Batman Forever

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With former District Attorney "Dent" (Tommy Lee Jones) badly scarred by an acid attack and now vengefully wreaking havoc on Gotham City, it falls to "Batman" (Val Kilmer) to try and thwart his over-the-top antics before people get killed. Meantime, his day job as "Bruce Wayne" introduces him to madcap scientist "Nygma" (Jim Carrey) who has plans to plunder people's brainwaves to find their greatest desires (or deepest fears). "Wayne" rejects this proposal as unethical but that just drives the unstable boffin into a partnership with the marauding "Two Face" and they have but one agenda. Kill "Batman". It's the circus that proves a most dangerous environment for everyone as it's raided with an huge bomb left timed to reduce the citizenry to dust, but luckily the performing "Grayson" family of acrobats intervene. Brave but foolish as their actions leave poor old "Dick" (Chris O'Donnell) orphaned and under the care of "Wayne". The sagely old butler "Alfred" (Michael Gough) who sees promise in the young man and similarities with his master, turns his hand to a little manipulation that duly compels the two to work together creating the legendary dynamic duo. Now the battle lines are drawn as the two caped crusaders have to combat their resourceful antagonists bent on their humiliation and destruction. With all of this mayhem going on, "Wayne" still finds time to nurture a little romance with "Dr. Chase" (Nicole Kidman) - a woman who can't decide whether she prefers him as himself or as his alter ego. What's gonna happen? The story here is a perfectly decent vehicle for the character, but there is nowhere near enough action, far too much verbiage and the leading performances are frankly quite annoying. To be fair to O'Donnell, he acquits himself adequately as the enthusiastic sidekick in lycra, but Kilmer is as rubbery as his suit, TLJ just seems to be doing it all by numbers and over-exuberant Carrey got on my nerves right from the start with a characterisation that's completely devoid of subtlety, wit or mischief. Joel Schumacher (and Tim Burton) have taken a sledgehammer approach to the story and tried to beat us into submission with a relentless series of repetitious scenarios that really do look like they've come straight from the static comic storyboard. As is so often the case with the "Batman", it's the butler who steals the show and Gough does that here, just by showing up. Otherwise, this is a long and disappointing big budget superhero adventure that's very long on special effects and gadgets, but seriously short on just about everything else.

A different direction brings differing results. Batman takes on a new side kick as he fights to keep Gotham City out of the clutches of Two-Face and The Riddler. "No thanks, I'll get drive-thru" Thus these be the first words out of Val Kilmer's incarnation of Batman and thus setting the standard for what Joel Schumacher's two Batman movies would be like. Gone is the dark undertone from Tim Burton's visions, and the tight action sequences that marked Burton's debut out as a genuine genre piece of work, in their place comes sexy campery and ropey action set pieces. The casting of both Val Kilmer as Batman and Chris O'Donnell as Robin is a big mistake, Kilmer easily being the most boring actor to don the suit out of all of them, whilst O'Donnell simply can't act outside of Robin's cartoonery bravado. Nicole Kidman looks positively gorgeous as Chase Meridian, but that's all that is brought to the party, it's a waste of the very talented Kidman's ability and a waste of the audience's time. It's not all bad though, a comic book adaptation is only as good as its villains, and here we get a perfectly cast Jim Carrey as The Riddler, and a wildly over the top Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face. Carrey steals every scene he is in, it's almost too much, but as maniacal and exuberant as it is, it is the film's highlight and actually the film's saving grace (Tommy Lee Jones was reportedly unhappy from having his thunder stolen in the movie by Carrey). The script does work enough to make the story accessible to all ages, and there are enough crash bangs and wallops to entertain in that brain left at the door kind of way. This was the biggest hit of 1995, so the paying public lapped it up and paved the way for another Schumacher film in the franchise, but with all that star power wasted, and nipples on the rubber suits, it's hard to see now why it was so popular back then. 5/10

There are some great **things** in _Batman Forever_. Val Kilmer I think cops a bit too much flak for his go in the cape & cowl, he's certainly no sort of definitive Batman but I thought he did a fine job. The city has a crazy cool design, the Batmobile is updated in a wholly original way, and that neon street gang is some of the coolest shit I've ever seen put to screen. But this a **bad** movie. Burton might not have had a 100% source-material-faithful interpretation of the character, but it took Joel Schumacher (who usually I'm a big fan of) to ruin _Batman_ altogether. _Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product._