Details
- Director: Joel Schumacher
- Starring: Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Chris O’Donnell
- Genre: Superhero
- Year: 1995
- Rating: PG-13
- Length: 121 minutes
“Holy rusted metal, Batman!“
So I was just back from my holiday in Saint Tropez (France). Whole day in the car, tired, and I was initially about to rewatch a Hitchcock movie (Notorious). So I went to Prime Video and the first movie I saw was Batman Forever, and I thought: I’m tired, I’m not in the mood for something intricate, give me instead some Sunday afternoon popcorn-fick, and so I did; I rewatched the pretty debatable Batman movie. Let’s see what I think of it, shall we? So sit back, enjoy my review together with a nice snack (or something healthy, please also eat something healthy) and rejoice in the vibrant-nightmarishly wacko movie that is Batman Forever!
Premise
Batman fights Two-Face and a new adversary, The Riddler, while also mentoring his new pupil, Robin, and overcoming a long ago substained trauma.
Plot summary
Batman Forever tells the story of the titular vigilante (or superhero, as he is called here) played by Val Kilmer, while he fights a disturbed and over-the-top Two-Face (played by Tommy-Lee Jones) and ‘wacko’ and over-the-top Riddler (played by Jim Carrey), while subsequently dealing with the trauma of the death of his parents and the arrival of his new ward, Dick Grayson (played by Chris O’Donnell) who would later become Robin to take his revenge on the murderer of his family. For the good fate of humanity we also have a smoking-hot appearance of Nicole Kidman in lingerie who played Dr. Chase Meridian and serves primarily as a distraction for Batman/Bruce Wayne and a bit of doctoring here and there. Furthermore, we also have the two recurring actors in Michael Gough (Alfred) and Pat Hingle (Commisioner Gordon), who still are ingrained for me as being my childhood Alfred and Gordon.
Two-Face just wants to kill the Batman, while Riddler wants to alter people’s brainwaves so he can become smarter, among other things. This all happens in a vibrant-nightmarishly bombastic neon-lit Gotham where streets are crowded with neon-lit thugs and neon lights everywhere – making you wonder how anyone could sleep in this city.
Technical analysis
Batman Forever has a good and famous lead cast and they all fit well into this type of movie. The chemistry is good, especially between Val Kilmer and Nicole Kidman and between Kilmer and Michael Gough (which made for some emotional moments).
The cinematography was especially good in this one. The shots where done creatively, for example the coin toss of Two Face or Batman running out of a fire. The lightning was a kind of greenish-black, which fit the Riddler type of movie perfectly. The set-design is one of a kind, like already discussed before. And the costume design is clearly made to sell toys, but that didn’t bother me; from the many Riddler costumes to the Yin-Yang parachute Two-Face used, to the Bat and Robin suits and all of their gadgets. Yes, the costume supervisors Jim Tyson and Elaine Maser and everybody else involved there did a good job and it fitted well with this kind of movie (In a Tim Burton Batman-movie this wouldn’t).
The dialogue was absolutely cheesy and cartoonish, but that was what Schumacher wanted and for what he envisioned, it worked out. Yes, it is sometimes over the top and I had some eye- roll moment and yes, that is a con, but not that much for me as to say this movie is not good. It’s in my opinion still a well-made movie.
Lastly, the music enhanced the movie perfectly – I absolutely adore the score! The ‘Batman Overture’ has that mystery vibe with a “here comes the Batman to the rescue!’ vibe and I probably prefer that to Danny Elfmann’s Batman theme, although I really enjoyed that one as well.
The deeper meaning
There are a number of themes in Batman Forever. We have heroism, grief, love and even greed. From the surface level it seems mostly about heroism and love, but on a deeper meaning grief and greed appear. Grief primarily what Bruce felt for what happened to his own parents and later also for Dick’s, even blaming himself and stating: “I killed them” without meaning to say that – but on a deep psychological level he really thinks that. And the red book is a recurrent theme and I have the feeling the 4-hour ultimate edition would have shown us more of that and Bruce his psychological state. What Dr. Chase said is entirely right: not an ordinary man dresses up as a bat. This movie tells us more than it shows us on the surface and I wish the Extended edition would someday resurface so we could see it for what it is. There is a masterpiece in Batman Forever somewhere and it is shown in those intimate moments – it’s just mostly overshadowed by those cheesy moments of Jim Carrey and Tommy-Lee Jones (who btw did just their job). Talking about the adversaries, there is also a message of greed and revenge coming from them. Riddler wants revenge on Bruce Wayne for not seeing his brilliance and later greed for what he all wants to get from the brain waves of other people. Two Face wants revenge on the Bat, but behind this is a very broken man with a broken interior (and exterior) who just wants to feel something, and if that isn’t love then it must be hate. Hate for the man who couldn’t save him – Batman. Even his over-the-top demeanor comes from him trying to overshadow his broken soul.
Final Verdict
Batman Forever is in my opinion a fresh movie, sometimes I might even consider it a flawed masterpiece, although that might just go on a bit too far. It is certainly that Sunday afternoon flick (or in my case, Saturday afternoon flick). Therefore and all the other reasons mentioned, I give this movie 3.5/5 ⭐️. And remember: if you have tired eyes, use Ocu-Wash! (Or something).
What did you think of this movie? Please let me know below:
Thanks for reading and see you in my next review! Bye!
Yours,
Rein
TAZÍ 
Leave a comment