I sometimes feel as though Schumacher gets a bit more flack than he deserves for his contributions to the series, as this change of command (and the actor playing the Caped Crusader) wouldn’t have necessarily been such a big deal had the studio not chosen to aim so “family-friendly” in tone (and, really, with the erotic overtones and sure-to-inspire-fits toy hawking going on, how is this really a “family-friendly” film anyway?).
From the terribly boring, Windows 95 screensaver-esque neon credits sequence at the beginning to Alfred’s opening line fussing over giving Batman a sack lunch as he’s on his way out (“I’ll get drive-thru,” Batman mutters.), it’s very clear that if it weren’t for the fact that Michael Gough still plays Alfred and Tim Burton has taken on the role of producer, Batman Forever is tonally, aesthetically, and dramatically divorced from the prior two films, thanks in large part to the series’ new director, Joel Schumacher, and the always meddling corporate execs. To put it simply, Batman Forever not only undid much of the goodwill gained by critics and audiences with the releases of Batman and Batman Returns, it very nearly laid the groundwork for the death of the genre as we know it.įrom the moment the film starts, you know that Forever is a whole different animal than what came before.
To say that Batman Forever fails where its predecessors succeeded is to undermine the severity of the film’s existence. Make no mistake about this: Batman Forever is one of the worst superhero films out there, and it even lacks much of the so-bad-it’s-good qualities that its more ridiculous sequel possesses, making this almost more unbearable than that infamous stain of a film. I get that, compared to its sequel, it’s almost competently plotted out, but this in no way implies that this is a good movie.
You know what? This movie gets too much of a free pass. Directed by: Joel Schumacher Produced by: Tim Burton, Peter MacGregor-Scott, Benjamin Melniker, Michael Uslan Written by: Lee Batchler, Janet Scott-Batchler, Akiva Goldsman (screenplay), Lee Batchler, Janet Scott-Batchler (story) Starring: Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Chris O’Donnell, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Drew Barrymore, Debi Mazar Music by: Elliot Goldenthal Year: 1995
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