Batman Forever (1995)

Batman Forever was a sign of things getting truly batshit crazy for the Batman franchise. The last two films were great iterations of The Dark Knight but Warner Brothers wanted things to be lightened-up for younger audiences as opposed to Tim Burton's German-Expressionistic style of directing. Enter Joel Schumacher, the man who eventually crippled the franchise with Batman & Robin TWO YEARS after he did Batman Forever. Well, at least he kept his style of filmmaking consistent with the two movies: hamming it up to the point of no return, until Chris Nolan resurrected the franchise with Batman Begins in 2005 (thank Christ).So, is this film so sinfully bad that anyone who likes it deserves to be crucified to high-heaven and back? No. But it's not all that good either. Batman Forever has become a widely forgotten-about blockbuster because of how inoffensive it was. It still is, but the precedent it set for Batman & Robin was not. This so-so movie was just a sign of things to come in the broader sense of things.As a lifelong Batman fan, I can easily this is one Batman film you can happily skip during your next Batman-athon. This is filler material incarnate.

Batman and Batman Returns will always be my favorite films to watch. This one didn't have a dark tone like Tim Burton's two films. It's underrated and campy but I like it and it's good to enjoy the action. Val Kilmer was all right playing Batman and Bruce Wayne. When I watch him he feels like he's calm and smooth. Jim Carrey was crazy and demented as the Riddler. He was almost like Jack Nicholson's Joker. Although Carrey played a crazy character in the Cable Guy. Tommy Lee Jones was a bad boy as Two-Face. Chris O'Donnell did a great performance as Robin. Nicole Kidman captured my eyes and heart with her character. She is beautiful and I like her. Top 3 Batman films 1. Batman (1989) 2. Batman Returns 3. Batman Forever

This movie is a lot different from, and in my opinion much inferior to, the first two entries in the (original) Batman movie franchise. I think it's because they had new creative people in place (the new director but also some new cast), and they took the movie into a much too cartoon-like direction. I thought the original Batman movie (1989) was fantastic, and I know a lot of people actually disliked Batman Returns but I still thought it was a very good, entertaining movie. But this movie I thought was a clunker, and the one after this (Batman and Robin) is a complete disaster.You'll enjoy the series if you stop after the second one, when Tim Burton and Michael Keaton both left the series. Trust me.

After the mixed reception of batman returns the studio decided to get rid of Tim Burton and bring on board Joel Schumacher. The results however are anything less than stellar. The worst aspect is the script as the characters are only barley developed with the love story between Bruce Wayne and chase meridian coming across as a couple of teenagers flirting at a party. The motivation of two face is also very weak as we do not really understand why he wants to kill batman and he is given no other goal making him seem more of an excuse for a villain until Jim carrey shows up. The Riddler is slightly better as he is at least given a slightly interesting. His obsession with Bruce Wayne almost makes him seem like a gay rapist. This potentially could be interesting but unfortunately it is only given a few minutes of screen time before he becomes essentially ace Ventura in green spandex. The acting is also poor Val Kilmer Chris O'Donnell and Nicole Kidman all look board whilst Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones both embrace themselves with ridiculously over the top performances. The direction is also poor with an overuse of neon and Dutch angles making the film feel like a disco. The accompanying music and sound effects coupled with the visuals creates an obnoxious style that even Michael bay would object to. The CGI also has aged poorly and as a result makes a the film feel almost fake. However the film is awful in an enjoyable way with the Jim Carrey scenes in particular being so ridiculous that they will likely get a laugh out of the viewers. Overall the film is laughably bad and it is weird to think that a major studio released the film as given the seriousness of modern batman movies it is a wonder why anyone ever see this film as being a legitimate batman film.