Batman Forever (1997, DVD)

Batman had been a popular comic book character for decades so it wasn t surprising when Tim Burton made Batman in 1989 and followed it with Batman Returns in 1992. The studio hadn t been completely happy with the direction Burton went in the second movie, so a new director, Joel Schumacher was hired. That was just the beginning of the changes made for Batman Forever, the third Batman movie.

Harvey Dent, the former district attorney who became a criminal after acid was thrown on half of his face had a plan to kill Batman. Harvey started going by the name of Two-Face when he started his criminal activities and had decided that he blamed Batman for what had happened. Two-Face kept coming up with plans to get rid of Batman that didn t work out like he d hoped. At the scene of one of his attempts, Dr. Chase Meridian, a criminal psychologist that had just moved to Gotham, arrived at the request of Commissioner Gordon to try to give some insights into Two-Face. She met Batman for the first time then and was immediately attracted to him. Two-Face tried another way of killing Batman that instead resulted in the death of Dick Grayson s family. The Grayson family were acrobats that performed together.

Edward Nygma worked for Bruce s company. Edward had an invention that would read brain waves and he wanted to talk to Bruce about making the item. Edward was furious when Bruce wouldn t agree to make the item. Edward decided that he would get revenge and he went over the edge, becoming the Riddler. He and Two-Face teamed up to go on a crime spree around Gotham and work to get rid of Batman once and for all. Bruce was very interested in Chase and trying to start a relationship that was complicated by the fact that she was more interested in Batman. Bruce was trying to catch Riddler and Two-Face while trying to help Dick deal with what had happened to his family. Dick was focused on revenge.

Batman Forever picked up sometime after the end of Batman Returns. I really don t know how much time had passed. The plots of the movies were different while having some connections. There wasn t any sort of direct plot carry over unless you count that Bruce/Batman was in both movies fighting crime. Chase had one line that was a reference to Catwoman and the relationship that she and Batman had. There weren t any references to any characters or events from the first two Batman movies. People who haven t seen the first two movies should be able to follow what was going on in this one fine since there wasn t a continuing story and some of Bruce s past was even explored.

Batman Forever was actually the first Batman movie that I watched. I knew the movie was different from the first two, but since I was unfamiliar with the character, I didn t realize just how different the movie was and how much had been changed. I do remember thinking that the first two Batman movies looked like they were entirely too dark, not knowing at that time that the Batman comics had started off darker. I think the fact that I didn t know that much about Batman in general at the time was why I enjoyed it when I first saw it. Since then, especially in the last year, I ve learned more about Batman and now realize that this wasn t that great of a Batman movie. I can see where the movie started going corny and why so many Batman fans hated it and felt it was the beginning of the end of the Batman movies.

All of the Batman movies have been set in Gotham City. In the first two movies, the city had unique looks and still managed to look at least somewhat realistic. The entire look of Gotham was changed for Batman Forever and it ended up a very bizarre looking unrealistic city. I think that Burton actually started taking Gotham in that direction in Batman Returns with the statues he added to the structures of several buildings around the city. I thought the statues just looked weird. Schumacher took the statues and went crazy with the idea, sticking huge statue looking objects all over the city with the buildings that were made even bigger looking. He also went overboard with neon signs and lights everywhere. Even when I first saw the movie, I thought the city looked very strange. There wasn t a hint of normalcy left around the city anymore though it didn t look as dark as it had in the second movie. Bruce s house and the Batcave were also given new looks. The house at least did look normal. Different types of special effects, including miniatures, were used to create the city. Effects were also used for other aspects of the movie. The effects were well done throughout the movie.

Batman Forever was made to be a lighter movie than the first two Batman movies, especially Batman Returns. Burton really did push things in that movie, mostly with the appearance of the Penguin and how the character acted. I did think Burton made things darker and more bizarre than he really needed to even though I did enjoy the second movie overall. It seemed like Schumacher was trying too hard to make his own, different version of Batman. I usually don t like it when there are big changes made in a movie in a series that are so dramatically different from what had been established in previous movies. It messes up the continuity for me when that happens. There was an obvious attempt with Batman Forever to add humor to the movie that really didn t work that well. Too many of the lines added for humor were corny and campy or just plain stupid. I really picked up on those things when I recently watched the movie again. I never did figure out why Schumacher felt the need to show the close ups of Batman s different body parts when he put the Batsuit on for the first time. That was just weird.

