BATMAN FOREVER
A film review by Eric Grossman
Copyright 1995 LOS ANGELES INDEPENDENT
Batfans, I have some good news and some bad news for you. The good news is that the new Batman film, BATMAN FOREVER, is definitely better than the previous installment, BATMAN RETURNS. The bad news is that isn't saying much.
In this latest outing, Batman is pitted against two arch-criminals who are attempting to take over Gotham City and then the world by way using television to manipulate people's brains. In addition, he gains a partner, Robin, and also finds a new girlfriend, Dr. Chase Meridian.
In an attempt to freshen and lighten things up, director Joel Schumacher and his band of filmmakers have made a number of changes. Cinematographer Stephen Goldblatt and production designer Barbara Ling make Gotham city a much more open, colorful place. Costume designer Ingrid Ferrin and her crew have created a new Batsuit (complete with nipples) and composer Elliot Goldenthal has written a brighter, less moody (and less interesting than Danny Elfman's compositions for the first two films) score.
The biggest change however is in the cast. Val Kilmer, replacing Michael Keaton, lightens up Batman, almost too much, to match the film's new tone. For the first time in the Batman series the Caped Crusader is not overshadowed by the villains. To Kilmer's credit this was no easy task since his adversaries, Harvey Two-Face and the Riddler, are played by Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey respectively. O'Donnell also holds his own against these sometimes overbearing actors with his energetic portrayal as the Boy Wonder. Finally, Nicole Kidman manages to pump up her one dimensional role by making the most of her goofy dialogue and by, well, by just looking damn good.
Unlike the original film where Jack Nicholson's The Joker blew everyone and everything in the movie away and in the second one where Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman stole the show, the villains this time out are pretty much duds. Tommy Lee Jones is a superb actor but his Two-Face character feels unnecessary and weighs down the film. It seems more like a marketing and merchandising decision to have him than an artistic one (thin or frightening and of course a Batman villain has to be both.
BATMAN FOREVER delivers some laughs and a few thrills but ultimately, like the other two films, it boils down to a great deal of hype for a great deal of nothing. The cinematic condiments (the effects, the sound, the lightning) may make you feel as if you have seen something special, but its all smoke and mirrors.
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