BATMAN FOREVER (1995)
Starring: Val Kilmer (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Jim Carrey (Edward Nygma/The Riddler), Tommy Lee Jones (Harvey Dent/Two-Face), Chris O'Donnell (Dick Grayson/Robin), Nicole Kidman (Dr. Chase Meridian), Michael Gough (Alfred Pennyworth), Pat Hingle (Commissioner Gordon), Drew Barrymore (Sugar), Debi Mazar (Spice)
Directed by: Joel Schumacher, Written by: Lee Batchler & Janet Scott Batchler and Akiva Goldsman, based on characters created by Bob Kane
Rated PG-13 by the MPAA for violence, strong language, and a sexual implication or two
Reviewed by Doug Skiles
It starts...
This is where Joel Schumacher takes over. Luckily for us, at this point, Warner Bros. and producer Tim Burton keep Schumacher's crazy vision of Batman on a leash, and we end up with a movie that's not half-bad, even if it can't compare to Tim Burton's first two installments.
This is where it becomes obvious that the Batman series could be the next James Bond franchise. This series could go on forever, just think about it. There's endless stories to tell. There's gadgets, girls, a cool, actor-changing hero (as the reviewer who calls himself "Stimpy" pointed out, yes, aside from being one hell of a tailor, cook, and mechanic, Alfred is quite the plastic surgeon). As long as they don't kill off all of the villians, it's the perfect eternal franchise. It doesn't even have to repeat itself like Bond often does! They just need to make sure that the installments don't end up being all crap, and then Batman can truly go on forever. But I digress.
Well, Two-Face, the villian with two sides to his personality, half a face scarred by acid, and who makes his good-or-evil decisions based on whether his trusty two-headed (two faces... amazing, huh?) coin comes up with the clean "good heads" side or the beat-up "bad heads" side... damn, this is a run-on sentence... is on the loose. Of course, Batman is chasing him, and, as we see in the well-done opening sequence, is on-and-off in terms of his luck in the pursuit.
Meanwhile, an employee of Wayne Enterprises (wondering how Bruce keeps his fortune going, were you, non-Batman afficionados?), Edward Nygma, has created a device which will make television viewers "feel like they're inside the show" - a "3-D TV" invention, if you will. Wayne is reluctant to fund such a project, since it deals with brain manipulation, and his fears are well-founded - Nygma soon discovers that his machine has the interesting side effect of allowing him to utilize the brain power of anyone using his 3-D TV to grow smarter. Naturally, he wants to use this discovery to aid him in his revenge against Wayne. Confused yet? It gets worse...
The circus is in town! No, not the Red Triangle Circus, you ninny. This is a kinder, gentler show, featuring the trapeeze artists known as "The Flying Graysons," a family... what? Yes I said "Graysons." Yup, that's right. This is the Grayson family, one of which includes... Dick Grayson. If you know anything about Batman, then you know what THAT means... it means that circumstances will lead to Dick needing to move in with Bruce and Alfred, which will in turn lead to... oh hell, you KNOW where this is going.
Did I mention Chase yet? No? Oh, goodie! Well, Dr. Chase Meridian is consulting with Commisioner Gordon on the Two-Face case, since she's an expert on multiple personalities. Multiple personalities, hmm... nope, don't have any of those in Gotham. Well anyway, Chase is attracted to "the wrong kind of man," so of course she ends up having a thing for a certain hero-in-black-rubber. And Bruce Wayne ends up having a thing for her. But when Wayne likes Chase, and Chase likes Batman but not so much Wayne, well gee, kinda like the old Lois/Superman problem, isn't it?
After a list like that, you're probably looking for the kitchen sink. Well, here it is: Drew Barrymore shows up in a small role as one of Two-Face's girlfriends (she plays the girlfriend to his good side, which is exactly the opposite of what you'd expect from Drew, isn't it?). Just thought you'd like to know.
Schumacher is filling in for Burton, and his direction is a little... off-kilter. A few of the fight scenes are confusing due to his flying, zooming, wacked-out camera work. But most of the time, he does a fine job keeping things from getting too odd. His vision of Batman's world, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired...
