Rating: Summary: "That'll never heal if you don't stop picking..." Review: Joel Schumacher's first entry into the venerable Batman series is less than challenging cinema, but it makes for fun viewing for a little while. Val Kilmer is reasonable as Batman/Bruce Wayne, but Chris O'Donnell's Robin comes too strong to be anything but bratty and annoying, as though he's vying for a peice of the action that Kilmer holds lock-jawed sway over. Kilmer barely moves a facial muscle in this role, a little hard to take from an actor so highly regarded for his versatility. He still has screen presence to spare, however, and that's what's needed against Jim Carrey's bizzare and manic take on The Riddler. Carrey is in fine form here and really seems to be the only actor having any fun as his rubber-faced antics steal screen from some of the finest actors in Hollywood. Nicole Kidman is very sexy in a bland kind of way - Schumacher doesn't seem to know what to do with an actor of her caliber who has nothing to do but get tied up and utter the occasional double entendre. The film is also a waste of Drew Barrymore, in a role that is too big to be called a cameo and too small to be called entertaining. As for Tommy Lee Jones, this is as weak as I've ever seen the usually impressive actor - his efforts to out-crazy Jim Carrey are downright shameful, and he's at his best here when Carrey's not around. As for the plot/character development, don't worry your little head about it, just sit back and enjoy the brightly colored, overproduced fluff, and don't think too hard about it, as I obviously have. The DVD here at least makes token efforts to improve on the bare-bones treatment of the previous two films, and the movie is enjoyable, if not terribly substantive.
Rating: Summary: Does the Batman series of movies COMPLETE justice Review: I think I saw this one in theatres first, actually I think I saw the VHS first, im not exactly quite sure. All I know is, I liked it. Wait yea im pretty sure it was theatres. Anyways the movie is great.Val Kilmer does a terrific job of batman. If batman had to be anybody besides that Michael Keaton guy,(im pretty sure thats the original batman) Val Kilmer would probably be my first choice. Robin was a great choice too, as well as two face and the Riddler as Jim Carrey. The story is basically a tale of revenge, as always. However this time batman and robin get to team up against 2 baddies like Batman 4. This one is ALOT better then batman 4 by far, George Clooney is terrible compared to Val Kilmer in almost every way. However, the story fits fine. It isn't that dark, but hey, it's still good. The action does a nice job of working itself it. We get to see quite a bit of Robin, some new cars, and finally their new flying machines. The love story is pretty good. It isn't too sappy, yet it is there and doesn't take way too long. The sound is pretty good too, along with a musical score that isn't dark like the other 2 batmans, but is just right. I could tell you to not buy this movie, sure, but it is batman and it is the best we are going to get for the SECOND sequel. Number 4 just [is bad], everyone pretty much agrees. Go buy this film/movie.
Rating: Summary: A Different, but Good Sequel Review: Batman is by far my favorite comic superhero. Sure Val Kilmer isn't Micheal Keaton, but he portrayed the dark knight just fine. Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carry played their villianous roles decently. Nicole Kidman, what can I say? She gave a stunning performance. Chris did what he could with Robin, but no matter who they get to play the role of Robin he'll still be annoying. His costume in the film was fantastic. The plot was changed from the original Batman formula plus the atmosphere of the story wasn't as dark, but Joel managed to make it work. This just goes to show that Joel can make a Batman movie work. Unlike his other adaption of Batman (Batman and Robin) where pretty much everything about Batman went to hell. The title says it all. Batman's legacy will live forever. It may change, but it will always be remembered. Batman Forever is a must see and must own for all Batman fans.
Rating: Summary: BATMAN FOREVER Review: Forever is it? Well, This was actually a pretty good movie. When I was watching it on my DVD player in my mother's room, she came in and said, "well Robert, what are ya' watchin' today?" "Batman Forever, the third Bat-film," I said. I then told her about the leading actors this time around: The dark Val Kilmer plays Batman this time and is now going up against the wacko Jim Carrey as The Riddler and the psychotic Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face. But wait, a new (and familiar) masked crime-fighter is introduced: Robin (played by Chirs O' Donnell). Surprisingly, she sat through the whole thing (she's a big fan of both Carrey and Jones, so naturally, she was delighted to hear that both of them were starring in the same movie)! She (and I) were also blown away (literally) by Joel Schumacher's neon-lit version of Gotham City (especially after seeing the 2 previous Bat-movies with Tim Burton's dark and gloomy version). Although we both thought it was pretty good, I on the other hand think that Burton's dark set is actually more apropriate for a Batman movie. All I really have to say is: if you saw Batman and Batman Returns and liked 'em, get Batman Forever, too and enjoy!
