The Batman Movie Retrospective Series - Batman & Robin (1997)

 Published in November 2014

Short version: It’s crap, but it’s not that crappy.

I’M NOT SAYING IT’S GOOD! FOR FUCK’S SAKE!

Jesus Christ people, it’s just a movie!

Point taken…

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

Batman and Robin attempt to stop Mr. Freeze from stealing a cache of diamonds. The super-criminal freezes Robin and flees, notifying Batman that he has 11 minutes to thaw his partner. They learn that Freeze was once scientist Victor Fries, who became dependent on a diamond-powered subzero suit following an accident in a cryogenics lab he was occupying to find a cure for his wife, Nora, who was suffering from a terminal illness called Mac Gregor’s Syndrome.

Meanwhile, botanist Dr. Pamela Isley is experimenting with the strength serum “Venom” to create mutant plants capable of fighting back against mankind’s destruction of flora. To her anger, she discovers that her senior colleague Dr. Jason Woodrue used her Venom samples to transform a diminutive prisoner into the “super soldier" Bane. When she refuses to become the mad scientist’s partner, Woodrue kills her with animal-plant toxins and chemicals. She transforms into the beautiful Poison Ivy and kills Woodrue with a venomous kiss before vowing to use her new powers to establish botanical supremacy over the world.

Alfred Pennyworth’s niece Barbara Wilson makes a surprise visit from England and is invited to stay at Wayne Manor until she returns to university. Alfred is revealed to be suffering from Mac Gregor’s Syndrome. He is, however, in stage 1 for which Mr.Freeze had developed a cure. His wife was in a more advanced stage and Mr. Freeze had yet to find a cure for that.

Ivy arrives in Gotham City with Bane as her henchman. She interrupts a Wayne Enterprises press conference at the Gotham Observatory where a giant new telescope is being unveiled, exhorting Bruce Wayne to implement a proposal that would safeguard the natural environment at the expense of millions of human lives, which Bruce summarily declines. She later appears at the Gotham Botanical Gardens fundraiser, seducing everyone present with her pheromone dust, including the Dynamic Duo, who are there to protect a diamond on auction from Mr. Freeze. When Freeze crashes the event as expected, Ivy is instantly captivated by his "ruthless charm”. Despite being captured by Batman and detained at the Arkham Asylum, Mr. Freeze is released by Ivy.

Ivy then proceeds to turn off Nora Fries’ life support and makes Mr. Freeze believe Batman did it, thereby persuading him that they should kill Batman as well as the society that created him. They plan to turn the observatory’s new telescope into a giant freezing gun to freeze the whole world’s population to death and replace them with Ivy’s mutant plants.

Meanwhile, Robin has become infatuated with Ivy and rebels against Batman, just as the villainess planned. He eventually goes to meet her at her garden hide-out. Ivy’s venomous kiss fails to kill Robin because Batman had prevailed on him to coat his lips with rubber. She tries to drown Robin in her lily pond and entangles Batman in her crushing vines, although they are able to free themselves when Batgirl arrives and traps Ivy in her own floral throne. Having discovered the Batcave and decided to create her own crime-fighting persona with the help of a computer simulation of Alfred with advanced AI, Batgirl reveals herself as Barbara.

When the Trio arrive at the Observatory to stop Freeze, the criminal has already frozen Gotham. Bane attacks Robin and Batgirl, but they incapacitate him and restore him to his original human state. In the battle, the telescope is destroyed, but the two younger heroes save Gotham by repositioning the observatory’s satellites, using their mirrors to reflect sunlight from outer space to thaw the city.

Batman shows Freeze video footage of Ivy’s confession about pulling the plug on Nora, but reveals that he himself restored Nora. He vows that Freeze will be allowed to continue his research at Arkham Asylum to heal Nora. Batman asks Freeze for the cure he created for the first stage of Mac Gregor’s Syndrome for Alfred and Freeze atones for his misdeeds by giving him two vials of the medicine he had developed.

At Arkham, Ivy is joined in her cell by Freeze, who vows to exact revenge on her. Back at Wayne Manor, Alfred is cured and Bruce invites Barbara to live with them and continue helping Batman and Robin fight crime as Batgirl.

