Review of Batman & Robin (1997) by Daniel C — 01 Jun 2013

Batman & Robin face 'family problems' as Mr Freeze & Poison Ivy harass Gotham.

It was hard to think that the fourth instalment could be as bad (or as camp) as Batman Forever but here we are, with a similar rating, albeit I think for different reasons.

George Clooney plays Batman this time, taking over from Val Kilmer who did little to help in the last film. Alicia Silverstone comes on the scene as well and I seem to recall she was the 'in thing' at the time but where is she now? Arnold Schwarzenegger and Uma Thurman take on the roles of the villains this time. Arnie gets all the typically bad one-liners and Uma plays the typical seductress type villain, although she is Poison Ivy of course. There's also Bane, a mindless oversized brute wearing a fighting mask - he doesn't have as big a role as he has in a recent reincarnation.

Still, I found the villains far more tolerable this time around and instead my problems lay with the 'heroes'. The in-fighting between Batman and Robin, their crappy looking vehicles and the action sequences, then we get a third hero into the mix which just confuses and crowds everything further.

This definitely was a Batman to forget but it's so hard with Arnie's one-liners in the back of my head. Not the worst instalment of the original four but not far from it. It was a good idea to stop for a while and let someone else have a go...