Who is... Batman? (Batman Forever (DVD))

Member Name: andrewl

Product:	Batman Forever (DVD)
Date:	23/08/05 (166 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Michael Gough, some of the music

Disadvantages: The direction, the acting, the costumes, the script.

There are so many reasons to hate the third installment of the modern Batman films, it's truly bewildering. But you can boil the whole sorry saga down to this: the first two films, directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton, rescued the comic character from his camp 60s Adam West stereotype and turned him into a shadowy vigilante avenger more akin to his original character in the comics of Bob Kane. Batman Forever, for reasons best known to director Joel Schumacher, then proceeded to stick the camp back in with a vengance.

Booted off the franchise following comparatively disappointing box-office for Batman Returns, Tim Burton retains an Executive Producer credit and one can only imagine, assuming he was on the set at all, his open-mouthed astonishment at all his hard work being shot down in flames.

So, this third time it's Val Kilmer pulling on the tights and pointed mask of the iconic character. He's fighting against Harvey 'Two-Face' Denton and 60s favourite, The Riddler.

From the start, the choice and depiction of the villains portrays the lurch in tone for the franchise. While the first film's Joker was essentially a vicious gun-toting gangster with a flamboyant streak, and the sequel's Penguin was carefully grunged up to become a deranged feral mutant, the bright primary colours chosen for both Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey betray the director's ambition to camp things up.

Perhaps the performances could have saved things, but this is Jim Carrey before his 'serious outings' in Truman Show, The Majestic or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. He's all facial tics AND SHOUTING here in full MANIC mode. As for TLJ, his plaudits for deadpan perfection in films such as The Fugitive and Men In Black (but not their sequels) have mostly conned people into forgetting his over the top snarling in films like Natural Born Killers and Blown Away. Guess which he does here?

Val Kilmer's caped crusader must nevertheless battle against Two Face and The Riddler. They're working to construct a machine which will drain Gotham's brain power into the Riddler's head and boost his IQ through set-top boxes. The problems with this are twofold, in spite of the 'brain drain' thing running for almost half the film, we never see any evidence of Jim Carrey getting any more intelligent.

In addition, this storyline doesn't give Two Face much to do, except pursue a vague grudge against Batman. He's really just a man with a gun, and yet he gets a disproportionate amount of screen time. By the end, he's just reduced to wandering around randomly waving his gun at characters.

Batman, as mentioned earlier, has been replaced by Val Kilmer, and he fails to convince. He looks as though he should be out surfing, and lacks any conviction in scenes where he talks about his parents' murder.

Disastrously, and many would argue it was at this stage that Schumacher's kitsch ambition became clear, Batman Forever made the bewildering decision to introduce teen sidekick Robin to the film franchise. Orphaned by Two Face's bomb plot, Chris O'Donnell does his best with a crap part. I've never been so quick to loathe an orphaned boy.

Before you can say 'silly costume' Robin is in on the Bruce Wayne secret, largely due to butler Alfred's obsession with letting all and sundry rock on into the Batcave. Quick shout-out to Michael Gough, though, a great character actor who becomes the franchise's only stable performer.

Finally, Nicole Kidman rounds out the heavyweight cast. Definitely pre-Moulin Rouge and The Others, Kidman is supposed to be some kind of forensic psychologist. This is extremely unconvincing, however, especially after she fails to spot that Edward Nigma (Riddler) is an utter nutter, so it's just as well she quickly abandons the day job in favour of flirting unconvincingly with Val Kilmer.

I have to say something pleasant at some point, so I should just take a sentence to mention the awesome soundtrack. Large chunks of Danny Elfman's excellent bombastic score are present and correct, and of course U2 provided the obligatory hit single with Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me. Its mumbled verses, nasty lyrics and raw noise are all wasted on this film, but it's great in any case.

The real problem, though, doesn't lie with the actors or the director at all. It's not even the fault of lame 'irony gags' (the 'holy rusted metal' gag being particularly painful) or the alarmingly homoerotic huge-nippled Batsuits. It's with the design.

The first two films were visual triumphs which still hold up today, despite being ancient in terms of special effects. They achieved this by adding a 'timeless' feel to the costumes and sets. All the characters wandered around dressed as though they were in a 50s film noir, and everything looked terribly old-fashioned, apart from Batman and his arsenal of gadgets. It was Burton's brilliant way of keeping the films fresh for as long as possible.

But with the third movie, Schumacher has gone all neon. Fluorescent street gangs attempt gang rapes with hockey sticks or something, in an embarrassing approximation of street culture. Everyone is dressed in mid-90s styles, and it's all just a bit dull.

Also, the editing has been stepped up a notch. Action scenes at the start are played at such a blistering pace that it's actually almost impossible to tell what's happening. The opening scenes in particular require several viewings.

I mustn't bury the film entirely though, it has some redeeming moments (just not many). The parallel between the Riddler's experience and the young Bruce Wayne's is a very interesting one, and some of the fight scenes are decently choreographed. The Riddler's destruction of the Batcave is the one scene where Carrey really lives up to his star billing. His antics are irritating and lame, but sort of cool when juxtaposed with the massive explosions.

Far from the best of the Batman films, but also not the worst (you know what that was, don't you...)

Summary: So bad you could put a glove on it and call it Michael Jackson