On a more serious note, I’ve never understood why this movie is considered the abomination of the two Schumacher films. I mean yeah, Val did better in the role than George did, but c'mon this movie got two out of three bad guys right while the previous one got only half of it’s bad guys right. And by that same criteria, Batman Returns should be considered worse than both movies seeing as how neither of Catwoman nor Penguin were anything like their comic book counterparts. And don’t give me any crap about the Batnipples and the icepuns, especially if you enjoyed this shit

I rest my case… And for fuck’s sake Michelle, have some dignity!

Good God…

PROS:

• Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze. I’m honestly just as surprised as you are, but for what he’s written to do, Schwarzenegger does a pretty good job in the role. I actually found him pretty sympathetic at times, and his intimidating moments… Well, I don’t think they were intimidating, but if I were three I may have…
• George Clooney as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Is this a good performance? No. Is this even a DECENT performance? No. But, I’ll be honest, when he’s not forced to say God awful dialogue, Clooney actually makes for a somewhat compelling presence. Especially in the bit where he’s trying to talk Dick down saying that Ivy is messing with their heads. And for fuck’s sake, look at that chin!
  

  

  
  Tell me this man doesn’t look the damn part!
• Chris O'Donnell and Alicia Silverstone, while not particularly great on their own, do have a fair bit of chemistry together. And also have enough good moments alone to not sink their boat completely.
• The Alfred subplot doesn’t work completely, but it’s a nice touch.
• I personally enjoyed much of this film’s camp, it honestly struck me as funny in the same way that Batman ‘66 does.
  

  

  
  HOW DID I MOCK HIM!?! I was complementing this movie!
  

  

  
  Don’t worry, I’m out of pros here, okay?
  

  

CONS:

• Uma Thurman is terrible in this movie, I find her more attractive than Michelle’s Catwoman, but it’s still not a very good performance even without this film’s God awful dialogue.
• This
  

  

  
  Is not Bane.
• Chris O'Donnell’s Dick Grayson does nothing but bitch at Batman in this movie, it’s especially annoying when Bruce has been right pretty much this whole time.
• Alicia Silverstone as Barbara could’ve worked, and making her Alfred’s niece could’ve worked as well, but unfortunately it’s a ball that’s been dropped completely. It also bugs me quite a bit that she’s supposed to be an Englishwoman and she sounds about as much like a California bred Yankee as anyone I know.
• As I’ve mentioned before, this dialogue is TERRIBLE.
• Please welcome, pointless love interest number three!
  

  

  
  Elle Macpherson as Julie Madison!
• They wasted John Glover. You don’t waste John Glover.

So after all that, I’m gonna give Batman & Robin, a 5 out of 10.

That enough vitriol for you people?

DC Animated Superhero Movie Retrospective Series - Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000)

Written In December 2013

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

Many years back after Nightwing (Dick Grayson) moved to a new city to fight crime on his own, the Joker and Harley Quinn kidnapped Tim Drake, Dick’s successor as Robin, and disfigured him to look like the Joker, and tortured him to the point of insanity over a period of three weeks. In the process, Tim revealed Batman's secret identity—and the secret of what drives him to be Batman. When Batman and the Joker fought their final battle, the Joker got the upper hand and subdued him. The Joker then tried to persuade Tim to kill Batman. Instead, the boy, due to a trace of his former self still active, turned on the Joker and killed him, and suffered a mental breakdown in the process. Batman and Barbara buried the Joker’s body deep beneath Arkham Asylum, while Harley fell into a pit after she was fighting Batgirl and was presumed dead as her body was never found. The only other person who knew about what happened that night was Barbara’s father, Commissioner James Gordon, who promised to keep that night a secret. One year after the incident, Tim was rehabilitated, but Bruce forbade him from being Robin again, blaming himself for what happened and vowing to never again endanger another young partner. The event puts a strain on the relationship between Bruce and Barbara, leading the latter to retire as Batgirl to join Gotham City Police Department and in time follow her father’s footsteps as police commissioner. Tim eventually settled down with a wife and family, and a career as a communications engineer.

