Batman Forever Reviews

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two Batman movies, and although Tim Burton didn't return and replaced by Joel Schummacher I decided to give Batman Forever a chance. The film isn't as good or as dark as the first two films, but it is a huge improvement over Batman and Robin, the less said about that film the better. Anyway, this film is quite possibly the fastest and the funniest of the series, but despite all this there are some hit and miss elements. Chris O'Donnell is annoying and lifeless as Robin, the script has its weak spots despite some terrific lines from Jim Carrey and while Nicole Kidman was bearable, her character could have been written better. However, it is stylishly filmed with Oscar-nominated photography and excellent special effects, the direction is surprisingly more efficient and the action hurls along at an exciting and breakneck pace. The acting is good on the most part with Val Kilmer brooding as Batman and Michael Gough perfect as Alfred. The villains steal the show though, while Tommy Lee Jones is excellent as usual as Two Face Jim Carrey is the one with the best lines and delivery as the Riddler. Overall, hit and miss but a decent entry in the Batman franchise. 7/10 Bethany Cox

In hindsight, this is actually an entertaining version of Batman. It isn't perfect but it is very watchable with it's Gotham / Las Vegas light show always going on in the background. Val Kilmer is a younger, more handsome Batman.  Jim Carrey gets a bit annoying as Riddler and Chris O'donnell's presence as Robin seems awkward upon first viewing this one.  In the later scenes it is actually nice for Batman to have someone to talk to as he goes into battle.  I do like the more kid friendly approach in contrast to Batman Returns, where the Penguin was just one of the worst things put on film.  But it's also a bit jolting to have rubber butts and prominent nipples taking up camera shots when Batman changes costume.  That is undeniably weird, but at least Schumacher gets on with the action and brings it back to Batman fighting the bad guys when things stray a little off course.  If Burton's Batman is prone to hanging out in his mansion too much while the bad guys torture people, Schumacher's Batman is always on the move, answering the Batsignal, trying to help Robin, dropping in on Chase for a booty call (and then getting turned away).  I found all of that stuff to be rather pleasant, if superficial.  Jim Carrey's scenes were an unwelcome interruption for me though.  He seems to think he's in an Ace Ventura movie where his character can improvise anything he wants to.  From what I hear, Schumacher was basically encouraging this, while his costar, Tommy Lee Jones could not "sanction his buffoonery."  But most of the movie is amusing and I think Schumacher improves the action sequences and gives us more of them.  But it's also funny to think that this is the movie that kept the franchise alive considering some of the wacky things in it.  It isn't a big leap to say that this might be the first bisexual Batman movie, with Batman having to choose between saving Robin (another guy in a rubber muscle suit) and Chase Meridian (his stunning girlfriend who wanted to have sex with him as Batman before learning who he was).  Did I say this was more kid friendly?  Well, yeah. It actually is because all of this will go over the heads of most children.  And at least they won't be scared by one of Burton's disgusting "sight gags" of someone randomly biting a guys nose off like we saw in Batman Returns.  (Sheesh). 

Apparently, Tim Burton was actually planning to make a third Batman picture but it seems that the studio got worried that his movies were getting darker and darker so they went for another director and this movie was the end-result. Eventually, even though it turned out to be another box-office success for this franchise, I didn't like it much, I'm afraid. Basically, the biggest change was in the tone. Indeed, if the Burton movies were pretty dark and sometimes even gloomy, this one was filled with some fluorescent colors and neon which made the movie maybe easier to swallow for the mainstream audience but it became also much less appealing to me. The other thing that bother me was how cheesy the dialogues were. Indeed, there were filled with some rather silly oneliners and I can understand that Micheal Keaton dropped from the whole thing since he didn't want to get involved in some cartoon. I have to admit it, it wasn't completely awful and I guess it must have been fun for all the kids up to 12 years old. Furthermore, Val Kilmer was actually a very good choice to play the Dark Knight, physically probably the best of them all. Nicole Kidman also never looked so stunning but I think I have never seen such a shallow psychiatrist before. Anyway, to conclude, I thought it was pretty weak and I don't think is really worth a look. 

'Batman Forever' was a nice surprise but not the best one in the 'Batman' series, here, they took on a new director Joel Schumacher who replaced Tim Burton, more kid-friendly (the first two were rated 15 while this was rated PG) and a new cast including Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Chris O'Donnell and Michael Gough that gave some very good performances, but the one that stole the show was Jim Carrey

The action scenes weren't bad at all and like the first two, it looked good, why it got mixed to negative reviews, I don't know because I actually enjoyed it, not as much as the first two but I still liked it, its goodness surprised me!

well let me start of by saying this was total tripe just no i mean the question that i was asking myself through the whole film was "what the hell happened to batman?" i mean its a awful film. no real kinda good plot the characters REAL life, history ect. was all made up. and to what was even worse was bloody jim carrey in a horrible tight lycra suit ..ewwwwwww. so no terrible film shame on you who like it the end.

