I am sorry to report that Tim Burton has decided to make a third
Batman movie, BATMAN FOREVER. This is the first one that he did not
direct although he did produce it. For director he tapped Joel
Schumacher, whose only halfway decent film was THE CLIENT.
BATMAN FOREVER has nothing new to say. As usual, there are a set
of villains: D. A. Harvey "Two-Face" Dent (Tommy Lee Jones) and
Edward Nygma - The Riddler (Jim Carrey) and good guys: Dr. Chase
Meridian (Nicole Kidman) and Commissioner Gordon (Pat Hingle). This
time we have Chris O'Donnell playing Dick Grayson - Robin. The biggest
difference of all is Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne - Batman rather than
Michael Keaton.
The plot, you ask? Why do you ask? If you have seen one Batman,
you have seen them all. I will not cover the plot as its existence is
irrelevant. One sees Batman to sneer at the villains and watch all of
the gadgetry and stunts. Almost every scene requires the suspension of
disbelief in order to watch it.
The script is full of one liners that end in "ha ha ha" just to
make sure that you know it is supposed to be a joke. Moreover, the
director has the actors get all wild eyed to make absolutely sure you
know it is a joke. Perhaps, Batman has always been this way, but the
style has outlined ability to charm or interest an audience. The
audience in the theater I was at had about as much interest in the
movie as Val Kilmer did, which is almost none. He sleepwalked through
most of the movie. Even at that, his performance was much better than
Kidman's who was unable to demonstrate she could act at all, and based
on her previous movies, I would say the jury is still out on that
question anyway.
The sets by Barbara Ling and the cinematography by Stephen
Goldblatt were in the usual dark and foreboding Batman style. Granted
they were not as sinister as in BATMAN or BATMAN RETURNS, nevertheless,
they were pretty depressing.
I understand that Robin Williams was offered the role of The
Riddler, but Tim Burton got frustrated when Williams would not make up
his mind if he wanted to take the part or not and gave it to Carrey
instead out of frustration. Frankly, I think Williams's style of humor
would have enlivened the show some, and I am sorry he did not agree to
do the part.
BATMAN FOREVER seemed liked it ran forever. The editing by Dennis
Virkler was fast paced, but had too much material at 2:00. I was bored
from the beginning. It is correctly rated PG-13 for comic violence and
sexual references. I would not let kids under 13 see it, but there
were a fair number of 8 year olds and above in the audience when I saw
it. I do not recommend the movie, and I award it a single star solely
for the gadgets. I hope Tim Burton realizes that the Batman formula is
tired, and it is time to bury it. I do hope that next year we do not
have BATMAN AD NAUSEAM as yet another blockbuster attempt.
Copyright © 1995 Steve Rhodes