In Neo-Gotham City, the Joker resurfaces after having disappeared 40 years earlier. He has taken over a faction of the Jokerz, and on his orders, they steal high-tech communications equipment. One heist happens to coincide with Bruce Wayne’s formal announcement of his return to active leadership of Wayne Enterprises, as the Joker reveals himself to the world. Despite Terry McGinnis’ intervention, the Joker escapes. Bruce insists that the Joker must be an impostor, as he claims to have witnessed the real Joker’s death decades before, yet all evidence suggests otherwise. Bruce, unwilling to let Terry face the Joker, impostor or not, demands that he return the Batsuit, to which Terry reluctantly complies.

Later, Terry and his girlfriend Dana are attacked by the Jokerz at a nightclub. At the same time, the Joker ambushes and attacks Bruce in theBatcave, leaving him for dead. Terry defeats the Jokerz, and Dana is taken to the hospital for her injuries. Terry rushes to Wayne Manor, and finds Bruce near-dead from Joker venom. Terry quickly administers an antidote, and tends to Bruce with the help of Barbara Gordon.

After Terry insists on being let in on what really happened to the Joker, Barbara reluctantly tells him what happened. Terry decides to question Tim, who denies any involvement and bitterly says he had grown sick of his past life as Robin. Terry then suspects Jordan Pryce, who would have taken control of the company were it not for Bruce’s return. Jordan Pryce, thinking he will become CEO, plans to hold a private party on his yacht with his girlfriend Amy. However he finds Dee-Dee in her place, Amy having been tied to a pole and gagged at the port. Terry finds the Jokerz on Pryce’s yacht, who reveal that Pryce had hired them and given them access codes. However, the Joker has sent them to kill Pryce, as he is no longer needed. Terry rescues Pryce before a satellite laser destroys the boat, and then turns him in to the police with a recording of Pryce’s conversation with the Jokerz.

Back in the Batcave, Terry deduces that Tim must be working with the Joker when he discovers that the high-tech equipment the Jokerz have been stealing can be combined to form a machine that takes control of any satellite, even an orbiting military satellite with an automated defense system and fire it at will, thus explaining what happened on the yacht—and it can only be built by an engineer of Tim’s caliber. Bruce is skeptical about this claim, but nonetheless sends Terry to question Tim again. Terry tries to confront Tim, but is lured into a trap by the Joker, who confirms that he and Tim are indeed working together. Escaping in the Batmobile, he is then chased through Gotham by the laser-armed satellite.

Terry tracks the Joker to the abandoned Jolly Jack candy factory. After fighting off the Jokerz, he finds Tim, who transforms into the Joker before his eyes. The Joker explains that when he kidnapped Tim and during the three weeks of his torture, he secretly implanted a microchip (revealed later to have been stolen from Project Cadmus) into the boy’s brain that carries the Joker’s consciousness and genetic material, allowing him to physically and mentally transform Tim into a clone of himself at will, eventually becoming strong enough to permanently control his body. The Joker prepares to fire the satellite again to kill Dana, Terry’s family and Bruce, but before he can fire the laser, Terry sets Bruce’s dog, Ace, on him. Terry knocks the Joker's joy buzzer into the controls, destroying the beam’s guidance system, causing it to head to the factory.

The Joker attempts to escape, but Terry seals the factory. A fight ensues between the two, but the Joker is easily able to overcome Terry since he knows all of the original Batman’s moves and tricks. Terry then decides to improvise by using his expertise in dirty street fighting moves and mocking his obsession with Batman and his inability to make him laugh. An agitated Joker throws bombs at Terry, sending him crashing to the floor. The Joker then pins him to the ground and begins to strangle him. Terry, having covertly retrieved the Joker’s joy buzzer, delivers a shock to the Joker’s neck, destroying the chip, reverting Tim to his old self, and destroying the Joker forever. Terry escapes with Tim and Ace before the satellite destroys the factory and the satellite jamming device. The satellite gets deactivated and floats into outer space.

In the city jail, two of the female Jokerz, Deidre and Delia Dennis, are bailed out by their grandmother, an elderly Harley Quinn, who laments what disappointments they are. Meanwhile, Terry and Barbara meet Tim in the hospital. Bruce arrives just as Terry leaves, telling him that it is not being Batman that makes him a worthwhile person, but the other way around. Bruce then joins Barbara and Tim in the hospital room. The film ends with Terry donning the Batsuit and flying off into the heart of the city.

