Alternate Takes 09.04.10 - Batman Forever

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 09.03.2010

Join 411s Shawn S. Lealos as he looks at the direction Joel Schumacher led the Batman franchise with Batman Forever.



Welcome to Week 119 of Alternate Takes, my name is Shawn S. Lealos and you have entered my world.





Batman Forever
Director: Joel Schumacher
Writer: Akiva Goldsman, Janet Scott Batchler and Lee Batchler
Stars: Val Kilmer, Chris O'Donnell, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey and Nicole Kidman

When Michael Uslan wanted to bring Batman to the big screen, he spoke of breaking out of the cartoony aspects of the Adam West television show. Tim Burton, a non-comic book fan, took the movie and gave it a darkness that fans of the comics appreciated but film fans found offsetting.

In interviews, Chris O'Donnell said he found Batman Returns too dark and couldn't enjoy it because of that. As a result, the producers decided being dark, while that is exactly what Batman is supposed to be, was not the right approach for the franchise.

Enter Joel Schumacher.



Looking back on the movie, it is clearly the beginning of the end of the Batman franchise but the enthusiasm at the time made it hard to believe the movie was headed in the wrong direction. Batman Forever made more money than any other movie in the franchise at the time with $335 million worldwide. It's $184 million in the U.S. topped the box office for the year.

The movie starts out with Batman putting on his costume and grabbing his weapons before heading out to stop the villainous Two Face. Later in the film, a quick flashback shows Two Face is district attorney Harvey Dent, who fans last saw in the first Tim Burton movie. Sometime between Batman and Batman Forever, Harvey Dent had acid thrown in his face at a trial by a crime lord and somehow became an older white man. That is a strange side effect of acid since the last time we saw him, he looked a lot like Lando Calrissian.

This brings me to my first complaint about Batman Forever. The original movie attempted to bring the comic book Batman to the big screen as a Dark Knight. What Joel Schumacher accomplished was to revert back to a close resemblance of the classic television series.

It is nowhere near as goofy as the show was but it is also clear Schumacher has no serious aspirations about the world of Batman. The dark, gothic appearance of Gotham City is replaced by the neon glows as bright green, pink and orange lights flash throughout the movie. When we meet Two Face, it is clear the franchise is not a dark depiction of the crime fighter.



Tommy Lee Jones is extremely over the top in his performance as Harvey Dent. He is cackling, laughing, throwing out one-liners like he is getting paid for each and every one and is a character that would have fit in perfectly with the old TV show. Hell, a lot of those ridiculous villains were not as goofy as "Harvey Two Face" as Jones refers to his character.

He is soon joined by Jim Carey as The Riddler in a fun performance but, at the end of the day, He is just Ace Ventura. There are moments of brilliance in Carey's performance early in the movie that recalls his underrated gem, The Cable Guy. But it is grows out of control and it is really ridiculous how metrosexual his outfits become as the movie wears on.

Between these two actors, the movie becomes a crazy romp that can't be viewed seriously by anyone over the age of twelve.

Another problem with the movie is the introduction of Robin. I like the character of Robin, I like the fact they went with the circus origin of the character and I like the characters rebellious attitude. However, I feel Chris O'Donnell was too old to play the character. O'Donnell was 25 at the time and he didn't look like the teenager his character was meant to be. I also feel Schumacher puts a little too much of a risqué atmosphere into his movies and a lot of Robin's dialogue plus adding the earring was a little strange.

While the earring might be off-putting, I'll just mention the nipples on the bat costume here and leave it at that.



I do like some things about the movie. I enjoy Val Kilmer in his portrayal of Batman, it is just too bad he is in such a silly movie. Kilmer brings a heroic quality to the physical appearance of Batman that Michael Keaton never pulled off. I can't imagine how great he might have been in the first two Batman films although I can't complain too much about Michael Keaton's performance in the second movie.

Nicole Kidman's Chase Meridian is a great love interest here, a huge step above Vicky Vale and pretty close to Selina Kyle. She is able to help lead into one of the movie's high points, the book that leads Bruce Wayne to realize why he has blamed himself for his parents' murders for all these years. It is a great, dark element in an otherwise ridiculous film.

It is clear Joel Schumacher wanted to make a comic film but didn't care about the character of Batman. It was completely style over substance. If Schumacher doesn't care about the mythos of Batman, why should anyone care about this movie?


Thumbs Up: Val Kilmer is great as Batman. He finally brings a masculinity to the character not displayed in either of the first two movies. Kilmer was at the top of his game and delivered a performance better than the movie it was for.

Thumbs Down: Tommy Lee Jones was ridiculous in his portrayal of Two Face. He was over-the-top, cartoonish and completely off-putting. Every time he opened his mouth I felt I was watching the old television show, something I thought they had finally moved away from.

Who Was That Masked Man?

* Everyone knows Drew Barymore, who played Sugar. Debi Mazar, who currently co-stars on HBOs Entourage as Vince's publicist Shauna, plays Spice.
* Blink and you'll miss him as Jon Favreau plays an assistant in the movie. He broke out the next year in Swingers and has since moved back to comic book movies with Iron Man..

Alternate Takes: How different would the movie have been if Marlon Wayans had played Robin instead of Chris O'Donnell? If his role had not been cut from Batman Returns he was set to reprise the role in Batman Forever. This movie presents the second of three actors to play Harvey Dent in the franchise. Tommy Lee Jones joins Billy Dee Williams and Aaron Eckhart as actors to play the character.

Quotes to Live By

The Riddler: Riddle me this, riddle me that, who's afraid of the big, black bat?

Robin: Holey rusted metal, Batman!
Batman: Huh?
Robin: The ground, it's all metal. It's full of holes. You know, holey.
Batman: Oh.

Bruce Wayne: So, you're willing to take a life.
Dick Grayson: Long as it's Two-Face.
Bruce Wayne: Then it will happen this way: You make the kill, but your pain doesn't die with Harvey, it grows. So you run out into the night to find another face, and another, and another, until one terrible morning you wake up and realize that revenge has become your whole life. And you won't know why.


Comic Book Grade: C - The grade could have been a lot worse. The movie gets credit for playing straight with the origin of Two Face before losing credit due to how he portrayed the bad guy. The movie also gets credit for keeping the circus origin for Robin (although changing who killed his parents). Then it loses credit for casting a 25-year old to play a minor. The movie seems like it wants to be faithful but doesn't care about keeping the overall feel of the Batman world. I complained about Batman killing people in the last two movies. By the end of this one, I wished he would have killed someone.

What They Said: - Batman would be a sensation in any leather bar, but "Batman Forever" is at pains to show that he has heterosexual tastes. - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times





Upcoming Releases

October, 22, 2010 - Red
2010 - Dead of Night (completed, no U.S. release date yet)
2010 - Tamara Drewe - Released at Cannes 2010

January 14, 2011 - The Green Hornet
March 04, 2011 - Priest
May 06, 2011 - Thor
June 03, 2011 - X-Men: First Class
June 17, 2011 - Green Lantern
July 22, 2011 - The First Avenger: Captain America
July 29, 2011 - Cowboys and Aliens
December 23, 2011 - The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

May 4, 2012 - The Avengers
July 03, 2012 - Spider-Man 4
July 20, 2012 - Untitled Batman project

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