Batman Forever (1995)

Directed by: Joel Schumacher

Premise: Batman (Val Kilmer) teams with Robin (Chris O’Donnell) to fight crime in Gotham City while Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) joins with The Riddler (Jim Carrey) to use a home television device to steal the citizen’s secrets.

What Works: Although Batman Forever includes some supporting cast members of Batman and Batman Returns, such as Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon and Michael Gough as Alfred, this film is fundamentally a new start for the series. Director Joel Schumacher takes some of the Gothic look of Burton’s films but then combines it with the schlocky fun of the 1960s television series. The result is a piece that is more lighthearted than Burton’s Batman films but uses the techniques and conventions of contemporary action pictures. The result is mostly positive; Batman Forever is almost nonstop action and the neon colored sets give sequences like the opening hostage crisis a frantic energy. As Bruce Wayne/Batman, Val Kilmer brings a toughness to the role that is more akin to Christopher Reeve’s performance in Superman: The Movie, although the character as presented in this film is much less like the interpretations of Michael Keeton or Christian Bale and much more like Adam West’s take. The best element--and quite possibly the saving grace—of Batman Forever is Jim Carrey as The Riddler. He is unlike any of the villains in Burton’s films but he is also unlike anyone else in Schumacher’s Batman films, as Carrey’s Riddler is given a character arc.

What Doesn’t: Although Batman Forever intentionally takes the series in a different direction, it lets the style get in the way of the substance. Aside from Carrey’s Riddler, the rest of the characters are pretty flat. Tommy Lee Jones is cast as Two-Face and while his performance is different from a lot of the stoic characters he usually plays, Jones comes off as more of an imitation of Jack Nicholson’s Joker than an attempt to build a unique character. Nicole Kidman is also wasted as the a psychologist and Batman’s love interest; she just doesn’t do anything except comment on how sexy she thinks Batman is. The neon colored action sequences, intended to give the audience a new visual experience, become nauseating at times, especially as the picture enters its sloppy final act.

DVD extras: The two-disc special edition includes a commentary track, documentaries and featurettes, music videos, trailers, storyboards, extra scenes, and character profiles.

Bottom Line: Batman Forever is a fun film in the Batman pantheon, despite its faults. Like Dick Tracy, the picture imitates a traditional comic book look in its sets, costumes, and makeup design. It’s disappointing to see Two-Face, a potentially exciting character, reduced to an underwritten sidekick, but Jim Carrey largely saves the picture with his upbeat performance.