You know how my last review I got up on my soapbox about a controversial fandom issue? Well today I’m going to step back up to it to talk about a real life issue; censorship. This film prior it’s December release back was HEAVILY edited and recut, this was done so because of the Columbine High School shooting in April of 1999. In my humble opinion, these cuts and edits are fucking ridiculous. The film was meant to be rated PG-13, that means it was meant for kids who are old enough to understand the difference between reality and fiction and can understand that the kind of thing that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold are wrong and sinister. This movie does feature teenagers/young adults doing depraved things as part of a gang that worships and names itself after a homicidal maniac, but they are quickly shown to only be doing there acts for thrills and cash. When exposed to the Joker’s ways of committing cold blooded murder and laughing his ass off about it, they all react in fear, and from then on are more following along out said fear. The film shows a boy the target audience’s age being horribly tortured and then to preserve the life of his true father figure kills his torturer. The film is clear to show that these actions are not okay, and alludes to an adult Tim Drake having many sleepless nights about his actions here. It also makes it clear, that the main character of Terry McGinnis was a gangbanger who busted shops and hurt people, who does what he does now out of a hope to redeem himself in his own eyes. The point of censorship is to show to prevent kids from getting the wrong idea about the world, to prevent them from knowing that crime doesn’t pay, but it does is decrease the impact of that message. So I beg of you, when purchasing this film on DVD (or Blu-Ray, I don’t if it’s available on that format) please buy the version that is it rated PG-13 by the MPAA, do not purchase the version labeled either “unrated” or just PG. By buying either of the other two versions, you are encouraging executives that it’s alright to undermine the message of the artists behind films. Of the MPAA, all I can say is this;

Now let’s get to the pros and cons of the actual PG-13 cut.

PROS:

• Mark Hamill kills it again as the one and only clown prince of crime! It’s a bit different than his usual take on the clown, but that actually serves the material.
• The Joker is probably his most manic and sadistic during the course of the DC Animated Universe.
• The scene where the Joker kills Bonk is a great example of the Joker’s dark comedy and also parallels with a lot of real life folks who associate themselves with symbols of hate and violence out rebellion without actually thinking of what they’re true meaning is.
• This is Will Friedle’s BEST performance as Terry McGinnis, possibly even the best performance of his career.
• Bruce’s initial refusal to let Terry fight the Joker is great for a couple of reasons. One, it makes sense because while Bruce has been more than happy to let Terry go head to head with plenty of rogues, Terry has never once been up against someone as sinister as the clown. Two, it builds the clown for people who only ever watched Batman Beyond. It doesn’t build up the Joker in general, because if you know Batman outside Beyond, you KNOW the Joker is a major threat and someone to be feared.
• How the Joker is back is actually rather brilliant and genuinely horrific.
• How Terry defeats the Joker is great, and I always enjoy seeing bad people mocked and shown to be as pathetic on the outside as they are on the inside.

CONS:

• While I think Kristopher Carter does a good job with the score, personally, I would’ve gone for a different musical cues at certain moments, and left the music out entirely for others. For example, the scene where the Joker explains what he did to Tim should’ve been left silent until he reveals that he knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne, at the moment we shoudl’ve gotten that sort of dramatic drum roll, then the music should’ve slowly risen from that point forward until Bruce crashes through the window and attacks the Joker.
• We don’t see enough of the Jokerz being afraid of the Joker, I think it would’ve been good if Terry caught one after a fight and managed to pry the info of the Joker’s location from them.
• Harley at one point is thought dead in this film but is then revealed to be the Dee Dee twins’ grandmother, personally, I think she should’ve been left dead in spite my love of her.

This film is very much the precursor to the type of movies we’re gonna get to later in this series, particularly Under The Red Hood. So what did I actually think of the movie, well how about a play by play from the doctor himself;

The first scene:

 

the Joker’s reveal:

 

the Joker’s second reveal: 

Bruce asking Terry for the suit back:

 

Barb’s flashback about Tim:

 

When Terry talks to Tim about the Joker: 

When Terry and Bruce find out that Tim IS the Joker: 

Me during Terry’s fight with the Joker:

 

At the ending when Tim is reunited with Barb and Bruce and Bruce and Tim both tell Terry he’s a good Batman:

 

So all in all, the movie entertained me, entranced me, broke me, and left me very happy, I’ll be giving Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker a 9.2 out of 10.