Gone are the dark, dreary streets of Gotham that we knew and loved, as Schumacher, with the aid of production designer Barbara Ling, has made Gotham into a land of, yes, some dark streets, but also of neon lights that appear for no apparent reason, gangs that are lit up by black-lights - again for for no apparent reason - and buildings that, instead of being detailed, beautiful models, are basic, CGI-created rectangular-style skyscrapers. It's passable, but not anywhere near as gorgeous as the vision of Gotham that fit so well with Batman in the first two films. Even the Bat-vehicles like the Batmobile are redesigned, and, though they look quite nice, Burton's versions remain the ideal - perhaps in part because they came first, and also because they weren't neon-lit. As for the nipples on the Bat-and-Robin-suits, gratuitous codpieces, and shots of rubbers rears, I only have to say - why??
Elliot Goldenthal is filling in for Danny Elfman, and, though he writes a good and memorable score, it's not as majestic as Elfman's beautiful work. Still, it fits in with Batman just fine.
Now to the actors. Okay, Val Kilmer... um... well, he's a good Batman. He speaks with gravel on his voice, as he should, like Keaton did. But, you know how theh thing you see most clearly in the Batsuit is the chin? Well, Kilmer's chin just doesn't fit in with the image as well as Keaton's or even Clooney's. I know that sounds odd, so I'll just blow that off. It's no big deal. Kilmer also looks more like one might expect Bruce Wayne or Batman to look than Keaton did - he's just a more imposing figure. But as Wayne, he always wears black, which is just wrong - Batman is the morbid one, and Bruce Wayne is supposed to be the facade of a light-hearted bachelor. Oh well. He still does alright in the Batsuit, even if he does play Bruce in too wooden a manner. Kilmer isn't as good as Keaton, but still does alright. At least it's nice to learn more about Batman's origin, and spend a little more time with the hero of this picture than we did in BATMAN RETURNS (1992).
Carrey acts like Carrey, leaping around and doing his best to steal scenes, and he does get his fair share. He's appropriately psycho as the Riddler (do you capitalize the "t" in names like "The Joker," "The Penguin," or "The Riddler?" Just curious... I suppose it doesn't matter.), but even though, at times, he plays a fine disturbed villian, he also ends up playing what basically amounts to himself at other times, leaping around, cracking jokes, stretching his face. But in the end, it's hard to imagine that anyone else could live up to this vision of the Riddler. He does nicely.
It's Tommy Lee Jones who gets the movie's most interesting character - Two-Face. The duality of this villian makes him one of the most intriguing in the Batman mythos - but, on a few occasions in BATMAN FOREVER, Two-Face is played a little too one-note, as just another wisecracking, over-the-top enemy. Still, on all those times when he shows off his dual nature, he's easily the most fascinating person to watch, and that's when Jones chews plenty scenery of his own. He and Carrey seem to battle for who can steal the most scenes, and in the end, they both have come out about even as far as I'm concerned.
Nicole Kidman plays Chase Meridian well enough, but, like Vicki Vale in the first film, this is another love interest/damsel in distress that is often thankless. Even so, she has scenes where she shines, and she's certainly not the same character as Vicki or Selena were.
And what of Chris O'Donnell? Of the more understated performances in this movie, the actual truth is, his is probably the best, believe it or not. Dick Grayson/Robin (who, in another no-apparent-reason touch, wears an earring for most of the picture) turns out to be an interesting character, and he and Kilmer do have a brotherly chemistry that comes across to the viewer. His reasoning for wanting to become a vigilante partner to Batman is well-acted and believable, and his eager teenage side that pops up on occasion is likable, too. Yes, for this film, O'Donnell and Robin are likable guys. Don't expect it to last into the next one, though... although that's not entirely his fault. But I'm getting ahead of myself... I can talk about that in the BATMAN & ROBIN review.
In the end, despite not being as good as the first two movies, BATMAN FOREVER is actually not bad. Some of the little touches are especially nice - Alfred calling Bruce "Master Bruce," Two-Face's henchmen calling him "Face," Two-Face referring to himself as "we" or "us." Still, the warning signs of Schumacher start to creep in here, and act of portents of the downhill slide to come. Michael Gough, by the way, is and always remains a great Alfred, and a fine actor. Pat Hingle seems miscast as Gordon, but that may just be because he hasn't had a big enough role yet. In the end, even though Batman may ignore some laws of physics here, he does okay for himself.
Rating: ***
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