Rating: Summary: OK movie, but not dark enough. Review: Don't get me wrong, this movie is good, (especially Jim Carrey as the Riddler. He does the part perfectly) But it just isn't as good as Batman and Batman Returns. Two-face is too lively and over the top, robin acts like a spoiled brat, and the Batmobile looks terrible. Another problem is that it isn't as dark as the Tim Burton movies. It isn't as horribly terrible as Batman and Robin, but still not too good. Val Kilmer portrays Batman the best of the Batman actors, whitch is a bonus, but if you're looking for a good batman movie, look at Batman Returns.
Rating: Summary: This is it. The last great Batman movie in the series. Review: Call me a bozo for writing a favorable review for this movie but I have to say that the third installment in the Batman movie series is a great follow-up to the wicked "Batman" & "Batmen Returns" movies and I have to say that "Batman Forever" is a misleading title for the movie. While it's an absolutely great movie, "Batman Forever" is sadly the last great movie in the series. The following one two years later was a burning wreckage salvaged only by some cool action sequences but otherwise, it sadly destroyed the franchise and made our beloved comic hero into the laughing stock of the world. Even to this day, I still am baffled how Schumacher managed to successfully create and direct this third Batman movie and make it an awesome popcorn flick and completely ruin the entire saga with the disastrous follow-up that came two years later after this one. This third addition to the franchise brings the movie series into a far less bleak arena and into a brighter and more colorful direction with the Gotham City hero being brought up against the menacing villain Two-Face, a former attorney who was driven mad after a series of injuries after an accident. The Dark Knight is also going head to head against another villain, a highly crazed and eccentric scientist named Edward Nigma also known as The Riddler. The two villains team up and plan to use a special invention that Nigma had built to hypnotize the minds of Gotham City's population and power his machine to where it can hypnotize the entire world and bring out their deepest secrets and the two use the machine to take over the world and now Batman, played by Val Kilmer teams up with Dick Grayson, who decides to join the hero business to seek revenge on Two Face after he caused the deaths of his parents and brother. Bruce Wayne also is the romantic interest of a psychologist named Dr. Chase Meridian who's also bent on trying to see what makes Wayne tick. The special effects are really awesome not so overdone. Although a lot campier than the two before it, this movie wonderfully balances the comedy of the 60s series yet maintains plenty of the spirits of the darker predecessor. Jim Carrey, while not necessarily at his best, puts out an awesome performance as the highly eccentric and villainous The Riddler. The blender like device of his was pretty cool as well. Tommy Lee Jones wasn't too bad either as Two-Face. The odd make up though was overdone in my opinion and looked more like a Halloween mask than actual scars. These two colorful criminal menaces make quite a hell of a comedic criminal duo and it's really a laugh with the shenanigans from Riddler and Two-Face. To me, there was a lot of chemistry between the actors and actresses involved in this movie where it was all fake and completely contrived on "Batman & Robin". I'll admit that no one in my opinion can play Mr. Wayne better than Michael Keaton did in the first two in the series but Val Kilmer in "Batman Forever" was in my opinion, very good and did a great job playing Bruce Wayne. It's a shame that George Clooney didn't take notes of these two actors. Overall, while this movie does kind of suffer a bit from a much cheesier tone than the last two, it doesn't fail to impress at all. In fact it's a great and highly enjoyable successor to "Batman Returns" and almost perfectly balances the dark angst of the previous one and the greater but not excessively colorful and glitzy glamour sequences of this one. The scene where the Bat mobile went up the side of the building where the bad guys cars crashed and exploded was awesome and made for great laughs and seeing Two-Face scream in frustration and some occasionally hilarious Dick Tracy-esque music was funny as hell. Overall, this movie has plenty of fun to offer. I felt that the humor and drama fit well together here and balanced each other out where as the two completely clashed and ruined the 1997 sequel and most of the time, the drama and angst that made the first three Batman movies so great was completely absent from that one. I'm not that surprised at the high number of negative reviews that "Forever" has received but it doesn't deserve so much of it. "Batman Forever" may not rank up there with the first two in the series but it sure as h.e.l.l. beats out that God-Awful sequel that followed this one. Even now to this day, it still boggles my mind how Schumacher managed to pull it off so well with "Forever" and completely destroy the legacy with "B&R" two years later. :-\ Sadly I wish the title of this movie was true, being a saga that would go "Forever" but sadly it appears that it didn't and ended too soon with "Batman & Robin" which hardly even felt like a Batman movie at all. To me, this is the last Batman movie in the series. Highly recommended.