The DC Animated Superhero Movie Retrospective Series - Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998)

Written In December 2013

Before we get to the plot summary, there’s three facts I wanna share with you real quick, they’re not fun, but they’re interesting.

1. This movie was set to come out in ‘97, but it was pushed back because Batman & Robin had Mr. Freeze in it.
2. Mary Kay Bergman, best known for doing all of the female characters in the first two seasons of South Park, who voiced Barbara Gordon in this movie, tragically commited suicide in November following this movie’s release year. She was 38.
3. Michael Ansara died of natural causes earlier this year, back in July. He was 91.

RIP to both of these talented actors, may they rest in peace, and let us say a prayer of thanks that Batman & Robin was not truly the end of the Batman film series.

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

Since his last encounter against Batman, Mr. Freeze has found a home in the Arctic and started a family (of sorts) with the still cryogenically-encased Nora, an Inuit boy named Kunac, and two pet polar bears, Hotchka and Shaka. Nora’s condition begins to rapidly deteriorate due to asubmarine accidentally emerging from underwater directly underneath them, shattering her containment vessel. Freeze returns to Gotham City with his companions, and enlists the help of Dr. Gregory Belson to find a cure. Belson determines that Nora needs an organ transplant, but due to her rare blood type there are no suitable donors available.

Freeze declares that they will use a live donor, even if it means the donor will die in the process. Belson is at first reluctant to kill an innocent girl, but Freeze bribes him with a gold nugget and even more gold from an entire vein in the Arctic that will put an end to Belson’s financial problems.Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) is a perfect match, and Freeze learns from her roommate that she is at a restaurant with her boyfriend, Dick Grayson(Robin). Freeze attacks the restaurant and kidnaps Barbara, taking her to an abandoned oil rig where he and Belson are hiding. Freeze and Belson explain the situation to Barbara, who claims that she is willing to help Nora for the “blood transfusion”, but not at the oil rig, prompting Freeze to keep Barbara imprisoned. When the time for the operation comes, Barbara realizes that they are lying when they say she will need to be put under for a mere transfusion and escapes with the help of Kunac. Belson gives pursuit and almost catches her, before the arrival of Batman and Robin.

Freeze follows, and in the ensuing confrontation, Belson accidentally shoots one of the fuel tanks and starts a rapidly-spreading fire as Freeze traps Batman and Robin. Freeze insists that Belson perform the operation, despite the oil rig blazing and ready to explode, but Belson betrays Freeze and attempts to escape alone, only to be killed by falling wreckage. Freeze’s leg is broken, but he tells Batman to save Nora and Kunac first, along with Barbara. Nora, Kunac and Barbara are taken to safety in the Batwing with the help of Robin, but Batman fails to save the weakened Freeze in time, as the platform collapses beneath them, hitting him in the shoulder, and sending Freeze plummeting into the ocean below.

Batman manages to get back to the Batwing and get aboard just before the oil rig finally explodes, but Freeze escapes just in time, holding onto the swimming Hotchka and Shaka. Freeze then returns with his polar bears to the Arctic to resume his life alone, having frozen his leg in an ice cast. He sees on a television in a research station that Nora has been revived after an organ transplant operation funded by Wayne Enterprises, moving him to tears of joy. Then he walks away, limping with a wooden stick for support, with his two polar bears as the screen fades.

So before I get into the review, let me tell you about a character called… Loki Laufeyson.

I’m not entirely fond of the idea that Loki is not a truly villainous character, but a character who simply longs for acceptance and lashes out because he doesn’t know how to put this into words. He’s a sympathetic villain because of the fact that he was never truly accepted by his family, because he was different, because ultimately he was a Jotun raised as an Asgardian. Now before I get into why I think that’s bullcrap, let me explain what I define as a sympathetic villain.

A) A character who does bad things for the right reason. Someone who is desperate to do something good for someone they care for and chooses to go about this in a manner of questionable legality and/or morality. A good example of this would be Walter White from Breaking Bad (from the beginning of Season One to the end of Season Two more accurately)

or B) A character with a genuinely tragic backstory that drove them to become a violent lifestyle, a person who was good once upon a time but had so much compounded onto them that they snapped. A good example of this would be fellow Batman villain, Harvey Dent/Two-Face.

