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My best friend and I got into an argument about which Batman film is better a little while back. We both agree that the Nolan films are superior to the predecessors, it was more a matter of placing them on a scale. He claimed that Returns was superior to Forever, stating that Burton at the height of his powers making the movie HE wanted to was far superior to the Jim Carrey show of Forever. I remembered liking Forever more, I found it more entertaining and I honestly fount returns to be needlessly grotesque and Danny Devito to be a bit tone deaf of a casting choice. So to solve this problem we watched Forever at my house last year.
... You were right Nick... Happy?
I'm sure as hell not. I had to watch Batman Forever. You know, I love these movies (at least part of me always will) but they have not aged well. I would go so far as to say neither the Burton nor the Schumacher movies look great today. However it could not be stated that the Schumacher movies are in any way superior. It is not that I've changed my mind on the Grotesque nature of the Penguin in Batman Returns, it's that from an objective standpoint that movie works more than Batman Forever ever could.
Batman Forever is a Robin(Chris O'Donnell) origin story. When the film begins Batman has been Batman-ing for a few years. (I do believe that the Burton films are canonically linked to the Schumacher movies-but I could be wrong) He stops two face (Tommy Lee Jones just half assing it up) from inacting a rather wacky plot involving trapping Batman in a bank vault filled with acid.
Nicole Kidman is in this movie and has a subplot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Batman is then really mean to The Riddler (Jim Carrey, just
Jim Carrey-ing all over the place)who goes crazy, and makes a mind
control...thingy. Batman meets (and gains custody over(?)) a 20 year old Dick
Greyson (after Dick heroically stops a bomb from killing people at a circus.)
and then Batman and Robin Stop Two Face and the Riddler!
So I really do love pieces of this movie. It succeeds despite itself sometimes. Jim Carrey's riddler is inspired, and he seems to be trying really hard. Chris O'Donnell is not the charisma suck I had pegged him for. (He's actually quite good in this role, and his scenes are the most logical superheroing you've seen.) The real problem here lies on Val Kilmer and Tommy Lee Jones (And Nicole Kidman, but who wants to talk about her?)
You might assume that George Clooney was the worst Batman. You would be understood for thinking that, but it's wrong. George Clooney is in the worst Batman movie. This is true, however Val Kilmer is actively bad. He isn't trying. Often he's unintelligible and stone-faced. He's very boring. and that should never be said about BATMAN. Jones is bad too, but he's just over acting. I feel like Shumacher was afraid of reining him in, and while he is trying harder than Kilmer, he is arguably failing harder too.
Should you watch this movie? No... The riddler is good. but maybe just watch the sequel...
Where can I watch this movie? Amazon and Itunes rental
Recommendation: So if you know me, you know I love Podcasts (cus I'm very stereotypically my demographic) I've been listening to the Maximum Fun Network of podcasts since last January when Nick introduced me to The Flophouse. My second foray into the Maxfun shows was Judge John Hodgman, a fake internet court show staring John Hodgman and bailiff Jesse Thorne. In it the people of the internet will skype in with the Judge and he will dispense wisdom and a ruling. It is very insightful and quite hilarious. You should absolutely check it out. (Which you can do here.)
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