Moments where the cops read from The Riddler’s handwritten journal ramblings, giving himself up to the police as part of his master plan, and even his prophet-like explanation of his motives to Batman, all felt like carbon copies of Kevin Spacey’s John Doe. Multiple times it feels like an homage to David Fincher’s crime thriller, SE7EN, instead of a comic book movie. Combing the noir visuals with a Raymond Chandler style VO from our anti-hero, there are hard-boiled moments that feel more like a Sam Spade or Phillip Marlowe mystery, in which Batman is seeking out clues using his brain instead of his Batarang. This iteration of the caped crusader really puts the “D” in Detective Comics. Story: 6/10 | Batman/Bruce Wayne: 6/10 | The Villains : 6/10 Dare I say the best thing to come out of this entry is the inexplicable inclusion of the Seal song, “Kiss From A Rose”, on the soundtrack…? Riddle me that! While Batman Forever is by no means the worst film in the franchise, it does open the door to the downfall of the '90s franchise. Chris O'Donnell is good '90s casting as Robin the boy wonder, but ages poorly on repeat viewings, the cheese factor running high in scenes like his karate fueled laundry session. Val Kilmer was not the worst choice for Batman (he has the right mouth for the cowl at least), but he brings little to the table, not committing to the power of the bat and phoning in his scenes as Bruce. The movie is fun and enjoyable, but with scenery-chewing performances from Jim Carrey (The Riddler) and Tommy Lee Jones (Two-Face), the movie leans more into the realm of the '60s TV series camp and less into the somehow believable world that Burton and company created. The magical realism of the Burton films was replaced with hypercolor comic book silliness. Warner hoped to make the franchise lighter and more mainstream, which it did, but also lost something in the process. Story: 6/10 | Batman/Bruce Wayne: 4/10 | The Villains: 4/10Īlthough it did well at the box office, the darkness of Batman Returns scared WB into taking a new direction ousting Tim Burton for Joel Schumacher and replacing Michael Keaton with Val Kilmer. The Snyder Cut is definitely better than its predecessor, but even with its enhanced CGI and ultra slow-motion fight scenes, it still isn't enough to enhance our Batman experience.Īs a tent pole popcorn movie, some could argue that it works at what it is supposed to do: combine multiple characters in an epic showdown of good and evil, but in the end it is really just all spectacle and no heart. Sure, they may put him in a desert duster and goggles, but it is all window dressing to cover up the fact that the man behind the cowl is just phoning it in. In this film he keeps his head above water with the combined strength of the rest of his team, but in general Ben Affleck’s interpretation of the caped crusader does not elevate the character. Whether we are talking about Joss Whedon’s trimmed down version or the over-bloated epic that Zach Snyder eventually released, one thing is clear: the Bat-fleck just isn’t very interesting. Story: 4/10 | Batman/Bruce Wayne: 3/10 | The Villains: 4/10 Luckily they had sense enough to stop once it came to Batgirl’s costume. And of course, who could forget the newly redesigned Batman and Robin suits complete with nipples. Freeze (-5) has more ~chilling~ puns than you can count and just short of winks at the camera each time.ĭirector Joel Schumacher lets loose an arsenal of over-the-top action, pop colors, and theatrical set design in order to give us his version of DC’s Ice Capades. Uma Thurman gets some kudos for what she brought to her vampy role as Poison Ivy (+9), but Schwarzenegger’s over-the-top Mr. On top of that, the camp level ranks almost as high as the 1960s series, but where that show seemed to realize exactly what it was doing, this film is unintentionally bad. Whether portraying Bruce Wayne or Batman, every scene feels as if Clooney put his cape on top of his ER scrubs and started talking in his matter-of-fact monotone way…which works for delivering bad news to patients' families, but not when you are trying to threaten the likes of Mr. George Clooney may be a super actor, producer, and director but somehow failed miserably as a superhero.
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