Here’s what Loki’s story is according to the first Thor movie; abandoned by his family as an infant, Loki, a small Frost Giant child, was adopted by King Odin of Asgard and raised as his own son as a royal prince. Loki being younger than his adoptive brother Thor, was second in line for the throne in the event Odin died or simply retired. Loki, believing Thor would be an incompetent ruler, allowed for a small group of Frost Giants to enter the weapons vault of the Asgardian Palace, so as to sabotage Thor’s coronation. Later he manipulates his brother into invading Jotunhiem, the land of the Frost Giants, mortal enemies of Asgard that Odin had truce with. His actions in Jotunhiem causes Thor to be banished. When Odin falls into a comatose state, Loki lies to Thor telling him he has to stay on Earth so that the new truce with Jotunhiem will remain. He then attempts murder his brother and allows for the Frost Giants to reenter Asgard, promising their leader that he’ll get to kill Odin. At the very last minute, Loki kills the Jotuns he allowed to enter, attempts to commit genocide against Jotunhiem while dueling his brother. After being told that what he did was wrong, Loki attempts to kill himself only to find company with beings worse than him.

THIS! IS! NOT! A! SYMPATHETIC! VILLAIN!

You can make all the screaming GIFs you want, that doesn’t make him sympathetic. But why did I take the time to talk about why I don’t find Loki sympathetic? Because this movie contains an actual sympathetic villain in the form Michael Ansara’s Mr. Freeze.

Paul Dini, Bruce Timm and Alan Burnett’s Batman: The Animated Series have multiple claims to fame. They created Harley Quinn, they won several Emmy Awards, they defined the character of Batman for a generation, they gave us what is considered by most to be the definitive voice of Batman and the Joker, and above all they redefined and reinvented a villain who was considered a bit dopey at the time of their creation. And that villain is Dr. Victor Fries, aka Mr. Freeze.

Again voiced by the late great Michael Ansara, Mr. Freeze was written as Shakespearean tragedy. A brilliant scientist who was searching day and night for cure to his ill wife’s disease, his funding was cut off by his jackass boss, he physically assaulted him when he tried pleading with him to give him more time. When exposed to a series of chemicals during the assault, Victor’s DNA was altered he could no longer survive in a subzero degree temperature. Brilliant as ever, but filled with a cold rage unlike any, Fries turns to a life of crime to fund his research. Stealing anything of value and hellbent on vengeance against his dickbag boss! Like Heisenberg and Sam Raimi’s take on Otto Octavius after him, Mr. Freeze is the kind of villain who would do something terrible for the person he loves most. This is a sympathetic villain.

This film outlines this, and it’s a major pro with it! Now onto the rest of my list.

PROS

• Barbara Gordon as Batgirl and Dick Grayson as Robin are both in this movie, this makes me happy.
• I’m not overly fond of Dick and Babs as a couple, but I’m not opposed to the, and they’re a delightful romantic presence in this film.
• The action in this movie is entertaining as usual.
• While at the party, Barbara wears a very lovely dress that is lacking in fabric over her back. I see why you love her Grayson.
• Michael Ansara gives a fantastic performance as usual!
• Kevin Conroy is wonderful as Batman, although he’s not in here all that much.
• When Barb is kidnapped by Freeze, there’s a great motorcycle chase that showcases Dick Grayson as a badass!
• The late Mary Kay Bergman is wonderful as Barbara!
• The little Inuit boy that Mr. Freeze befriends is adorable.

CONS:

• Batman is one of the two titular characters and yet he’s barely in the movie. This isn’t a problem with the story, it’s just unfortunate to see.
• The douchebag doctor feels kind of tacked on.
• The reasoning for Freeze kidnapping Barbara is kind of flimsy and a little too based in coincidence.

Overall, while I think Mask of the Phantasm is the better movie, I think SubZero is the more entertaining movie. I just generally enjoyed the movie more. And that’s no slight towards Mask of the Phantasm, it’s just me saying I enjoy thrillers more than emotional dramas. So with all that being said, I’ll be giving Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero an 9 out of 10.