Review of Batman & Robin (1997) by Filipeneto — 17 Feb 2018

This film is the end of "Batman" franchise, started by Tim Burton and continued by Joel Schumacher throughout the nineties. This time, Schumacher directed an almost entirely new cast, headed by George Clooney (as the black knight), Arnold Schwarzenegger (as Mr. Freeze), Chris O'Donnell (in the role of Robin) and Uma Thurman (as Poison Ivy). An star-cast that could, in fact, have ensured the success of this film, but that was completely prevented from doing so by an incompetent director and a script that would have better utility serving as toilet paper.

In fact, the Batman franchise, that this movie puts an end (finally), started badly with "Batman" (1989) but only managed to worsen constantly, in a dizzying descent to the dustbin of the Seventh Art. This film is beyond comprehension and good taste: the meager existing humor moments are regrettable, the scenarios are absurd, the costumes missed any attempt of realism, the picture is rather amateurish and the actor's interpretation seems confused and superficial, with each actor playing alone, according his own criteria. At this point, it lacked a firm director who could do the work better.

In my opinion, its not by chance that the franchise ended. It was the best thing to do because it began under bad premises and all that is born crooked rarely straightens. Nevertheless, these films continued, for almost ten years, to be a spot on Batman's figure, excommunicating it from cinema until 2005, the year of his more than deserved rehabilitation, with "Batman Begins". In addition to these losses, the franchise also marked negatively the understanding of the audience regarding cinematographic comic-book adaptations, but this brand passed quickly thanks to the interesting (some better than others) adaptations made since the year 2000. For all these reasons, and especially for "Bat-fans", the end of this franchise was especially expected, although perhaps not left many good memories.