Review of Batman & Robin (1997) by Nick C — 09 Oct 2014

It's the worst batman movie in the Burton/Schumacher series and worsens further what made Batman Forever partly bad. Schumacher returns to direct and George Clooney replaces Val Kilmer in the role of the caped crusader. Chris O'Donnell returns to play Dick Grayson/Robin. Michael Gough and Pat Hingle return to play their usual parts of Alfred and Commissioner Gordon, respectively. Newcomers: Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr Freeze; Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy and Alicia Silverstone as Barbara/batgirl.

It's a movie considered by critics and audiences alike to be one of the worst and ridiculously made movies ever made. Schwarzenegger is up to his usual tricks delivering puns and one-liner jokes to his performance as Mr Freeze. Clooney and O'Donnell suit up in rubber bat suits, which are made with rubber nipples. A badly written script by Christopher McQuarrie and Akiva Goldsman. A bad directorial approach by Joel Schumacher. Bad camera close-ups of the bat suit bottoms and nipples in the opening sequence of the movie.

To redeem themselves, I feel Schumacher should be given the opportunity to produce another batman movie instead of directing, as he never intended to kill the franchise. I still think he can do something good for the batman franchise in the future as it was his aim, he did say he wanted more lighter approach for Batman & Robin with less torture. Also McQuarrie and Goldsman should have some involvement again as well. Movie flops do happen and Batman & Robin was perfect example of that, it's simply part of filmmaking. A movie mistake like Batman & Robin can only happen once, and that's that.