Batman Forever followed the example of Batman Returns and had two main villains who ended up working together that Batman had to try to deal with. Two-Face had been causing trouble around Gotham for a while before Edward became the Riddler. A few minutes was taken to cover how Harvey became Two-Face. Harvey made a few very small appearances in Batman and then was missing from Batman Returns so the fact that he had spent a lot of time working with Batman to fight crime wasn t fully covered in the movies. That was a lost opportunity since their friendship and working relationship suffered greatly when Harvey became Two-Face. I think it would have been much better if Harvey had played a larger part in a movie while he was still the DA and then had him change into Two-Face for another movie. Edward wasn t involved in any sort of accident that changed him into the Riddler like happened with previous Batman villains like the Joker or Catwoman. Edward just sort of flipped out and created the Riddler. Using his invention probably contributed to that. Even though the movie did briefly cover the origins of the villains, they weren t well developed characters. There really wasn t a good reason for Riddler and Two-Face to even work together. The movie would have been better if there had only been only one villain.

In addition to adding two new villains, Batman Forever also added a sidekick for Batman in the form of Dick/Robin. Before I started finding out more about Batman, I had only known of him working with Robin, so I did wonder where Robin was in the first movie. I think it was the summer of 2005 before I found out that Robin wasn t around when Bruce first became Batman. Since there wasn t much time given to the subplot surrounding Dick and what happened to his family, he came off like a whiney, irritating jerk most of the time and I had to wonder why in the world Bruce would put up with him. Dick was very stubborn and insisted on being Batman s sidekick as Robin. Dick went off on his own and got into a fight as well as being involved in other fights later in the movie with Batman. All of the different fights added action throughout the movie. I really didn t think it was that violent, but it was rated PG-13, so parents should take that into consideration when deciding if a child should see the movie.

Batman Forever had several subplots that were woven together to tell the overall story. Two-Face was causing trouble all around Gotham in his attempt to kill Batman. Bruce was having a bit of an identity crisis and dealing with feelings related to the murders of his parents. Chase turned up in town and decided she wanted to date Batman while mostly giving Bruce the brush off. Bruce was interested in Chase and wanted her to want him, not Batman, even though they were the same man. Dick had to deal with his family being murdered and his need for revenge. Edward flipped out and created the Riddler to torment Bruce and Batman before joining forces with Two-Face. With so much going on, the movie couldn t focus on any one subplot long enough to fully develop any of them. I think the movie would have been stronger if there wasn t so much going on.

Robin became an important part of the Batman world when the character was introduced in the comics and his part of the movie really didn t get enough development. He was angry about what had happened, even blaming Batman, and then he had his own suit and was working with Batman. I think the movie would have worked better if it had been more focused on Dick and everything going on with him and how he became Robin. Tossing the Riddler into the mix just took away from what could have been a strong plot. There didn t seem to be the sort of trust and connection between Bruce/Batman and Dick/Robin that there would need to be for the two of them to end up working together like they did.

Most comic books have featured characters, both heroes and villains, that had some kind of super powers. Batman was different. Bruce/Batman was a normal man - though it wasn t exactly normal behavior to dress up like a giant bat to catch criminals - that had no super powers. He had to use his brain to figure out why the different criminals were doing things and how to catch them. He did use all sorts of gadgets to help him catch the criminals. As Batman, he would go after normal criminals as well as the more unique ones like the Joker. As Bruce, he ran a huge corporation and was considered an eligible bachelor in Gotham. Bruce was still dealing with things related to the murder of his parents when he was a child. After playing Bruce/Batman in the first two movies, Michael Keaton decided not to return for the third movie and Val Kilmer was cast. The fact that he was in the movie was one of the reasons why I originally wanted to see the movie. I did think that he handled playing Bruce and Batman well.

