Member review

Batman and Robin... Where to start with this film? First a little backstory. After the success of Batman and Batman Returns by Tim Burton Warner Bros made the obviously brilliant choice to get rid of him because it was too dark for the children who wanted to see the movie and as profit margins are more important than making a brilliant example of a comic to movie adaption. So what did they do? Hire Joel Schumacher to make a Batman film that is both suitable for kids and adults! He then made Batman Forever which actually was surprisingly good! It made good use of bright colourful lights as opposed to the darker colours shown in the first two films and included as opposed to Danny Devito's nose-biting umbrella-toting Penguin for Jim Carrey as The Riddler and (because reasons) Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face. Then he was commissioned to make a sequel. Why oh why oh why was he commissioned to make as sequel? So anyway lo and behold this travesty was made and it put Batman into the ground (at least in the film world) for another 8 years. But enough on the backstory let's get onto the review again as with my other reviews looking at the 4 sections: Plot, Special Effects, Music and Acting.

Plot: The story line to Batman (George Clooney because Ben Affleck can't be Batman but George Clooney is fair game.) and Robin (Chris O'Donnell) is that after donning their iconic costumes (now complete with bat-nipples) and delivering the only funny line in the movie where Robin complains about wanting his own Batmobile, Batman tells him that this is why Superman works alone head off to stop Mr Freeze (Arnold Schwarzeneggar) from stealing diamonds to power his suit. While this is happening a botanist Pamela Isley (Uma Thurman) is experimenting with Venom a drug to help plants grow better and solve world hunger when her boss Jason Woodrue informs her he plans to use it to create a Super Soldier codenamed Bane (because he had to be in this movie too) and because Isley refuses to allow this to happen he tries to kill her with chemicals which gives her powers (as opposed to some horrible disease like would happen in real life) over all plant life. She then uses her newfound powers to kill Woodrue and takes Bane as her bodyguard. Oh yeah and also Alfred's dying and Batgirl's his niece, not Jim Gordon's daughter like in everything else and often takes part in illegal street races because we need more plot threads.

The Story could have fit into several movies (but we don't need more Joel Schumacher Batman films that's for sure) and therefore suffers from what I call Spiderman 3 syndrome where a film features too many plot threads that all of the plot threads either become too thin and becomes watered down because of it or end up making a few good ones and some that don't have any relevance. For example the fact that Alfred is dying gets about 5 minutes of screentime. This problem doesn't ruin the film alone but it helps. No what ruins the film is the fact that it forces an ice pun into every last line of Mr Freeze's dialogue. Also Batman has a Bat-credit card because as billionaire Bruce Wayne he needs to have his own credit card when he's Batman. But wait as Batman doesn't get paid doesn't that mean he would have to make his Bruce Wayne and Batman accounts linked to have access to his money revealing his secret identity to the banks of the world? either that or I'm over analyzing a terrible joke in a terrible movie. Anyway let's just say that while the plot looks good on paper in practice it's just disgraceful.

Special Effects: This is as with The Matrix the place where the film picks up. The movies special effects are similar to the 60's Batman style in the fight scenes in the way they are filmed but the actual special effects themselves are decent. Mr Freeze's suit being a highlight. When it comes to the movies costume design it is all actually decent. (except the bat-nipples on their outfits) The highlight is when the villains are put into Arkham Asylum you get a shot of the prisoner's belongings room where the prisoner's belongings are put wherein lies a Riddler outfit showing that Jim Carrey's Riddler is locked up in Arkham now and that was brilliant to see. Sadly it all goes downhill after that. (Not that the film wasn't bad before this point.)

Music: The soundtrack to this film is like a mix between both Tim Burton's classic Batman's and Adam West gloriously campy Batman's and of course we need some new age rock because when I think Batman I think new age rock. This however fits the movie as it too seems schizophrenic about whether it is a dark and serious film or a family friendly film made mainly to sell the accompanying toys.

Acting: This is by far the films biggest failure. The acting is incredibly cheesy but not in the charming sense as in films like The Room and the 60's Batman movie it just falls flat. The worst acting by far is oddly Arnold Schwarzeneggar who should be the best but his entire roll in this film is just to spout out ice puns to no end. The only good actor is Michael Gough who plays Alfred but it doesn't matter because he is dying and therefore is only in the movie for 10 minutes at the most.

In conclusion this movie is nothing but a stain on the otherwise great franchise that is Batman with a sub-par story and sub-par acting. It killed the Batman franchise in film for the next 8 years and you'll be lucky if it doesn't kill you too.