Batman & Robin (1997)

This film is bad. Not so bad it's good, not Michael Jackson "Bad", just plain bad.Whee do I begin? First of all, it completely changes the dark tone of the Batman films that they are known for into a campy atmosphere reminiscent of the Adam West TV series. It would've been acceptable in the 1960s, but not the 1990s!Secondly, it uses literally every cliche in the book, including "I'll kill you next time!" and when Robin skates off a roof, he says "Cowabunga!"Thirdly, Batman has a Bat Credit Card. Need I say more?All in all, this movie is a real stinker. Stay away from it if you want a good Batman movie.

Anyone that likes this film is a moron. This isn't only the worst Batman film ever made but it would be in my top ten worst films I have ever sat down and watched. The acting is sickening and the story is terrible. The fight scenes are so cringe it makes my skin crawl with embarrassment. At one point batman takes out his Batman credit card and says 'I never leave the house without it'. At that point I was suicidal. This film is a 0/10 but I can't give it a zero!

I was in the crowd at the UK premiere for Batman & Robin in Leicester Square, cheering as the stars arrived on the red carpet. Had I already seen the film, boos would have been more appropriate. I'm no fan of Christopher Nolan's dreary oh-so-serious Batman movies, but even they are preferable to this abomination, a neon coloured nightmare of frivolous, cartoonish nonsense, director Joel Schumacher dialling the camp up to eleven, while simultaneously turning the fun and excitement down to zero.Talking of zero, Arnold Schwarzenegger is absolutely dire as ice-cold, wise-cracking Mr. Freeze, but Uma Thurman goes one better (or should that be one worse?) as Poison Ivy, her Mae West inspired performance about as hammy as it gets. As far as the good guys are concerned, George Clooney is horribly miscast as Batman, the actor never believable as anyone other than George Clooney, while Chris O'Donnell's Robin comes across as an irritating impetuous child, and Alicia Silverstone's Batgirl exists purely to add some girl power.From the opening shots of our heroes' rubber clad butts and moulded suit nipples, to the boring 'climax' that had me struggling to stay awake, this film is a colossal misfire and an embarrassment to all involved.A pitiful 3/10, although I nearly deducted a point for the silly cartoon sound effects that occasionally accompany the action.

This one has come in for a bit of a hammering in recent years from second-rate film critics publishing retrospectives, and compiling lists of 'worst movies ever made'. This one topped one of those lists. Well, it isn't. But then, it's not a good film either. I saw it on release and came out thinking it was gaudy and meretricious nonsense. However, given the overuse of CGI in blockbuster films these days, and toe-curling dialogue, I will assume witness for the defence for Batman & Robin. Clooney is perfectly cast in the titular role but ended up somehwat underwhelming. Apart from some well-timed jokes he never seemed to get his teeth into it. Chris O'Donnell was also well cast with a vigilante partnership problem.But, it is the potent Uma Thurman who steals the show as the staggeringly voluptuous beauty, Poison Ivy, who enters the spirit of pantomime wonderfully. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers another character seemingly written for his angular delivery, packed full of comic tropes on the words ice and cold. In recent years there has been a tendency to look for provenance and seriousness to what were two dimensional characters in comics. Director Joel Schumacher just treats the subject matter honestly - it is pure kitsch fantasy harking back to the mid-60s TV series for style. The budget is there up on the screen in a frenzy of garishness, vibrant colour, exposition, action, and bizarre stage sets. Most of the action is stunts and live sequences. If you enter the spirit of old fashioned British stage pantomime, of baddies being really bad baddies with a twinkle in their eyes, it is perhaps not the worst couple of hours you've wasted.