Review of Batman Forever (1995) by Randall Q — 18 Jul 2012

Camp at its finest. "Batman Forever" revels in hamming it up, taking every opportunity to say something clever or blow something up with a neon hue covering it all. The heroes have issues that begin and end in this plot. The villains are absolutely zany and have little humanity in them, unlike the grittier Batman interpretations. The plot is simple; the Riddler wants to take over Gotham, and Batman has to stop him. All the while, he has to manage his love life and turn the manboy Dick Grayson into a good guy. Wacky action ensues!

I loved this movie when I was eight. Do I love it in 2012? No. But it has its place. It feels like it was made for children, more so than some of the animated movies even. For the type of characters Schumacher was going for, the casting is spot on. Kilmer plays a decent Batman, but a wholly uninteresting Bruce Wayne who inexplicably wears glasses. O'Donnell is annoying, but so is this version of Robin, so it works. Kidman as Batman's psychiatrist beau is fine. Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face is kind of annoying, but that's fine because he's Robin's villain...so the two annoying characters can face off. Carrey's Riddler takes the movie out of "Batman and Robin" levels of awful, and makes it watchable past the boring parts and excessive neon lighting.

It's a superhero movie, not a psychological drama. Watch it with your kids and laugh along for completely different reasons than them.