Rating: Summary: Third Movie, Three Stars Review: This is the third movie to the Batman series. It is not as dark, gloomy, and as good as the first and second ones. Many changes are made to this film. The first change is Batman/Bruce Wayne. Instead of it being Micheal Keaton, it's Val Kilmer. Val Kilmer came into a strange position of playing what was Micheal Keaton's role. Val did a good job acting as Batman/Bruce Wayne. The second change was the director. This movie doesn't have Tim Burton directing it. Now it is Joel Schumacher. Joel does an okay job directing this film but, not as well done as Tim Burton. Another one is now Batman has a partner! It Robin who is played by Chris O'Donnell. In my opinion, we can live without him. Others may disagree. Last change to this movie is the city of Gotham. Gotham is no longer dark, dangerous, and parts are trashy or glooming. Now it's too bright and cartoonish. Sometimes when the city is shown in the movie I need to rub my eyes because it is so bright and hurts your eyes after looking at it for a couple of minutes. Otherwise, the actors did better than I expected and I am very surprised with the changes they made. Again, not as good as the first two movies of Batman.
Rating: Summary: Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones saved this movie Review: Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones were the only two things that saved this movie from being a total disaster. While Val Kilmer may have looked better for the part of Wayne, that was the only good thing about him. Kilmer, O'Donnel, and even Nicole Kidman simply didn't work for this movie. there was no chemistry between any of them. Jim Carrey was the obvious choice for the Riddler, and he was histerical. And although I was a bit surprised at the casting of Tommy Lee Jones for Two-Face, he did a brilliant job. He has a real flair for playing psychotic. Those two were the only things that saved this movie from being a total disaster, and frankly, if they had cut out all other scenes and just shown the scenes with those two in them, I would have been happy.
Rating: Summary: "Emotion is always the enemy of true justice"-TWO-FACE Review: If you love movie villians, comic book style action, over the top situations then BATMAN FOREVER is for you! I could care less about the overly lighthearted duo of Batman and Robin, I just like this movie because of the deliciously over-the-top villains! Jim Carrey is halariously energetic "brain wave" The Riddler( was that mind controlling "box" invention some kind of cheesy attempt at social commentary? ). And even better is Tommy Lee Jones as the once lawyer turned maniac splitpersonality Two-Face, who is always funny to watch laughing at his own jokes( "nothing like a case of bad gas!" ) and ranting every time "The Bat" gets away. He has this coin-toss trademark that defines his character. If anyone reading was as amused as I was at Tommy's performance, do yourself a favor and buy Natural Born Killers: Director's Cut because he is just as if not more over-the-top in that movie too. The only thing I have against this movie is that if they wanted to get into the mind of Batman, they could have started by not having corny/melodramatic flashbacks! Another thing, Robin, I just don't like this guy. That whole scene where he took the batmobile to the mean streets and fought the gang and kissed the girl is very cringe-inducing; this guy just sucks. Nicole Kidman is hot. "Was that over the top? I can never tell!" The Riddler's best line. SPOILER: I know that this was a mega big budget movie and they can't touch upon every last detail, but I was disapionted at the showdown of Batman and Two-Face for one reason; when Two-Face flips his coin and Batman throws up like 15 coins to waste him, where did Batman get all of those coins? I know it is just a silly movie but come on, did Alfred say something like, "take these coins in case you run into a bubble gum machine on your way to the final battle!" They should have had some scene that shows Batman loading the coins in his pocket and saying something corny like, "These may just be Two-Face's weak point, I better take them," because simply having Batman randomly throwing the coins just doesn't cut it for me. That guy who played The Riddler's boss was pretty funny. Get this increasingly over-the-top movie and watch it again and again; it definately stands the test of time! If you get any other Batman movie instead, than you would be, "settling for the Bronze!" I mean really, if you don't watch this movie then, "you won't learn nothin'!"
