Batman Forever

BACK COVER SYNOPSIS: "Bigger, Battier and Better." - Susan Wlosczina, USA Today.

FILM REVIEW: I went in to "Batman Forever" with much lower expectations. I felt it would be a flop given that they'd changed the lead actor to Val Kilmer and the director to Joel Schumacher. I just couldn't imagine how they could continue the franchise without the main talent. That said, the film turned out to be a pleasant surprise, although not without a few problems. There is a fun energy in this film that was sadly lacking in "Batman Returns" - this film is geared more towards summer entertainment, but it still manages to retain those darker elements which were the strongest parts of the previous films. Overall, this is a fun film and manages to return the franchise to "Batman" territory after it slightly veered off course with "Batman Returns".
Batman is now played by Val Kilmer and is arguably the best Batman of the lot (in the 90's films). He just looks and feels like Bruce Wayne and it's a shame he only played him once! He manages to instil a sense of pathos in to Bruce Wayne that is quite different to what Keaton achieved, and at the same time he manages to be very tough and likeable as Batman. A good choice and despite any initial concerns, I thought he was excellent in the role.
Casting is this film's strong suit. Batman is now up against Two-Face (played with delight by Tommy Lee Jones) and the Riddler (played by the manic Jim Carrey). I didn't know of Two-Face before this film but I had certainly been waiting on a big screen intro for the Riddler. He's played very well by Jim Carrey and you can see the filmmakers wanted to return to the maniac lunacy of the Joker with the Riddler to make up for it being absent from "Batman Returns". Two-Face is also well defined although I would have liked to have seen him left out of this film and perhaps put in to the next film. His origin story is skimmed over and they could have set him up as the next film's villain. Alas, the instructions seemed to be "more is more" and as a result, the film does have too many big characters. Granted, the screenplay manages to balance them all out quite well, but there's more a reliance on seeing your celebrity play the character rather than have the character fleshed out by an actor. Don't get me wrong, what they did works well but perhaps they could have cut back a bit in favor of stronger story development.
This film is visually stunning; I remember seeing it in the cinema and being blown away and it still looks spectacular on DVD. It was one of the first films to really utilise a lot of CGI to create a number of astonishing images and on this alone the film is worth watching. The film is also quite loud; the previous two films were atmospheric pieces but this entry is like "Saturday-night Fever on acid", as quoted by the Producer in the documentary. It's a very different take and would have worked extremely well if not for the casual references to the television show. With the introduction of Robin in this film, the filmmakers finally decided to tip their hat towards the television show and as a result produce a couple of cringeworthy scenes that you'd wished they had excised during the editing process. As it turned out, this was an ominous example of what was to come in the next instalment of the Batman franchise.
This is a fun, entertaining entry in the Batman franchise, only let down by a couple of silly scenes.

TECHNICAL REVIEW: "Batman Forever" receives an excellent transfer; the images are vibrant and strong, but what is the most striking is the colours. The film was made almost in direct contrast to its predecessor by turning it in to a living, colourful comic book and the transfer of this disc bears this concept out perfectly. The audio is spectacular, and will give your home theatre system a solid work-out. Overall, a well produced disc.

EXTRAS REVIEW: The extra features on this disc are on par with "Batman Returns", offering an almost idential amount of extras as that disc. We have an informative, but not extensive, documentary on the making of the film, featurettes on specific aspects of the production, a music video, a promotional doco made at the time of the film, additional scenes and an audio commentary by director Joel Schumacher (which is more entertaining and detailed than Burton's). Overall, a decent extras package.

BOTTOM LINE: Worth having in the collection, but only get it on sale.

FILM RATING: 7.5/10 -- EXTRAS RATING: 7/10 -- OVERALL DVD RATING: 7/10 

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

This film gets so much negative publicity that is hard to be objective, however, the criticism is merited. At the same time, there are good points that no one ever seems to point out.
Val Kilmer makes a fairly decent Bruce Wayne, but is an epic failure as Batman. He just doesn’t seem comfortable or convincing. If I was a crook in Gotham City and he came swooping down, I would not fear him as I would Michael Keaton’s Batman.
Chris O’Donnell does a good job of capturing the rebelliousness of Dick Grayson/Robin in his later years, but the story is obviously based on the time when he and Batman first meet, so O’Donnell is too old. Can you believe this role was going to go to Marlon Wayans?
Nicole Kidman is a nice bit of eye candy. As a matter of fact, she looks much better then than she does now. Chase Meridian was created just for this film, but you would never know. Kidman was a true sexpot with this character.
Tommy Lee Jones replaced Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. From what I’ve read/heard, this change was due to the directorial change, but Williams still got paid. Jones is a more than competent actor, and gives an interesting take on the character, but he didn’t do his homework. His version of Two-Face just seems like, as someone said, “a reincarnated Joker.” On top of that, the makeup wasn’t that great. I will say that the dual personality he exhibited was pretty close, could have been better, though, and he could have relied more on the coin. I guess what I’m trying to say is that Aaron Eckhart’s Two-Face in The Dark Knight is spot on with the source material, whilst Jones’ is a caricature of the character.
Jim Carrey is his usual self as The Riddler. The problem is that his flamboyancy doesn’t work for the character, yet at the same time it beings to mind Frank Gorshin’s take on the character from the 60s TV show. My real issue with Carrey being the Riddler has more to do with appearance. The red hair was too much of a departure for me as were the over the top antics. This was not the Riddler I know.
Everytime I watch this film, I wonder what it would have been like had Tim Burton stayed on as director, Michael Keaton donned the cape and cowl again, and Danny Elfman returned to provide the film’s score. Joel Schumacher is not a bad director, but he murdered this film. There was so much potential here, but his direction was too cartoony. Nothing wrong with cartoony, but in comparison to the darker tone of Batman and Batman Returns, it just doesn’t work. I’m a firm believer that a director should stay with a franchise from beginning to end, or else you get these different interpretations that don’t really work.
Danny Elfman’s score is solely missed here. Elliot Goldenthal’s score seems to be a recapitulation of the leitmotif for the entire film, rather than new material for each scene like we would get from Elfman, or any other competent composer.
The Batmobile, while doing some of the most interesting tricks in the film, has got to be one of the ugliest versions of the iconic vehicle ever seen on screen, with the exception of the current version used by Christian Bale’s version.
The best part of this film are Two-Face, The Riddler, and Dr. Meridian. For a film entitled Batman Forever, you would expect Batman to be the major draw, or at least Robin, since they went through all the trouble to bring him in. That is not the case. However, those art do enough to carry this film, despite having a weak Batman. Is there any wonder he was replaced? I wouldn’t suggest subjecting yourself to this film, unless you’re trying to watch all the Batman films, or are just bored out of your mind. That being said, it can be worth the time if you’re can get past the deficiencies.

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