1995
·121m
Batman Forever
Summary
In the looming shadows of Gotham City, two villainous souls devise twin schemes of revenge against the city's dark guardian. Two-Face, disfigured by chance and fueled by vengeance, is obsessed with destroying Batman, while the Riddler, a disillusioned genius, pursues the destruction of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Together they've hatched a plot to absorb and control the minds of all of Gotham City's residents, and only Batman and his new partner, Robin, can stop them! But the Dark Knight is hindered by a mystery from his own childhood. He must hope that a new found love can help him overcome the incident that made him what he is. In the end, he must decide: will he be Batman—forever?
Director
Joel Schumacher
Characters
Bob Kane
Screenplay
Akiva Goldsman
Screenplay, Story
Lee Batchler
Screenplay, Story
Janet Scott Batchler
Reviews
John Chard
August 28, 2014
A different direction brings differing results.
Batman takes on a new side kick as he fights to keep Gotham City out of the clutches of Two-Face and The Riddler.
"No thanks, I'll get drive-thru"
Thus these be the first words out of Val Kilmer's incarnation of Batman and thus setting the standard for what Joel Schumacher's two Batman movies would be like. Gone is the dark undertone from Tim Burton's visions, and the tight action sequences that marked Burton's debut out as a genuine genre piece of work, in their place comes sexy campery and ropey action set pieces. The casting of both Val Kilmer as Batman and Chris O'Donnell as Robin is a big mistake, Kilmer easily being the most boring actor to don the suit out of all of them, whilst O'Donnell simply can't act outside of Robin's cartoonery bravado. Nicole Kidman looks positively gorgeous as Chase Meridian, but that's all that is brought to the party, it's a waste of the very talented Kidman's ability and a waste of the audience's time.
It's not all bad though, a comic book adaptation is only as good as its villains, and here we get a perfectly cast Jim Carrey as The Riddler, and a wildly over the top Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face. Carrey steals every scene he is in, it's almost too much, but as maniacal and exuberant as it is, it is the film's highlight and actually the film's saving grace (Tommy Lee Jones was reportedly unhappy from having his thunder stolen in the movie by Carrey). The script does work enough to make the story accessible to all ages, and there are enough crash bangs and wallops to entertain in that brain left at the door kind of way.
This was the biggest hit of 1995, so the paying public lapped it up and paved the way for another Schumacher film in the franchise, but with all that star power wasted, and nipples on the rubber suits, it's hard to see now why it was so popular back then. 5/10
Media
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$100,000,000.00
Revenue:
$336,529,144.00
