The Batman Movie Retrospective Series - Batman Forever (1995)

 Published in November 2014

Well then…

That’s one way to start off a movie, I guess…

(Credit to WouldYouLikeToSeeMyMask for the GIFs)

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

In Gotham City, Batman stops a hostage situation in a bank caused by Two-Face, the alter ego of the disfigured former district attorney, Harvey Dent. However, Two-Face escapes. Edward Nygma, a researcher at Wayne Enterprises, develops a device to beam television directly to a person’s brain; Bruce Wayne - with whom Nygma is obsessed - rejects the invention, noting that it “raises too many questions”, and Nygma angrily resigns from his position after killing his supervisor Fred Stickley, and forging his suicide note. During a news report, it shows how Harvey Dent became Two-Face: While he was prosecuting Sal Maroni, Maroni threw acid in Harvey’s face while Batman tried to stop him but failed. After meeting Batman-obessesed psychiatrist Dr. Chase Meridian, Bruce invites her to a charity circus event. There, Two-Face and his henchmen storm the event in an attempt to discover Batman’s secret identity, and in the process murder The Flying Graysons, a family of acrobats who attempt to stop him. The youngest member, Dick, survives and throws Two-Face’s bomb into the river.

Bruce assumes responsibility for Dick and allows him to stay at Wayne Manor. Dick then declares his intention to kill Two-Face and avenge his family’s murder, and when he discovers Bruce’s secret identity as Batman, he insists on becoming his partner, “Robin”. Meanwhile, Nygma becomes a criminal known as the “Riddler”, the master of puzzles and quizzes and forms an alliance with Two-Face. The two work together to steal capital for the mass production and promotion of Nygma’s television device. Using his device, Nygma can read and control people’s minds, and steal their intelligence quotient. At a business party, Nygma discovers Bruce’s secret identity. Two-Face then attacks the party and nearly kills Batman, but Robin arrives just in time to save his life. Meanwhile, Chase realizes her love for Bruce surpasses her obsession with Batman, but soon discovers that they are one and the same. However, Two-Face and the Riddler later converge into Wayne Manor. The Riddler enters the Batcave and destroys most of the equipment, and he and Two-Face kidnap Chase, who the Riddler is romantic to, while leaving Bruce another riddle.

After solving the last riddle, Batman and Robin locate the Riddler’s lair, Claw Island, where both are separated upon reaching the island. Robin then encounters Two-Face and manages to beat him to the ground; realizing that he does not have it in him to commit murder, Robin helps the villain back up. Two-Face gets the upper hand and captures Robin. Meanwhile, Batman manages to make his way into the Riddler’s lair, where Robin and Chase are revealed as hostages, bound, gagged with duct tape and held over a watery chasm, giving Batman a choice of saving just one hostage. Batman finds a way to save both hostages, and manages to destroy the brainwave-collecting device, driving the Riddler into a mental breakdown in the process. During the battle, Two-Face falls to his death. The Riddler is finally sent to Arkham Asylum, and Chase is asked to consult on his case. Nygma offers to reveal the identity of Batman to her, but he believes that he himself is Batman, due to his damaged memories. Chase then meets Bruce Wayne outside and tells him his secret is safe. Batman and Robin then continue to protect Gotham City from crime.

I’ve been tapping my index fingers against f and j for the past fifteen seconds just thinking of what to say about this movie… I want to say it’s a good movie but

For years I’ve been saying I like the Schumacher Batman movies more than Burton ones, but now that I’ve seen THIS ONE and the Burton films in their entirety, I realize something

So wrong! This movie isn’t awful, but it’s so not good! I can’t bear it!

Tim Burton, can I just say

I’ll never insult you as a filmmaker ever again… Except for the Planet of the Apes remake, that shit is unforgivable!

PROS

• Val Kilmer does the best he possibly can with this shit script, he doesn’t do as good as Keaton does from a purely acting standpoint, but I think he comes off as more of what I imagine Batman and Bruce Wayne to be. I especially like the scene of him trying to talk to Nygma saying that he’d love to greenlight his project, but he’d like to get some more information about it first, and when Nygma says that he won’t do that, Bruce politely tells him that his project just brings up to many personal objections for him so he’s gonna have to say no. Much respect Val, thanks for trying!
• Chris O'Donnell doesn’t bring a lot to the table as Dick Grayson, but he makes the guy pretty likable while also bringing out Dick’s cockiness and his flirtatious nature with women. He acquits himself well in the scenes where he’s performing gymnastics and parkour, and he does a good job of conveying the attitude of a guy who’s usually pretty cocksure and arrogant suddenly going through a bout with depression. Not bad Chris, not bad at all.
• Jim Carrey’s Edward Nygma is way too kooky for my taste, but that kookiness is used to excellent effect as The Riddler. You can pretty clearly see this character is ground zero for what Guy Pearce and Jamie Foxx would later be seen doing in Iron Man 3 and Amazing Spider-Man 2, and don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about
  

  

• Elliot Goldenthal comes out with a pretty decent score here, his themes are nowhere near the greatness that came from Burton, but it’s still pretty good, have a listen. Not bad right?
• While Tommy Lee Jones’s Two-Face is usually kind of insufferable in this film, there’s this brief moment where he makes a far more lucid statement, he’s about to kill Dick, Bruce, and Dr. Chase, when Bruce tells he hasn’t flipped his coin to make the call to kill them or not yet, and Harvey thanks Bruce for that, and quickly tells him that he always a good friend. I feel like if he were in a better film, Jones could’ve been a kick ass Harvey Dent, but as is, this character and this actor are underserved.
• Jones and Carrey have terrific chemistry together, and are pretty hilarious as a team.
• Michael Gough still excels as Alfred, and he does a good job of trying to lift Dick’s spirits after his family dies.

CONS

• If this movie is supposed to be a direct sequel to Tim Burton’s Batman films and not a standalone piece, then this Bruce Wayne is a fucking hypocrite. Honest to God, you went out of your way to kill at least two super villains, and did kill numerous henchmen, and in some pretty fucking brutal ways!
• Tommy Lee Jones’s TwoFace is irritating as hell.
• Nicole Kidman’s Dr. Chase Meridian is a useless character who adds nothing to film.
• Jim Carrey’s Nygma is a pretty obvious suspect, especially with his clearly over the top crocodile tears.
• The death of the Flying Graysons is needlessly over the top, and should’ve been played much straighter.
• Alfred and Dick clearly saw each other in the Batcave, how the hell did he manage to let Dick get away with the Batmobile?
• I understand that Bruce Wayne has to keep up his public image in order to avoid suspicions that he is Batman, but with two major villains out on the loose, should you really be trying to shack up with Chase?
• “I’ve never been in love before.”
  

  

  
  Fuck you too Mr. Wayne.

Overall, this film wasn’t as much of a chore as I made it out to be, but it’s still kinda fuckin’ terrible. I’ve seen worse movies, and I’ve seen worse Batman movies (although of the animated variety), so I’m gonna give Batman Forever, a 4.5 out of 10.

Is it bad? Yes. Is it an abomination? No. Did I review the other two movies? Yes And Yes. So please join me when I examine the true abomination that we know and love, referred to only as…

Stay tuned!