Subject: REVIEW: BATMAN AND ROBIN (1997)

From: [email-masked] (Ben Hoffman)
Date: 23 Jun 1997 17:07:54 GMT

BATMAN AND ROBIN
                       A film review by Ben Hoffman
                        Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman

A new Batman, who when not Batman-ing around town is really Bruce
Wayne (George Clooney); a shiny new Batmobile that can ride upside
down on the ceiling of a tunnel; a new villain, Mr. Freeze (Arnold
Schwarzenegger)  Robin (Chris O'Donnell) now has a turbo-charged
motorcycle and is better able to assist Batman; some old character
actors from various prior Batman films;  Michael Gough as Alfred
Pennyworth, Bruce's butler, friend and father figure, and Gotham
City's harried Police Commissioner Gordon (Pat Hingle).

Add to that Barbara Eilson, "Batgirl" (the lovely, sprightly Alicia
Silverstone); the stunning model Elle McPherson who has the role of
Julie Madison, in love with  Bruce.   But the one who grabs the ball
and runs with it through the whole film is Uma Thurman as the
villainous Poison Ivy. In addition to her own shapely lines, Akiva
Goldman who wrote the script has given Poison Ivy the best lines.

Ivy was not always a villain.   She once was Dr. Pamela Isley, a good
person, a botanist, but something happened that turned her into Poison
Ivy whose kiss means death.   Robin comes close to touching lips with
her.   The fact is, Robin has a crush on her and when Batman tries to
warn him about her, he argues that Batman is just jealous because he
is actually in love with her himself.  It looked for a while that
Batman and Robin might actually split up.

Like Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze was not always a hateful person.  As the
famous Dr. Victor Fries, a molecular scientist, he tried to
cryogenically preserve his wife who was terminally ill so that one day
when a cure was found for her illness, she could be defrosted.
Something went badly wrong with that operation and turned Fries into a
madman, mad at the whole world. Schwarzenegger does a great job as Mr.
Freeze.  He is aided by some fancy special effects that freeze people
and objects when he fires on them with a special gun.  No action
movie, it seems, is anything without special effects;  fortunately for
us, they are getting better and better.

Lots of action, lots of freezing and defrosting and shooting and
terrorizing Gotham but all with humor.  While Batman and Robin go
about their business of saving the city, Freeze and Poison Ivy keep
the film rolling.  They and the special effects are what give the film
whatever value it has.    The visual effects are the work of John
Dykstra.

Directed by Joel Schumacher who also directed BATMAN FOREVER.

2.5 Bytes

4  bytes  =  Superb
3  bytes  =  Too good to miss
2  bytes  =  Average
1  byte   =  Save your money

Copyright  1997         Ben Hoffman