The End Is Nigh... "Batman & Robin"

Batman & Robin (1997)

Rated PG-13 for language, violence and ice skating

Starring George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chris O' Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone

Directed by Joel Schumacher

The Story:

Batman (Clooney) and Robin (O'Donnell) are facing the maniacal Mr. Freeze (Schwarzenegger) who is trying to get his hands on diamonds, to create a freeze ray that will turn the world to ice!  He has a hand in the creation of Poison Ivy (Thurman) who uses her feminine ways to drive a wedge between the dynamic duo!  Thankfully, the arrival of Alfred's niece, Barbara (Silverstone) will tip the scales to the side of justice when she becomes...Batgirl!

Oh my...

This was even worse than I remembered.

When the Dynamic Duo become ice skaters in the opening battle of the film, I literally rolled my eyes and checked out of the film.

Which is a shame, because George Clooney gets the lion's share of unfair blame on the failure of this movie.

It wasn't his fault. 

In fact, I have gone on record, many times, that Clooney actually made the best Batman of the 3 that wore the cape and cowl up to that point.

No, it was the terrible script and Schumacher instilling too much camp in a series that had been only wink and nod in that area up to that point.

Final Grade: D+ realm

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Nope, I'm good.

Time For A Change... "Batman Forever"

Batman Forever (1995)

Rated PG-13 for language/violence

Starring: Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Chris O'Donnell

Directed by Joel Schumacher

The Story:

Batman (Kilmer) is faced with a two-pronged attack from Two Face (Jones) who believes Batman caused the courtroom accident that scarred his face, and the Riddler (Carrey) who used to work for Wayne and has invented a device that can steal information from the mind.  With the death of Dick Grayson's (O'Donnell) parents at the hands of Two Face, he becomes a ward of Bruce Wayne, and will attempt to take his place fighting crime alongside Batman. 

Quite a bit to jam pack into this tale!

And if that wasn't enough, add Nicole Kidman in as a love interest, and you have a bloated mess of a film.

This was the first entry in the Bat-chise that I bothered with.

So again, I don't remember if it was Keaton or Burton that kept me away, but with both gone, I came aboard.

Bored.

It was okay for its time.

Again, no rose-colored glasses from this guy, I actually have memories of seeing (and owning!) this one on VHS.

Egads.

Who was the bigger ham, Carrey or Jones?

O'Donnell is close to insufferable most of the time as Robin.

Kilmer does the best he can with the role and apparently would have been back for a sequel except for scheduling conflicts.

Apparently DC has little qualms about recasting the star of their franchise...

The cheese factor was amped up... the cast was amped up.

There was nowhere for this franchise to go...

But down!

Final Grade:  C- maybe a C

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Nearly 20 years have passed since I last saw this one.  I would assume a similar, or longer time, will pass before I do this again.