Review of Batman and Robin (1949) by Nicholas D — 21 Jul 2008

I was surprised this was even as good as it was. For the time period, it was pretty good. The fight scenes were fairly well choreographed, and they actually fought on top of a train for one scene.

The suits are unimaginably goofy. The way they term most things is really hokey(i.e. the "Batman signal"). The entire movie and its premise are utterly ridiculous. You'll find yourself laughing quite a bit at a lot of it. Bruce Wayne lives in the suburbs? Batman drives Bruce Wayne's car around? One of the best lines comes when Vikki Vale asks "Does Bruce Wayne know you're driving his car?", to which Batman simply replies "Yes." She left it at that. Can't get much better.

Batman and Robin themselves were really ineffectual. They were easily defeated in most fights. Especially Robin. Talk about completely worthless. They were also fairly clueless about most of what was going on and relied on radio broadcasts for their information, just like everyone else. Finally, gadgets weren't used often. When they were, they were ridiculous. Apparently Batman carries a blow torch on his belt that we couldn't see?

Only watch this if you're a big Bat fan. Otherwise, you'll probably be bored by its excessive length.