As 2014 marks the 75th Anniversary of Batman, July 23rd will be celebrated as Batman Day. In honor of that, over the next few days leading up to the 23rd, I will be looking at and ranking (from worst to best) the nine cinematic films of the Caped Crusader. Let’s start with numbers 9 and 8.
No. 9 – BATMAN AND ROBIN (1997)
It’s not that George Clooney was a bad Batman or Bruce Wayne. On the contrary, he was quite believable as Bruce Wayne and more than adequate as Batman, nipples not withstanding. It wasn’t even Arnold Schwarzenegger’s over the top Mr. Freeze performance that makes this entry the most disappointing of all. No, the reason why B&R is the most disappointing has more to do with the direction (or lack thereof) that director Joel Schumacher took this franchise. When Tim Burton did Batmanand Batman Returns, he set a tone and a feel for Gotham and the mythology behind the Caped Crusader. With Schumacher, he went a complete 180 and B&R seems more campy with its visual display of colors and pyrotechnic induced action scenes. The campiness would’ve been appropriate in 1966 but not in 1997.
Joining Schwarzenegger as part of the rogue’s gallery is Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy. Ivy despite being a highly sexually charged character in the comics, is still one of my least favorites overall. Thurman doesn’t do much to change my thoughts. Her sidekick Bane while looking more in line with the comic version than Nolan’s Bane in The Dark Knight Rises is useless at best. Chris O’Donnell returns as Robin and Alicia Silverstone plays Alfred’s niece Barbara who becomes Batgirl by the final act. I understand tweaking mythology for the sake of the story but in NO world is Barbara whatever her last name was becomes Batgirl. I can overlook bat nipples, a bat credit card or silly dialogue like “this is why Superman works alone” or “chicks dig the car” but do not rewrite history and change who Batgirl was.
To put it simply, Schumacher and the powers that be over at Warner Bros. at the time were more interested in selling toys than creating an interesting story. As a friend of mine would say, what a shame!
**1/2 (out of 5 stars)
No. 8 – BATMAN FOREVER (1995)
This is the third film in the Batmanseries to follow Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman. It marks the beginning of the end for the film franchise, as this is the first to feature Joel Schumacher taking over the director’s chair and Val Kilmer as Batman. Kilmer makes a decent enough Batman but not so much as Bruce Wayne. I’ve always felt the best Bruce Wayne/Batman is the one can manage the complexity of both. Kilmer doesn’t quite do that. The miscasting of Chris O’Donnell as Robin is another issue. The character of Dick Grayson/Robin is suppose to be considerably younger than Bruce Wayne, The fact that O’Donnell and Kilmer appear more as contemporaries makes their scenes together look like sibling rivalry than mentor and mentee.
Batman Forever isn’t a bad film. It’s just not a very good one and the seeds of campiness are planted here by Schumacher. That campiness will come full circle by the time Batman & Robin hits the silver screen.
When it comes to the villains, Tommy Lee Jones is wasted as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. He’s too outrageous even for a comic book film. It would have been nice to have seen Billy Dee Williams reprise his role from the first film to now play this villain. As for Jim Carrey’s take on the Riddler? As much as I can appreciate Carrey’s comedic genius, I’m sorry to say that his performance as Riddler makes you wish for Frank Goshin to return.
It will take nearly a decade to erase the wrong that Schumacher had created and return Batman to his rightful place as the world’s greatest detective.
*** (out of 5 stars)
My next blog will look at numbers 7 and 6. Until then…
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