A Batman movie that hasn't aged well. I remember enjoying this growing up and the soundtrack is still excellent, but the movie is decidedly average. It's still fun, but the colourful costumes and props and the campy atmosphere just doesn't work very well. Val Kilmer phones in a performance as Batman and appears to be disinterested throughout the movie (which he was apparently). We also get Chris O'Donnell as Robin, who is taken in by Bruce Wayne when his parents are murdered by Two-face. He provides some of the movie's better humorous moments (including a nod to the campy TV series) and does a decent job overall.

The TV series is also obviously Joel Schumacher's inspiration for the look and feel of the whole movie. To be fair, Tim Burton also had a fair amount of camp in the two movies that he directed, but the overwhelming sense was of a foreboding darkness, both in Gotham and in Batman. Schumacher's take on the movies is just pure camp, which was proven by the disastrous sequel, Batman & Robin.

--Sure this film in no way compares to the supreme-ness of "Batman Begins and The Dark Knight", however this film is hilariously entertaining.

--Val Kilmer is usually excellent, but not a great Batman..it's rather funny. He's entertaining to watch, when he yells "Harvey!..I'm BATMAN!" I almost peed my pants at the ridiculousness of it.

--Jim Carey, Tommy Lee Jones and the guy who plays Alfred, make the film funny and good. I was rather fond of the Riddler/Two-Face combo, I don't see how one could hate it! Alfred is dope, not as good as Mike Caine, but up there. Nicole Kidman is quite beautiful in this film, but the acting is "meh".

Dislikes: Chris O'Donnell! He's horrid and very gay..perfect for Robin I GUESS, but they could have done a mucchhh better job. Drew Barrymore was annoying as well.

Rating: 8.8/10

When I saw that this film is supposed to be an ultimate start to the downfall of the Batman franchise that is until Batman Begins was released. I don't think it was a downfall, it just wasn't as good as the previous two Batman films which were both directed by Tim Burton. I liked quite a few things about this film. For example, I liked the entertaining action scenes especially involving The Riddler and Batman. I liked all of the characters but not all the performances from the actors in this film. Yes, I admit that the story was weaker in this one than Batman and Batman Returns.


Val Kilmer's performance as Bruce Wayne is satisfactory. I personally think he did have the action techniques when he is Batman but when he is Bruce he doesn't really feel like Bruce Wayne when compared to Michael Keaton and especially Christian Bale. Kilmer is better than George Clooney. They should have kept Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne. I wasn't that keen on Tommy Lee Jones as "Two Face"/Harvey Dent because I don't think he was evil enough. He didn't make me nervous like Aaron Eckhart did when he became Two Face in The Dark Knight. Lee Jones's Two Face is totally different to Eckhart's Two Face because Lee Jones's was a complete psychopath who couldn't be captured just like the Joker. But Aaron's Two Face was drawn by revenge for Rachel and rage against Gordon and Batman. Also, Two Face in Batman Forever worked alongside The Riddler to bring terror to Gotham and to try and reveal Batman's true identity. To be fair, Tommy Lee Jones was a good choice for the character but it turned ou that his performance was pretty lame. Jim Carrey's performance was definately the best performance from the whole film because he made the Riddler a completely insane murderer and also a very confusing and mysterious character to work out. Jim totally blew me away. He looked brilliant in the green Riddler costume and the red fuzzy hair. When I heard rumours that Johnny Depp was going to portray The Riddler in the third Nolan Batman film and sequel to The Dark Knight. I thought to myself "If Johnny is playing the Riddler, I need to see what sort of character he is" even though I needed to see this film anyway to see all the Batman films. But whe I did watch Batman Forever, I thought that the Riddler is the almost perfect character for Johnny Depp. Jim Carrey's loopy and hyper style forced to bring a comedy side to the Riddler's sick personality. Nicole Kidman's performance was quite good because Dr. Chase Meridian is a sexy and gorgeous character which is what Nicole is. Her acting skills in this one was very motivating because she just went ahead and said what she needed to say. I think Chris O'Donnell gives a rather weak impression of the heroic sidekick of Batman that is Robin but he was worst in Batman & Robin though.


Joel Schumacher's directing is quite poor in this one. They should have stuck with Tim Burton as director and Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman because then it might have been just as good as Batman and Batman Returns. I found the script to be quite slow but quite entertaining at the same time. I wasn't bored of it at all but was a little disappointed with it.


I have now seen all six Batman films and this is the fifth best with The Dark Knight, Batman, Batman Begins and Batman Returns in front of it with Batman & Robin behind it. This is Jim Carrey's film. I didn't think this film was crap nor really good. It was just a good piece of entertainment.