Dr. Chase Meridian was added to Batman Forever mostly as a love interest for Bruce. Their relationship wasn t simple since she was more attracted to Batman than Bruce when she first met him, but it wasn t as complicated as the relationship Bruce/Batman shared with Selina/Catwoman. Since Chase was also a criminal psychologist, she saw things in Bruce that others hadn t before. There did seem to be a strong connection between her and Bruce. The relationship wasn t as developed as the relationships from the first two movies that Bruce was in. Chase was a strong, independent woman that went after what she wanted. She did end up in danger and was figuring that Batman would come to rescue her, but she didn t turn into a wimpy, screaming woman waiting to be rescued. I did think Nicole Kidman handled the part well. I usually enjoy her performances.

Dick Grayson wasn t handling the murder of his parents that well. He was angry and the way he was acting was just irritating most of the time. I know the character was dealing with a lot of grief, but he was just downright irritating. He was so hostile toward Bruce and it was hard to believe that they would end up working together that way. Maybe the character would have been more likeable if someone other than Chris O Donnell had played the part. Once again, Michael Gough played Alfred. He did fit the part well. Pat Hingle was around in a few very short scenes as Commissioner Gordon and basically did nothing. He had been under used in the first two movies, and his treatment was even worse in this movie.

Harvey/Two-Face had the potential to be a really complex character with how he had started out being the district attorney and then turned to crime after the incident when acid was thrown on his face. Unfortunately, the movie didn t reach that potential and Harvey/Two-Face ended up being a rather flat character. From what I have learned about Harvey/Two-Face since I first saw this movie, there were all kinds of things about him that were ignored. The movie really didn t explore both sides of Harvey s personality and had him being nothing but a villain. I really think this character could have been a lot stronger and it would have been much more interesting if Harvey had been built up more when he was still the district attorney. This part was a bit different from others that I ve seen Tommy Lee Jones play. Jones and Kilmer would go on to appear in The Missing together years later. He did seem to go a bit over board at times, though it did mostly go with the way the character was created for this movie. Drew Barrymore and Debi Mazer had very small parts as Sugar and Spice, Two-Faces two girlfriends who were complete opposites of each other.

Edward was a bit geeky and very intelligent. His obsession with his brain wave sucking machine made it seem like he was missing a few of his marbles. He wasn t happy when things didn t go like he d wanted with Bruce regarding the invention. Edward flipped out, with some help from his invention, and created the Riddler. He made up weird little riddles that he left for Bruce to find to torment him. He was dangerous in a different way from Two-Face. Jim Carrey provided a lot of humor in most of his scenes. Some of it worked all right and other things he did moved into being more campy and corny than funny. Carrey did have some moments when he was really good, but he did go overboard more than once. Elizabeth Sanders, the wife of Bob Kane, had a small part as Gossip Gerty. That character really added nothing to the movie.

Main Cast

Drew Barrymore - Sugar
Jim Carrey - Edward Nygma/Riddler
Michael Gough - Alfred
Pat Hingle - Commissioner Gordon
Tommy Lee Jones - Harvey Dent/Two-Face
Nicole Kidman - Dr. Chase Meridian
Val Kilmer - Bruce Wayne/Batman
Debi Mazar - Spice
Chris O Donnell - Dick Grayson/Robin

Joel Schumacher - Director

DVD Information

Batman Forever was released as a two-disc special edition DVD in the fall of 2005 along with the other Batman movies. The movies can be bought separately or together as the Batman Anthology set. The first disc contained the movie, commentary by Joel Schumacher, and a trailer. The DVD featured a new digital transfer of the movie which did make the video very sharp and clear. 5.1 Dolby and DTS Surround are available if people have a surround sound system. The majority of the extras were on the second disc.

Riddle Me This: Why is Batman Forever? was a special done for television when the movie was originally released in the summer of 1995 that was hosted by Chris O Donnell. The special featured some behind the scenes information on the making of the movie, including showing the filming of some scenes. A small amount of history from the comic books was shared. There was a little bit of discussion on the things that were changed for this movie. Cast and crew members talked about their experiences making the movie. A filmography for the actors was shown before each one talked about the movie. Chris O Donnell wasn t included in that part of the special. Bob Kane was shown on the set and some of the actors talked about meeting him.

