Batman and Robin...a Review?

[Gotham Knight]

With the success of FOREVER, another film went into the works. Val Kilmer dropped out due to scheduling constraints. Yeah right, I bet that's his polite way of saying, ?This trash will mark my career no longer, Mr. Schumacher.? Didn't care for his Bat but good move Mr. Kilmer, get off the ship already sinking.

You know, there are a lot of tasteless reviews out there concerning Batman & Robin...

Here's another one...

For a long time now, I've tried to put my thoughts together on how to review this film. At one point I considered listing all the things I hated about it numerically, but I will never have enough time. Forgive me if the review is brief. Most of my opinions are frightfully direct and to the point in this case, not necessitating further explanation. I can say, without reservation, that BATMAN & ROBIN is the worst film that was ever made by a studio, bar none. The depression era films depicting flights of patronizing fancy about getting into money and high praises during musical numbers doesn't even come close. Even if you put aside the misinterpretation of Batman, it?s STILL the worst film ever produced by a studio. Just for a moment, set aside the light campy Batman and consider that this version was an incarnation direct from the 60's comics that were taking their cues from the show, so it's valid in a certain sense. Even THEN, even when you try to view it as a parody, it STILL makes one sick to their stomach.

The Review.

It's a mish mash of incoherency, lack of plot mixed with stupid clich?s, bad acting, nods to the worst TV show of all time, and obvious toy marketing.
I wish I could say more than that on the overview, but I don't like using too many four-letter words in my reviews. Sorry. Maybe someday I'll give you an unedited, Tony Montana version.

CAST

George Clooney is a MARVELOUS actor and director (Good Night and Good Luck.) But he wasn't a good Batman. Hey, he admits it fully and has moved on to make many great films. Because of that, I refuse to bash him for it.

Alicia Silverstone is a poor actress. Period. How she ever got past films like Clueless is beyond me.

Uma Thurman is a great actress, but under Schumacher's direction follows suit in acting like she's in front of a kindergarten class.

Arnold may have, and I say that loosely, may have been a good Freeze had he not been limited to constant ice references and metaphors in every bit of dialogue he had.

Chris O'Donnell still makes my skin crawl.

Why bother with anyone else...

Same five minutes of music.

The acid trip sets complete their metamorphosis into a drug overdose.

(Told ya this review was short and sweet..bitter?because don?t we already know how bad this film is? Why go into too much detail? We don?t want to have flash backs of the film when we try to sleep tonight do we?)

To wrap this all up, I wish to address Joel Schumacher and the WB (Like they will read this.) Bare in mind this is merely the opinion of this reviewer. Mr. Schumacher you stole what was to be the greatest Superhero trilogy of all time from the now christened (Finally, I can use that in a sentence) Burton Batfans. Oh, people have tried to make excuses, the popular one being because so much was cut out of FOREVER, you deliberately ruined B&R. If that's true, in my opinion, you're a hack who'll go to any lengths to be vindicated when you don't get your way even if that means jeopardizing the careers of those working under you, actors, set designers, script writers, etc and that means you shouldn't be a director at all. Or maybe you thought it was really good...I don't see how...Either way, shame on you.

And WB, what the hell were you thinking?

Sigh...fin

[Paul (ral)]

as bad as everything was, the use (or mis-use) of Bane was unforgiveable.

[shadowbat69]

heh heh. See, Im in a vast minority in the fact that I dont hate or bash on B&R. I respect everyones opinion on this movie, (who am I to judge a persons individual tatse?), but I was a defender of this film from opening day. Now, everyone who knows me knows that the Burton films are the all time favorites for me, not one of the Batfilms since, including Begins, even comes close. Also, Batman and Robin is at the bottom of the list for movies for me, but I dont hate it. Its just not my version of Batman. I once wrote a review myself on Batman and Robin titles "A Light Knight and a Neon Gotham", I had it posted on my MySpace blog, but it has since been deleted. I actually still have it written out in my notebook. One day when I have the time Ill repost it. I actually got some nice compliments on it.

[Darth Vader]

I can say, without reservation, that BATMAN & ROBIN is the worst film that was ever made by a studio, bar none.

You really need to get out and watch more movies.

[Paul (ral)]

What did Batman & Robin do well?

For me, the scene where Freeze carves a figure of his wife in ice and has it rotate on a clockwork mechanism was well done and showed what could have been.

others?

[Darth Vader]

The Alfred subplot was great. Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy was nice eye candy. Freeze watching wedding footage and managing to shed a single tear. The ice sculpture scene. One of the last scenes where Freeze walks in on an imprisoned Ivy... that scene was well into awesome territory.

Batman and Robin sky-surfing down to Gotham with the explosion in the background. Superb CGI cinematography there.

Batman crashing through the windshield of the "Freezemobile."

The chase scene down the arm of the giant man statue.

Batman's cape uncovering a fallen and apprehended Mr. Freeze.

The subplot of Robin losing trust in Batman, and Batman having to regain that trust so they can exploit their powerful partnership to thwart Freeze and Ivy's plan to ice the world over.

[Paul (ral)]

i think the sky-surfing was a bit much!

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

nods to the worst TV show of all time

Are you referring to the 60's Batman show... if so that is were we disagree...

If it wasn't for that show we wouldn't have batman 1989 - why?

Because the public wouldn't care for the character. That show made batman the icon he is today. Without it Keaton wouldn't have got to touch his dark Rubber bat-suit!!!

[Paul (ral)]

What about the spider-man movies?  They also had a poorly recieved television series (though personally i love it and still watch it to this day).

It didn't impact on the movies.

[Gotham Knight]

I can say, without reservation, that BATMAN & ROBIN is the worst film that was ever made by a studio, bar none.

You really need to get out and watch more movies.

You really need to learn the meaning of an opinion. Considering it wasn't only a bad film, but it put a franchise to death and even raised a question in the future of comic book films as a genre, I feel it is my right to consider this the worst studio blunder ever hatched.

That show made batman the icon he is today. Without it Keaton wouldn't have got to touch his dark Rubber bat-suit!!!

It didn't make Batman an icon, it meerly exposed him to popular culture. The mainstream forgot it until the rebirth, it was only a memory in the sense that it was the bane of most fans of Batman. It's only iconic now after looking at the stark contrast between it and the burton/Nolan films.