Rating: Summary: Don't hate me, Keaton fans....! Review: I may be the only person on the Earth that thinks Val Kilmer made a much better combination of Batman and Bruce Wayne than Michael Keaton. While Keaton may have made a good Batman, he was non-believable as Bruce Wayne, coming off more like a short order cook that inherited his favorite rich customer's mansion than a true spoiled, preppy, rich kid. Kilmer was as good as Keaton as Batman, but MUCH more believable as Bruce Wayne, lifelong polo player and prep school bunky. That major point aside, this movie was vastly different from the preceding two films. The set design was more busy, the tone of the production a good mix of the campy spirit of the old TV show and and the darker, but still humorous spirit of "Batman Returns". Like "Returns", this one is much more substantial than the first, offering more visual and storyline hooks and, with the exception of the disappointing Tommy Lee Jones, better acting and casting. Tommy Lee Jones. Will somebody kindly tell me how 1) Harvey Dent changed races in two movies and 2) Became an even LAMER character as played by Jones? This role should have been eaten up by an actor of Jones' caliber, but he chose to play it almost exactly like the slumming pros did in the campy old TV show. Just think what a Richard Burton or a Rutger Hauer could have done with the role, or what even Billy Dee Williams could have done with it. With Schumacher's take on this franchise, Gotham City takes on a much more metropolitan look and feel. It seems more like a real city and some of the camera work is truly awesome. I've nicknamed one scene "The dolly shot from Hell" because of the length and thrills involved. This is the scene where Kilmer, as Batman, leaps off of a ledge to follow Two-Face underground after he "crashes" Edward Nygma's party. A lot of people badmouth Schumacher, and after seeing "Batman & Robin", maybe they're right, but in this movie, he could do little wrong. Nicole Kidman is good as Chase Meridian, a love interest named after two bank chains. She can't make up her mind about Bruce OR Batman and vacillates between the two. Their scenes together are full of coy, forties-style banter that could be uttered by Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. Though there doesn't seem to be any REAL chemistry here, it still has more then the pairing of Basinger and Keaton in the first one. Jim Carrey is the one that grabs your attention, though, as Edward Nygma/The Riddler. You shake your head that this living cartoon wasn't around in 1988 when the first Batman was released....he would have been THE actor to play The Joker, (though I still wonder why Tim Curry was never given that role!) The manic energy he puts into the role makes him remind you of ever insane, four-eyed geek you ever knew in high school who succeeded in spite of himself. "Over the top" doesn't BEGIN to describe his performance. The BIG surprise here is Chris O'Donnell as Dick Grayson/Robin. This could have easily been handled sappily by Schumacher, but O'Donnell plays Grayson very J.D. Salinger and he actually turns out to be one of the better elements of the movie. Along with Carrey, he gives one of the best performances in the film. The scene where Dick wrings out his laundry in front of Alfred is one of the most effective in the movie. An odd element, and perhaps the one that reminds one most of the old TV show, is the presence of two henchwomen of Two-Face, played by Drew Barrymore and Debi Mazar, representing his good and evil sides. They're both played campily and ever-so-slightly over the top, especially Mazar, and usually accompany Two-Face to his less dangerous jobs. All in all, this movie is STUFFED! It has action out the wazoo, bridges two interpretations of the Batman aesthetic quite nicely, has good performances, (Kilmer's, O'Donnell's and Carrey's especially,) and keeps your eyes glued to the screen. Frankly, I think this is the Star Trek VI of the Batman franchise...full of life and effective with it! Highly recommended.
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