Shadows of the Bat Part 5 was a continuation of a documentary that started on the first Batman special edition. Some of the cast and crew talked about making Batman Forever and the changes. Bob Kane s widow Elizabeth was also featured and she did say how Bob had felt that Batman Returns had gone too dark and he wanted the third movie to be more upbeat. There didn t seem to be as much depth to this installment as there was for the parts connected to the first two movies. The fact that Tim Burton and Michael Keaton both decided not to return to the series was just glossed over. There really wasn t any information about what kind of input Warner Brothers had with the movie. Some people related to the different comic books were also featured. Some of the people were saying how this was such a great Batman movie, but they really didn t have the same conviction that they did when talking about the first two movies.

The Heroes and The Villains Profile Galleries has been included in every one of the special edition version of the Batman movies. The section briefly talked about some of the characters and cast members were also featured. The second disc of the special edition also had seven deleted scenes. A few of those scenes were alternate versions of ones that made it into the movie and a few others did share a bit more about a character or two.

The Beyond Batman Documentary Gallery included five documentaries that focused on different aspects of the making of Batman Forever. Out of the Shadows: The Production Design of Batman Forever talked about the creation of sets, costumes and gadgets. Warner Brothers allowed everything to be changed, which resulted in very little continuity from the first two movies. I hate when that happens in a series. Schumacher decided that he wanted faces and people in the structures of the buildings to give a face to the city. I thought it just looked stupid. Gotham lost all traces of being a realistic looking city in this movie. He also used a lot of neon all over the place. The look of the Batcave was changed as well, making it seem like it was bigger. Two men that had something to do with working on the new Batmobile said that Schumacher had been inspired by a leather fetish magazine for the new look of the vehicle. I really didn t need to know that bit of information, though maybe it explains why Schumacher seemed to like close ups of body parts covered by the leather or rubber of the Batsuit and Robin suit.

The main makeup artist did a lot of talking in The Many Faces of Gotham City. She talked about the different makeup that she and the other makeup artists used for the characters. Rick Baker, a makeup artist that has won several Oscars for his work, designed the makeup for Two-Face. The main makeup artist also talked about how Schumacher wanted Chris O Donnell as Dick to be a heartthrob in this movie and how she had him get his ear pierced to add to his appeal. I don t think it worked. I never did think of his as a heartthrob. He was just annoying and irritating. The costumes for some of the characters were talked about, like how Jim Carrey had to be really careful to watch his weight because his green question mark suit was so close fitting he couldn t gain even a pound. The Batsuit was briefly talked about and how they had different versions that were used depending on what Batman had to do in a scene. There was no explanation of why nipples were added to the Batsuit. Filming of different scenes was shown throughout these documentaries and unless I was seeing things, there were two different looks for the chest of the Batsuit. One had this bigger bat emblem and no nipples while the other had a different bat emblem and nipples. There was a short explanation about the creation of the suit that Dick ultimately wore as Robin.

Knight Moves: The Stunts of Batman Forever talked about the different stunt work done in the movie and even showed how a few stunt sequences were filmed. Imagining Forever: The Visual Effects of Batman Forever talked about how some of the special effects for the movie were created. Gotham was created with miniatures and computer effects were used for other shots. I did think this section was interesting. Scoring Forever: The Music of Batman Forever featured the new composer, Elliot Goldenthal talking about how he created the score for the movie.

The more I see Batman Forever, the more I pick up on all the little things that were wrong with it. I really liked it when I first saw it, but I now can see why so many didn t and blame Schumacher for killing the Batman franchise. The man did go in some weird directions, though the studio and even Batman creator Bob Kane wanted things changed from how dark Batman Returns had been. A lot of Batman fans would be disappointed in this one, so it is hard for me to recommend even though I do still think it was at least somewhat entertaining. I would go with maybe for a recommendation if I could since this one wasn t all bad. The worst in the Batman franchise is still to come.

This review is part of elvisdo s Canadian write-off. Jim Carry was originally from Canada before he became famous.

Batman Reviews
Batman ~ Batman Returns ~ Batman & Robin ~ Batman Begins ~ Batman: The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight ~

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Elektra ~ Fantastic Four ~ The Incredibles ~ Lois & Clark: The Complete First Season ~ Sky High ~ Spider-Man ~ Spider-Man 2 ~ Superman Returns ~ Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel ~ X-Men ~ X2: X-Men United ~ X-Men: The Last Stand ~ X-Men: The Legend of Wolverine ~ Ultimate X-Men ~