Review of Batman Forever

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.