Batman & Robin (1997)

A Farce In Nearly Every Sense

When watching the predecessor to this film, Batman Forever, one can tell that the Batman franchise was beginning to slip under the direction of Joel Schumacher. However, that film was saved by the acting power of Nicole Kidman, Tommy Lee Jones, and Jim Carrey. This film has no such luck.

Essentially, everything that is considered sacred in the Batman cannon is turned into a farce in this movie. Instead of villains with interesting backstories, we get the completely non-viable "Mr. Freeze" and the even worse "Poison Ivy". Instead of dark, brewing, revenge-filled acting from Batman and Robin, we get two superheroes (and later the annoying Batgirl) clowning around with each other and only getting their act together during crunch time. Instead of a dark, realistic atmosphere, we get a film in which James Bond would find himself right at home, what with all the explosions, flashing lights, and trite gadgets.

Essentially, a film that gave us George Clooney in a Batsuit complete with two nipples has very little going its way. Only Arnold Schwarzenegger shines as the hulking (though, again, completely non-viable) Mr. Freeze. Perhaps Mr. Schumacher was trying to bring the film franchise back to its days as 1960s camp, but in either case he failed miserably. There is a reason why it took another Bat-sequel so long to get off the ground.

If there is one Batman film to skip, this is the one. Just get through Batman Forever and call it a victory (until Batman Begins, of course!). July 24, 2008

Better than batman forever.

This film was ok but there are films that are crapier like batman forever that movie was'nt good for anything but a couple laughs so ha ha ha this movie has better villians and action . July 22, 2008

Worst Movie Ever

It was the worst movie I have ever seen. Bad scrips, bad jokes, bad acting, bad effects,...and hockey goons? (I played hockey and I love most Batman movies, that was just retarded), the two enemies were lame, the batgirl story was terrible, robin is back (robin is a terrible character in a great franchise), Casting was terrible (but some good actors/actresses with material for the wrong parts), terrible directing need I go on? I love the Batman franchise, I love movies in general and this was a crap fast for either fan. There's nothing in this movie that could attract a person who doesn't care about Batman, and will make any Batman fan sick, unless if you enjoy the most lame movies of all time this one is for you. Batman Forever started to show everyone that something bad was going to happen to the series, and this movie, Batman and Robin proved just that. Thank God Warner Bros. gave it new life in the hands of experts. Batman is ment to be dark, not cheesy and colorful. Anyone who likes this has really really really really really bad taste. I don't intend on being mean or pushing my opinions as facts, but if you are to watch this movie, the evidence would be damning. Worst movie EVER!!! July 6, 2008

Horrifying

Let's keep this short and simple. It sucked. George Clooney brought the Batman character to an all-time low. All the cheesy one-liners felt like punches to the face. Obviously a movie that relied too heavily on special effects.
To be fair to the actors, the writing and portrayal of everything in this movie didn't give them any room to budge. Batman is NOT a showy character. The lighting in this movie was more so than the Vegas strip and did anybody realize that again there was no bats in the bat cave?
I don't even think there's enough money on that credit card Batman takes out to fix the mess this movie ultimately is. June 21, 2008

Epic Fail

This is a bad movie. No, really, it is one of those really truly bad movies, so bad that sometimes you can't look away. Sort of like when your friend falls off his mountain bike and his tibia is jutting out through his skin and you want to look away because it's a horrible sight and yet you keep going back to it. This movie is worse. And it gets even worse, as if that were possible, on repeated viewings. It's a shame, it had the makings of a quite good movie, but then Joel Schumacher tossed the film into a blender and kept all the worst bits, and that really is where the movie fails on an epic scale. I can't fault the actors, I place the blame squarely with the director.
June 15, 2008

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