BATMAN FOREVER (1995)

The way people talk about this movie now is not the way they talked about it at the time.

These days, it and its sequel are referred to collectively, in derisive tones, as “the Schumacher movies.” Such a labeling implies that they are the same kind of movie, but they aren’t at all. Each has a very different take on Batman, in part because of two very different leading men.

Christian Bale is now my favorite Batman. But before him, Val Kilmer was. Kilmer’s appeal in the role may be partially due to the fact that his actual public persona resembles Bruce Wayne more closely than that of any other Bat-thespian. He’s known as a handsome, charismatic leading man. He also has a reputation for being utterly insane. And the physicality that Michael Keaton did not have is there.

Joel Schumacher’s mandate from the studio was to make Batman less dark and more kid-friendly, which in this movie he did without hurting Batman as a character too much (the ending is problematic, but that’s partially Tim Burton’s fault too — we’ll get to that). There was also interest from the studio in bringing in Robin since the franchise began, and his introduction is achieved about as well as it could be, with a costume that’s logical: a modified Batsuit painted in the colors of Dick Grayson’s old circus gear makes sense in the context of the cinematic story. Chris O’Donnell is better than usual…hell, we’re lucky to have him, because Marlon Wayans very nearly appeared as Robin in BATMAN RETURNS.

Schumacher can do dark, by the way — FLATLINERS, LOST BOYS, TIGERLAND…hell, as I sat watching THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, I thought to myself, “Wow, this guy might be good for doing Batman…Oh, wait, he did.” His orders were not to do so here.

The biggest misstep in BATMAN FOREVER is the portrayal of Two-Face. Schumacher and WB bought out Billy Dee Williams’ contract, and Schumacher’s official explanation was that he didn’t think Billy Dee Williams could be convincingly evil (more likely the producers simply wanted a bigger “name”). But Tommy Lee Jones doesn’t get it at all, and Schumacher would later complain that Jones was horrible to work with and that he’d never work with him again.

Jones plays the role like Jack Nicholson’s Joker, which is totally wrong for a character who’s supposed to be conflicted and tragic. At one point, he keeps tossing his coin until he gets the result he desires, which is totally wrong, and misses the point of the character completely. There’s no sense of duality at all in his portrayal. Williams couldn’t have possibly been worse.

Bruce Wayne is still shown wearing glasses. Again I reiterate that he is not Clark Kent, and can see in the dark. And again he reveals his identity to his girlfriend (Nicole Kidman this time around), which apparently was not the case in the original script.

But Bruce himself is mostly good. The scene in his corporate office where he says “door” and the door seals, then “Chair” and the chair shoots him into an underground tunnel leading straight to the Batcave — priceless. And his speech to Dick Grayson about why killing is wrong — again, about time. The original script and cut of the film apparently dealt with the fact that Bruce regretted the deaths of Penguin and Joker, but once Batman and Harvey Dent were recast, it was felt there was no need to acknowledge the continuity.

Still not recast: Pat Hingle, fatter and dopier than ever as Gordon, even allowing Nicole Kidman to simply commandeer the Bat-signal for her frivolous flirtatation desires. The fact that he runs to the scene in his pajamas makes him look even more ridiculous than usual. Gordon deserves much better than this treatment.

The most controversial call on Batman is to have him, essentially, “get over” his trauma at the movie’s end. This was allegedly explained much better in the script. One of Joel Schumacher’s most booed comments was to say “I think Batman needs to get over the death of his parents.” Ummm, no.

HOWEVER…what is not so well known is that Tim Burton had exactly the same impulse, and had planned the Batman movies as a trilogy that would end with Bruce “getting over it.” For all the credit Burton gets as a hero to goth outsider types, horror author Poppy Z. Brite really nailed him on the fact that his movies so often end with the outsider accepting conformity. Pee-wee gets himself a conventional girlfriend, Winona Ryder stops being goth and goes to Catholic school, Batman gets the blonde reporter chick…don’t even get me started on Nightmare Before Christmas, which spoon-feeds Disney pap to the Hot Topic crowd under the guise of “darkness.”

So anyway, if you want to blame Joel for that particular choice, blame Tim too.

Getting Jim Carrey as the Riddler was a good move — not 100% comic accurate, but certainly in the spirit of Frank Gorshin. The character borrows a bit from the Mad Hatter (Batman version, not Lewis Carroll version), but overall is a much better choice than Robin Williams — certainly a better physical match. The one odd touch is the character’s hair — when Ed Nygma becomes the Riddler, he suddenly has a bright red buzzcut. Then when he goes undercover as Nygma again, he’s back to regular Jim Carrey hair. This is a mystery on a par with the vanishing black paint around Batman’s eyes.

Another good move — shooting some scenes on location in actual cities. By contrast to the soundstage feel of RETURNS, Gotham felt like a functional city again.

An almost-thwarted good move — H.R. Giger was asked to redesign the Batmobile. Most likely due to Giger being insane, this didn’t quite happen, but a semblance of his style remained on the new car, boat, and plane. Batman is once again revealed to be a shitty combat pilot, as he crashes his second Batwing.

Meanwhile, the Batsuit, which had been redesigned to look more like armor in RETURNS, got a makeover Greek-statue style with nipples, the decision that must surely haunt Schumacher the most to this day (he promised Batgirl would also have nips in BATMAN AND ROBIN, but that clearly got vetoed). In FOREVER, Batman does trade the nip-suit in for a more cybernetic looking number at the end, which he unfortunately does not retain in the following film.

Some fans objected to the Burt Ward reference, “Holy rusted metal Batman!” It got a good laugh when I saw it, and I think it works. As long as Batman isn’t made too much a figure of fun, Robin is allowed to be humorous.

Danny Elfman’s Bat-theme was lost, but Elliott Goldenthal’s substitute is not bad. We’ve gotten away now from the notion of superhero themes: Spider-Man, The Punisher, X-Men, Daredevil, Batman Begins — I defy you to hum the movie theme for any of those. But everybody knows John Williams’ Superman. Bryan Singer smartly plans on reusing it. Maybe that’ll get us back to heroic scores.

I was sad when Kilmer bailed after one film in order to do THE SAINT. Kilmer’s probably glad he did…no-one will remember THE SAINT, but few will forget BATMAN AND ROBIN…

(next: “Tonight’s fawcast — a FREEZE isss coming!”)