BATMAN FOREVER
A film review by Rob Furr
Copyright 1995 Rob Furr
You know, it's a darn good thing that BATMAN FOREVER isn't dull. We'd be suffering through eight million reviews, all using the same "It certainly *felt* like forever..." gag, and if that happened, I'd be forced to flee the country and watch no movies younger than thirty years.
That's the best place to start a review of BATMAN FOREVER--whatever else you can say about it, it certainly isn't dull. If anything, at times, a little dullness would be a good thing, just so that the audience would have time to grasp the latest complication. I mean, THE DRAUGHTSMAN'S CONTRACT this ain't, but it has more stuff actually happening in it than any three other summer movies I can name (So far, anyway.) There's the Riddler's origin, there's Two-Face's story, there's Robin's origin, there's the obligatory Batman/Blonde In A Black Outfit love story, there's action, there's street combat, there's chase sequences, ritzy parties, Jim Carrey's stand-up routine, and, amazingly enough, a giant blender with fins (we'll get to that later). There is, to be blunt, so much stuff happening that, even at an approximately two-hour running length, the movie bulges at the seams, to the point where aspects of the plot, such as it is, whiz past unnoticed because something else is already shoving its way forward for its second-and-a-half of screen time.
Not only is there a lot happening in the plot, there's a lot happening visually. I'll be frank--the original BATMAN is a hard act to beat, in terms of production style--it is, as far as I'm concerned, the only movie Tim Burton's ever done where his Gothic obsessions work (they certainly didn't in BATMAN RETURNS)--and BATMAN FOREVER doesn't beat it. It doesn't even try to do so. Burton chose to model his Gotham on Gothic elements, on shades of gray, on noir and Piranesi--this more recent Gotham is full of strong primary colors, and more humanistic design. It's still recognizably the same city as Burton's, but the Gotham we see in BATMAN FOREVER looks like it's actually been lived in, like it *could* be lived in. There's no space for humanity in Burton's Gotham, but there is in this one. Furthermore, BATMAN FOREVER succeeds at doing what DICK TRACY only dreamed of doing. Not only is BATMAN FOREVER's Gotham more colorful than Burton's, it's more faithful to the Gotham of the comic books--it *looks* like what comics look like after they've been projected in the theatre of our imagination. The camera often swoops around buildings, it falls down, it moves as fast and as smoothly as the comic reader's eye seems to (yes, eye movements are actually rather jerky and sudden--but it doesn't seem that way to the person behind the organic camera...). The production design in BATMAN FOREVER seems designed to have something on the screen at all times that captures the eye, or leads it, or draws the viewer's attention in or moves it aside. Just as it seems at times to be overplotted, it may even be overdesigned. At the very least, it demands a second viewing, for the simple reason that familiarity with the most obvious objects on screen will allow the observer to see everything else crammed into a single frame. There are, of course, occasional false notes in the production design, the most obvious of which is, er, the giant blender with fins. I can't really explain why there's a giant blender with fins, not without spoiling the climax of the movie (although I think it's not exactly a spoiler to mention that, not only is it a giant blender with fins, it eventually becomes a giant *exploding* blender with fins.)
I'm now forced to divide my critical response, which is appropriate, considering that Two-Face is in this movie. I can respond to BATMAN FOREVER on its own terms, and I can respond to it based on the fact that I've been reading BATMAN and DETECTIVE for decades. Own terms first, I suppose.
This is a very funny movie at times. There are the gags and lines that we've all seen and heard in the promos and trailers--but those are, amazingly enough, neither the funniest of the gags nor all of the lines. Jim Carrey, furthermore, is not the funniest actor in the film, either. This should come as no surprise to those of us (all, what, three?) who saw Val Kilmer in TOP SECRET!, but for those who haven't: Val Kilmer can be very funny when he wants to be, and, quite often in this film, he wants to be. Carrey, on the other hand, does his standard schtick. Okay, it was funny at times on IN LIVING COLOR, it was funny in ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE, and it was even funny in THE MASK, but honest to Pete, we've *seen* him posture, we've *seen* him twist that rubber face of his around, and, okay, yes, he's moderately amusing in BATMAN FOREVER, but the novelty's worn off. Tommy Lee Jones is also ... less interesting than he should be. Apparently someone handed him a copy of all the scenes from BATMAN with Jack Nicholson in them and said "See this? That's your role. Oh, but you only have to put makeup on half your face. Ciao." As a villain, he's okay. Which is, sadly, not enough (fortunately, the movie doesn't rest on his shoulders.)
Which brings us to the really unique point of BATMAN FOREVER. This is the first Batman movie (of the recent three) where Batman/Bruce Wayne is more interesting than the villain(s). I was shocked. A Batman movie where BRUCE WAYNE gets screen time? And it's a *believable* Bruce Wayne? Holy smokes, wake the kids, call the neighbors. After the disastrous (and misnamed) BATMAN RETURNS (Batman didn't return--he didn't even get any screen time) I fully expected this to be another villain-based outing, where Bruce Wayne and his blonde-in-black would be relegated to about fifth in order of importance. Fortunately, I was wrong. The protagonist is really the protagonist for once. Wow.
(And now, my reaction based on the fact that I've been a Batman fan since before Batman was cool again:)
This is Two-Face? Huh? Since when was Two-Face like *this*? Threw *me* for a loop, I can tell you.
On the plus side, though, BATMAN FOREVER is more aware of the rest of the Batman phenomenon than any previous film. Concepts and scenes are taken directly from BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, references are made to, for instance, Metropolis and other parts of the DC Universe, it occasionally slyly pokes fun at itself and its predecessors. (I will bet you *any* amount of money that you will *not* expect (unless someone tells you) what Robin says as the two heroes first encounter the Riddler's base at close hand. Whee!)
(This concludes my fan-based reaction. Thank you.)
At any rate, since any plot summary would take too long, and, besides, you already know the important bits, I'll skip the play-by-play and go straight to the box scores:
BATMAN FOREVER was a surprise. Not only did it have, amazingly enough, a real, live plot, not only did it have mostly original production design, not only did it have decent acting all around (except for, sadly, the two villains,) it had more fun with itself than Burton ever allowed his films to have. On the Furr Scale (I rate films based on ambition as well as quality: you can't rate a film like EVIL DEAD II on the same scale as LAWRENCE OF ARABIA without acknowledging the fact that the two movies were trying to do different things. EVIL DEAD II was a four-star one-star film: a very, very good movie that didn't aim very high, while LAWRENCE OF ARABIA is a four-star four-star movie: a very, very good movie that aimed very high. ROBOCOP is a three-star three star movie (pretty good, aimed pretty high,) and HEAVEN'S GATE is a one-star four star movie (a rotten movie that aimed high.)) I'll call BATMAN FOREVER a three-star three star movie. As long as you don't expect the bad guys to carry the film, and as long as you can keep up with the film's rapid and diffuse plotting, you should have a blast.
-- Rob Furr's HTMLized .SIG is at http://www.groucho.com/
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