Though I will admit, it did suck that Tim Burton Stepped down as the role of Directing these films, I got to give this some sort of credit, now that the villians or at least one of them have been ressurected in the better more serious dark series of Batman films. Much better than the fourth installment, Both the riddler and Two face played their roles of uber evil bosses with some sort of a friendly twist. These two films (Batman Forever and Batman and Robin) were almost jokes about Batman, keeping the comic and classic series tone with fantasy and chliche up the wazu. The makeup jobs were good and I like to see all the goons go flying, plus one of my favorite actors, Tommy Lee Jones finally scores himself Two Women.. Get Em Two Face!

Two-Face: What?
The Riddler: I hope you made extra.
Two-Face: Who the hell are you?
The Riddler: Just a friend. But you can call me... the Riddler.

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

The Batman franchise was clouded in uncertainty when director Tim Burton gracefully stepped away from helming the third instalment. Due to loyalty and creative issues, Michael Keaton also opted not to return as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Instead, a new creative team was brought into the picture. Leading this creative team was director Joel Schumacher. At first glance this could seem like an intelligent idea to employ the talents of Schumacher considering his past movies (these include The Lost Boys to Flatliners). With a director in place, it was then time to find someone to fill the vacated cape. Once again, a seemingly fantastic decision was made when Batman's outfit was donned by actor Val Kilmer. On top of this, Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey were brought on as Batman's adversaries - portraying Two-Face and The Riddler, respectively. Then throw in superstar Nicole Kidman, and have actor Michael Gough returning as Batman's loyal butler. What could possibly go wrong, right? Unfortunately, it seems a lot can go wrong.

It seems Batman Forever abandons the artistic approach adopted by visionary Tim Burton. Instead, a new creative team have given everything a makeover. One of the biggest insults is also abandoning Burton's method of creating a blockbuster crossed with a masterpiece. The original Batman was filled with stylish action in the form of a popcorn summer flick, and on top of this it was also a masterpiece of the highest order (and one of my favourite films of all time). Batman Returns continued this very effective approach. With Batman Forever we're presented with nothing to bring it out of the "brainless over-the-top action" category. As an alternative, this film submerges its plot in the abundance of campy stylised action.

Even worse is that the director can't handle action with any degree of style. Apparently with the recent Hollywood obsession, the studio demanded utilisation of the MTV quick-cut approach to the action. As a result the action is unfortunately difficult to follow. The visuals that were once magnificent to behold instead resemble something from Blade Runner or some other science fiction production. Gotham City no longer looks unique at all. Burton's neo-gothic vision of Gotham City is sorely missed. Batman Forever is almost an extended toy commercial that looks impressive, but cannot match Burton's mix of style and substance. In hindsight, it's a warning of what was to follow: the train wreck that became Batman & Robin.

This instalment in the Batman franchise finds Bruce Wayne/Batman (Kilmer) facing off with two menacing villains. Harvey Dent (Jones) was in a terrible accident for which he blames Batman, and is looking to get revenge. He returns as Two-Face. Dr. Edward Nygma (Carrey) is a technical wizard who's jealous of Bruce Wayne's success. He adopts the alter ego of The Riddler. Meanwhile, a young acrobat named Dick Grayson (O'Donnell) witnesses his family plummet to their death, and he's alone in the world. Dick takes a warming to Bruce Wayne and his butler Alfred (Gough). As Two-Face and The Riddler scheme nothing but evil for the future of Gotham City, Batman must again rise to the challenge to defend his home. This time, he is joined by Dick who takes the alter persona of Robin.

Like I said, Batman Forever is not a masterpiece. It's a summer flick, and with the heavy use of stylised special effects it keeps reminding the audience of this. Although sometimes impressive in terms of special effects and stunt-work (the close combat fights are awesome), it seems everything is now hyperbolic and exaggerated, with most of the action quite dumb and made just to sell popcorn. Throw in a few incredibly dumb characters, and voila. Val Kilmer is a decent Batman. He can't match Keaton, but Kilmer's portrayal has its strong points. Tommy Lee Jones pulls off a decent performance. Typically, he's pretty impressive but not perfect. Jim Carrey steals the show in every scene in which he features. He's the most impressive member of the cast. You'll also find Nicole Kidman who gives it everything she has, but the script is the unfortunate downfall.

All in all, I'm vastly disappointed with the result of Batman Forever. Despite colourful visuals, everything seems to be toned down for marketing purposes. The filmmakers were looking to make merchandise instead of making a worthy Batman adventure. The special effects are far too over-the-top this time as well. The action may look impressive, but this is not the Batman standard previously set by Tim Burton. Does it work? Not really, but it'll certainly keep you entertained and Jim Carrey provides a few laughs. In a nutshell: this is a shameless action flick with a dumb concept that could easily be employed for a James Bond movie. This is a campy flick that hasn't aged well. Followed by Batman & Robin.

5.4/10