Seeing as my thoughts on Batman as a whole always come back to the masterful Christopher Nolan series, it was hard for me to stomach the character in the first of a double bill (it was followed by Batman and Robin) of silly, stupid, campy shit superhero rollicks that opt more for the route of Adam West than Christian Bale.
Whilst Forever doesn’t go as far as a Batman credit card, it is still beyond ridiculous. Two-Face and The Riddler play battleships. The Riddler omits a pelvic thrust as bombs explode. Two-Face comically cries into his arm as he bangs a table with his fist after hearing Batman survived yet ANOTHER botched murder attempt. I often found myself wondering where the hell our antagonists got their clothing and also wondered why the police literally sat around doing nothing waiting for Batman to do all the work. I’m serious, there’s a moment where, rather than going after the bad guys themselves, Commissioner Gordon and a deputy stand by the Bat-sign and wait for our hero to show up. You wouldn’t find Gordon doing that in The Dark Knight.
I haven’t seen Batman Forever for at least ten years and it’s a lot worse than I remember. At least Batman and Robin is so campy you can see where they were going with it. Forever doesn’t really know where it stands. There are moments of genuine seriousness (Bruce Wayne remains a tortured soul despite Val Kilmer’s somewhat bland portrayal as the hero) and pathos here, yet once Two-Face and The Riddler join forces, it turns into an irritating carnival of campiness and shitty puns. It doesn’t fit.
At least we can thank Nolan for his work. There is still a worry, however, that the next Bat-movie, The Dark Knight Rises, will fall into the same curse of superhero sequels.
I watch with baited breath.
2/5
P.S. For all the shit that Batman and Robin gets for the nipple Bat-suit, just look closely here. They’re present an accounted for.
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