin (O'Donnell) try to keep their relationship together even as they must stop Mr. He just doesn't get it, always throwing out the Batmite with the bathwater. Of course, this is the former set designer who would later take Phone Booth - based on a gangbusters Hitchcock-inspired screenplay that works so great as a thriller on paper because it keeps things claustrophobic and paranoid - and opens the film with a shot from outer space that telescopes in on earth to show audiences how busy, active, and sprawling our world is. Batman & Robin just ratchets up this unfortunate silly streak to the Nth degree. Color pops everywhere, over-acting rues the day, and all involved look ready to break into jazz-hands and a two-step. Then, Joel Schumacher comes aboard the series with 1995's Batman Forever and turns the proceedings into a light romp that's not unlike a Bollywood musical. The Dark Knight was dark, edgy, and a pop culture phenomenon again with 1989's Batman and its 1992 sequel. Throwing Batgirl and two villains sillier than Caesar Romero's Joker into the mix-up, the camptastic Batman & Robin finishes off a once-invigorating franchise brought to its knees by director Joel Schumacher's tonal about-face called Batman Forever.
