Review of Batman & Robin (1997) by Richard L — 09 Aug 2014

This is the bottom of the barrel of the Batman movies, but surprisingly to me it is not quite as bad as the worst of the Superman movies, though not by much. Here Joel Schumacher has no restraints, and so the colors are neon and bright, the suits have nipples, cameras check out crotches and butts, and the humor comes in one flavor: bad puns. Slightly better are a few poignant moments, but this is no thanks to the plot; thank the actors. Michael Gough is excellent as always in his final appearance as Alfred and his scenes with George Clooney as Bruce Wayne are somewhat touching. Chris O'Donnell is a brat as Robin, And Alicia Silverstone really doesn't make Batgirl her own, but, oh my gosh, thank you for a couple strong moments that at least pretend to take women seriously.

Uma Thurman is terrible as Poison Ivy, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze cannot do anything with moments where he is supposed to be sympathetic. I blame the writer, though, one Akiva Goldsman, who delivers the worst plot yet in the series. His plot is all surface details and little depth.

Thank goodness the series stopped for awhile after this. The lack of critical claim also led to a brief chilling period (ha, pun!) on superhero movies, at least for a few years, until "X-Men" and later "Spider-Man" arrived to redeem the genre.

Redemption for Batman, however, had to wait until 2005.