Retro Batman

They’re showing Batman Forever on HBO. This was infamous director Joel Schumacher’s first Batman tryout, and while it isn’t as horrible as Batman and Robin (which should have been entitled Batman and Robin and Batgirl and Alfred), it approaches the gaudiness of his sophomore caped crusader flick. I remember when I first watched it, I kinda liked it, kinda didn’t. Val Kilmer was a solid Bruce Wayne, though his delivery of some dialogue seemed too stiff. His Batman DID have some nice catch phrases (“Chicks dig the car.”). Chris O’Donnell’s Robin wasn’t as irritatingly stupid as he was in the next movie, while Nicole Kidman as the token love interest was pretty hot.

There were quite a bit of crappy things in this as well- such as Tommy Lee Jones’ Two Face- what could have been a pretty intense and cool villain (as portrayed in the Batman Animated Series) turned into your generic babbling, giggling, cackling, raving madman villain that tries too hard to emulate Jack Nicholson’s Joker. Then there’s Jim Carrey’s Riddler- on one hand, it’s great to see the rubbery one do a villain (other than his Cable Guy character), and he basically is given a lot of room to steal the show with his antics. However… he just turns out too GAY in some of the scenes… well, it’s a Schumacher film…

Well, all in all, Batman Forever ranks as the fourth best Batman for me… well, for me, the Burton Batman is still top, then Batman Returns (thanks to Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman), then the recent Batman Begins, then Batman Forever. It’s still pretty cool to watch these older Batman flicks every now and then. But I’ve had more than enough Schwarzenegger Mr. Freeze to last me a lifetime.