It took 'em three sequels, but they finally accomplished it: A $100 million Batman movie that's as cheesy as the old TV series. Audiences have supposedly been begging for a lighter tone in these movies (though you wouldn't guess it from the grosses). But when Batman and Robin shows the duo skiing through the skies on makeshift surfboards, and you actually hear the line "Today Gotham, tomorrow the world!", Adam West starts to look downright Shakespearean.
Since a plot summary of a Batman movie would be superfluous at this point, let's cover the main topics.
* Villains - The movie is 50-50 on this point. Arnold Schwarzenegger is near-perfection as Mr. Freeze, but the movie's chief liability is Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy. When Thurman swings her teeny hips and tries for Mae West double-entendres, she recalls some of Ginger's lesser seductions of Gilligan. (Scriptwriter Akiva Goldsman must be a big "Gilligan's Island" fan, because darned if the antidote to Ivy's lethal kiss isn't lifted directly from a "Gilligan" episode. I'm embarrassed to admit I know that, but it's true.)
* Central Miscasting - With her baby-fat cheeks and monotone delivery, Alicia Silverstone is a zero as Batgirl. She has the same problem as Meg Ryan in Addicted to Love: Ms. All-American trying to come off like Madonna. And why is supermodel Elle Macpherson, who ably proved her acting chops in Sirens, reduced to practically a walk-on as Batman's latest love interest? I'd have believed her as Poison Ivy in a heartbeat.
* The New Batman - Many have compalined about how enigmatic Batman has been in these movies, but I thought was part of his point (and his appeal). George Clooney's effort to "humanize" Batman consists mainly of smiling a lot.
* The Unsung Hero of the Batman Movies - Once again, Michael Gough as butler Alfred acts everyone else off the screen just by underplaying. Director Joel Schumacher seems to have forgotten that the human element needs to be found amidst the special-effects chaos. Forget Batgirl--I'm ready for Alfred to join the Batcrew!
Batman and Robin is rated PG-13 for intense situations and violence.
Submitted by: Steven Bailey http://pages.hotbot.com/movies/skad13
Steven Bailey, a reviewer for The Beaches Leader newspaper in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., has reviews posted in The Internet Movie Database at: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Steven+Bailey
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews