Having watched the first two Tim Burton Batman movies again, on DVD, I've been basking in late 80's - early 90's bat-glow.
And then I watched Batman Forever. Oh dear!
I can't believe it's a Tim Burton movie too! What was he thinking? Somewhere between Returns and Forever Tim lost his Mojo. Maybe he just ran out of steam and not having Keaton carrying on must have been a blow.
There was no subtle beginning, no introduction, just a messy, loud string if explosions and chases with Two Face chuckling throughout. There appeared to be no story until Wayne met Nigma.
I just feel the casting was all wrong. Val Kilmer is just too darn good looking for his own good and never seems to get riled. Chris's Robin is just too annoying to even write much about. And Nicole Kidman as Meridian Chase just didn't do it, her performance was neither here nor there.
But I've saved the worst till last: Two Face.
Tommy Lee Jones was not the actor for Harvey Dent's bifurcated character. It was wishy washy at best and the make-up and clothing looked daft. I can't think of a single memorable line they gave poor Tommy to say.
Jim Carey did OK as the Riddler, a sort of Mask dry-run, but being a funny guy he was well, funny. Too much funny ruins Batman for me I'm afraid.
Michael Gough's Alfred kept things on the straight and narrow when he could, but overall the complete carnage and cacophony around him was all we could hear.
The whole film was a bit of a mess but I'm glad I've seen it again.
Have you seen it?
Next up, George Clooney's Batman and Robin!
I was never a fan of Burtons outings, starting with Nicholson as the Joker. he’s just too Jack Nicholson to be anyone else. the endless parade of actors in the Bat Suit afterwards was just farcical - i mean George Clooney? I enjoyed The Riddler as Carrey was at his comedy height at the time and Alicia Silvestone in spandex was nice to see, but the whole franchise just devolved into a neon nightmare of quips and posturing. Give me Christian Bale every time! Bill
ReplyDeleteKeaton or Affleck for me!
DeleteNot directed byTim Burton. Batman Forever was by Joel Schumacker though Burton does get a co-producer credit. Batman Returns was deemed too dark by Warner Brothers, particularly the Penguin scenes and didn't make as much money as the first film though it was a critical success. So it was decided to go camp. Michael Keaton didn't want to go down that route so dropped out. Amazingly it made tons of money and Schumacker then went even camper with the next film Batman & Robin. Val Kilmer was apparently difficult to work with so was replaced by George Clooney for that one. That film just broke even at the box office and was derided as one of the worst superhero movies ever . Have fun watching it! Don't forget to watch the original 1966 Batman movie to compare!
ReplyDeleteGood tip Yorkie. I will.
DeleteI remember George Clooney wrestling with the writing of Batman and Robin. The scene where he cries over Alfred's supposed death was painfully embarrassing to watch. Clooney is a good actor, but the script was all wrong.
ReplyDeleteYears later, I was working on pre-production on George Miller's Justice League:Mortal. The script had a burned out, paranoid Batman, creating a world wide surveillance system and keeping secret files on how to beat his fellow Leaguers, in case they went bad...
As I read the script, I thought this was the perfect vehicle for Clooney to really display his acting chops.
Instead we got Armee Hammer and his blonde surfer dude Batman!
...then we all got the sack.
Damn, that must have been a painful experience Looey! I like the sound of the script, sort of Watchmen-ish.
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