Review of Batman Forever (1995) by Georgios M — 31 May 2013

Exit Tim Burton, enter Joel Schumacher. Schumacher has gone on record saying that he is proud of Batman Forever, and to be honest, I think he should be. After all, it wasn't a disaster, and it gave us something different from the character.

Now I'm gonna start off by saying , I hate camp batman, and I hate when the character is not taken in the 'dark' direction (be it comics, films, animation, whatever). But I still enjoyed this film.

It's not 'too' campy, and yet it has it's elements of dark material (extremely minimal, but still.). I may or may not be in the minority when I say this, but I actually thought Val Kilmer was a very good Batman.

I think his flaws were a direct result from poor tone direction in the film. Had he been in a much darker Batman film, I think Kilmer would have been a great Batman. Yet he still does very well with what he has to work with.

I think he has a great look for Batman, much like Michael Keaton, his eyes tell the story. Batman Forever is an 'action/adventure/popcorn/blockbuster' type Batman film, perhaps the complete opposite of Tim Burton's direction in his films, but I think Batman Forever worked in this direction.

It's a very fun film, and a great adventure. I sure enjoyed it, and I think you have to look at the film in that way, remember that it is not supposed to be a dark Batman film, but it is supposed to be a big blockbuster adventure/action film.

It is nowhere near as stupid and campy as the ridiculous 'Batman & Robin' and although it is not in the same league as the first 2 batman films (and a completely different type of film from them too), I still like it.