A Look Back on the Films of Batman: BATMAN FOREVER (1995)

With the new Batman movie: The Dark Knight coming out soon, its time for me to look back on the past Batman movies starting from the campy years of 1966 to the modern era in 2005. As close as it is, Batman is my second favorite superhero with just being close to Spider-Man. Batman has been through many changes and transformations in the film media for the best and for the worst. So without further ado, here is my view on the last Batman movies, leading up to The Dark Knight.


BATMAN FOREVER(1995)

The Batman franchise was later given in the hands of Joel Schumacher, who before directed films like Falling Down and The Lost Boys and was given a complete makeover. Gone was the dark gloomy city of Gotham, gone was the dark sleek Batmobile and gone was Michael Keaton as The Dark Knight, Batman. Gotham is now bigger and brighter, filled with statues of Gods and even has its own Statue of Liberty. Val Kilmer filled in the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman, which you can say about him is that all he does in this movie was just to look good and fight badguys. No further character development for Batman, even though we get back to his flashback of his parent's death. I was 9 years old when I first saw this in the theater and I didn't realize the big deal that was the nipple feature on the bat suit. But now I'm old enough, it is weird that nipples were included on the Bat Suit. The franchise finally includes Batman's ever annoying side-kick, Robin played by Chris O'Donnell. At least Robin was portrayed as a whiner instead as a ass-kisser in the previous Batman.

Like I said, the focus wasn't much on the heroes of the movie, but the villains. This time they are The Riddler and Two Face. Now back then, I was a huge fan of Jim Carrey (and still am). The actor brought out a new kind of humor to the screen and became the comedic idol of the year 1994. So I was very excited that Jim Carrey was casted as the Riddler, not that I'm gonna see him do a good performance in the movie, but I was gonna see him be Jim Carrey and do funny things. And that was part of the success that the movie brought. Even though the Riddler didn't look like the evil genius he was in the cartoon, at least he kept me entertained. Another funny, not so evil villain was Two Face, who was originally set to be played by Billy Dee William, but was changed to Tommy Lee Jones. We also have Nicole Kidman in her pre-Oscar phase and served as the love interest of Bruce Wayne.

First time I saw this, I loved it. Normally because I was a kid and I found it to be... well.... funny. Jim Carrey was the selling point of the movie and made it into a financial success. The movie wasn't really a Batman movie and it can be called "Jim-Carrey-dressed-in-green-and-do-wacky-things-until-he-gets-asskicked-by-Batman" movie. Looking back on it now, it is not really a great Batman movie but its still mildly entertaining to watch. It kept its flow of the movie in a steady pace without going overboard with illogical fantastical moments and obvious theme-ridden puns. Unlike its next movie...

Up on my next blog: BATMAN AND ROBIN(1997)