Subject: RETROSPECTIVE: BATMAN FOREVER (1995)

From: [email-masked] (Ted Prigge)
Date: 24 Jun 1997 15:58:46 GMT

BATMAN FOREVER
                       A film review by Ted Prigge
                        Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge

Director: Joel Schumacher
Writers: Lee Batchler, Janet Scott Batchler and Akiva Goldsman
Starring: Val Kilmer, Jim Carrey, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris O'Donnell, 
Nicole Kidman, Michael Gough, Drew Barrymore, Debi Mazar, Jon Favreau

A new director, new cast, a new Batperson, new writers and a whole new 
Gotham city were created for this third installment in the series after 
a lot of moviegoers booed "Batman Returns" for being "too dark."  Maybe 
they needed a renovation, maybe not - it's up to you.  But is this 
change better than the first two directed with brilliance by Tim Burton 
with a classic music score by Danny Elfman?  Hell no.  This is a bright 
film with a huge lack of logic, a forced psychological approach (as 
opposed to the smooth one applied by Burton), and just too much.  Yet, I 
still reccomend this one 'cause it's still fun.

The plot deals with Batman (Val Kilmer) fighting two villains (it worked 
better in "Batman Returns," with a "partnership" influenced by a Sergio 
Leone spaghetti western) and gaining Robin (Chris O'Donnell) as a 
sidekick.  He also has yet another romance after Selena never came back 
(Why the hell not?) with Chase Meridian (not a bank, but Nicole Kidman), 
a doctor who really looks like one, lemme tell ya.  She's hot for Batman 
but not Bruce, who also tries to woo her.  

For villains we get the totally gone Two-Face, who used to be D.A. 
Harvey Dent (funny, in the original he was played by Billy Dee Williams 
- wasn't he kinda black?  So where were the NAACP on this one?) but got 
acid spilled on his face.  Batman tried to save him, but only saved half 
his face.  So now he's a crook.  But he gets himself some help from the 
totally wacky genius, Edward Nygma (great names here, lemme tell ya), 
who has a plan to rule the world by placing a box on TV sets that drains 
the IQ from people and into his head.  He calls himself the Riddler for 
some reason, maybe 'cause for the hell of it he makes simple riddles 
that even my dog could figure out.  So Two-Face is the brawn; the 
Riddler's the brains.

The forced psychological approach is that Bruce and Batman are one 
person even though they're two.  Nice idea, but it's applied with so 
much strain that it's laughably hokey.  On one hand, he has his Bruce 
ego who loved Chase (added just to silence the whole Batman-Robin love 
thing going on); then his Batman ego who, well, cares for Robin.  But 
doesn't Bruce care for Robin's alter ego, Dick Grayson (nice first name 
there - not symbolic at all)?  So when the Riddler and Two-Face make him 
decide between Chase or Robin to save, it's not really a Batman/Bruce 
conflict.  Oh well.

The films is basically ruled like a toga god by Jim Carrey, who got the 
part after Robin Williams couldn't make his mind up whether or not he 
wanted the part.  I like Robin better but Jim's as good as a substitute 
as you're gonna get.  He's hilarious and makes off with the film easily. 
 Tommy Lee Jones tries to steal the film and ends up making it less fun. 
 Nicole does next to nothing but look good in satin sheets, but we all 
know she can act because she rocked in "To Die For" released later that 
year.  And Chris is pretty good as Robin, making him plenty cocky (not a 
Freudian Slip for the Batman/Robin thing...).  

The worst thing is Val.  Michael Keaton was the quintessential Batman 
and he why he left, I'm not sure.  Maybe he was tired, which I can 
respect.  But why Val?  I love Val usually.  He's a great actor and has 
turned in classic performances playing Jim Morrison flawlessly in "The 
Doors" and Doc Holliday in "Tombstone" to a "T."  But here, he's just 
bored.  Hence, he's boring.  He says all his lines like he's Gort in 
"The Day the Earth Stood Still."  I know he's a great actor; he's just a 
horrible Batman.

The writing, which is new, is poor.  The dialogue sounds clunky and 
forced.  "Chicks dig the car."  Give me a break.  And the music by Eliot 
Goldenthal is passable but not nearly up to the par presented by 
ingenius composer Danny Elfman for the first two Batmans.  He even wipes 
out the older, more hummable theme and replaces it with something that's 
passable.  But at least Elfman is doing the music for "Men in Black," 
which will rule.

The direction by Joel Schumacher is passable.  He hardly creates as 
interesting a Gotham as the first two.  It's bright.  That's it.  And 
it's always night for some reason.  Even Burton presented some daylight 
scenes.  His action sequences are cool (much better than his next Batman 
effort) but overdone.  When Batman falls down a building, he does way 
too many twists and turns and makes it seem too fake.  And his 
characters aren't nearly as interesting as the previous two.  In 
conclusion, Tim Burton (now the executive producer, I believe) does a 
way better job with the franchise in terms of just being better.

Overall, "Batman Forever" is a good film and satisfying but it makes you 
yearn for the olden days, when Batman kinda meant something.  Now it's 
all about money, villains, the hottest actors, and getting as much in 
two hours as humanly possible.  But at least Tim Burton is returning to 
this genre with the Kevin Smith-penned "Superman Lives."  

MY RATING (out of 5): ***