Batman & Robin (1997)

So I caught Fatman on Batman’s audio commentary for Batman, Batman Returns and Batman Forever on You tube. Very funny stuff to listen to, but I did not want to listen to Batman And Robin because I only saw Batman and Robin once went it came out over 20 years ago and I feel that I kinda wanted to see the movie again before I check out the commentary. I been putting this off for so long because of the stigma that comes along with the movie but during this mandatory quarantine, I started watching shit I thought I would never watch. Now was the perfect time to watch it.

So George Clooney is suppose to be the worse Bruce Wayne ever to put on the cape and cowl. Clooney being Batman is a merit to his super stardom. At the time he was super star power and everyone wanted him in everything so it’s no wonder execs were like “make him Batman” cause he would put butts in the seats. Michael Keaton is still my all time favorite but I herd Bob Kane who created Batman thought Val Kilmer fit the bill perfectly.

Maybe he loved the chin more

In agreement with Kane, Clooney is a step down from what Kilmer brought to the fold,  but I must admit I don’t hate Clooney’s Batman. He’s not the best, but he gave it his all and it shows in his performance. Almost reminds me of Batfleck who I thought was wrong for the part as well.

Then I saw this and my mind was completely changed.

It’s not Clooney’s fault that he was so hot at the time that people would make rash decisions in casting just to have him, but If anything the very worse casting in this situation is Chris O’ Donnell.  O’Donnell was paired better with Kilmer in Batman forever but in Batman and Robin he looks young but not that young, I’m not seeing a teenager or a young college student, he looks like a young man. It does not help that O’Donnell and Clooney are like the same size. I am more use to a Robin a little smaller than Batman (Which reminds me, Clooney does stand out as the first Batman on cinema (Even in Adam West’s version) that’s taller than Alfred. West’s version of Batman is the only time this was because the man playing Alfred was that tall in every other it was because Batman was that short). Chris O’Donnell feels like those times in the 80s when a grown ass man was playing a high school kid and it would have worked if he was with other adults playing children. A big issue with his performance but the only one really.

Despite the fact that the movie is called Batman & Robin it’s Arnold Schwarzenegger who gets top billing in the Star category, which is what I expect from this Tim Burton started franchise. Jack Nicolson’s name came before Michael Keaton’s and I always felt that the real star of the movie is the villain (Something missing from superhero movies of today) , and with villains being the stars they should be played by movie stars, which is why Arnold make sense to me as Mr. Freeze. I think he was perfect in the role. Whatever fault you have with him has to do with the writing and directing. Schwarzenegger did the best he could with the material that was corny (by design). I loved those moments when he gave the camera those sinister looks. Yeah! the Oak works for me.

I forgot that Vivicca A Fox was in this movie. She did what could be considered and overblown cameo in the movie and got a open credit, credit for it. At the time it was a huge deal that she was in the movie, because I remember her doing promos for it. She was on the cover of magazines she did talk show interviews. All that stuff. I’m guessing her role was going to be bigger but is somewhere on the cutting room floor at this point. Oh well, I’m sure she got paid well for her star power (or at least I hope. She was not as hot as Clooney but back in the 90s she was a woman everyone wanted in their movie).

I think Batman and Robin had that kinda money too. Jessie Ventura makes an overblown cameo in the movie himself. Once again sharing the screen with his Predator cast member Arnold Schwarzenegger doing one or two lines as a security guard but Batman & Robin did have the type of money just to do that.

Its interesting. Michael Gough who plays Alfred has been in all four movies of this part of the franchise and went through three Batmen and too honor his longevity they revolve the subplot of the film around Alfred. That’s cool, the only person whose been with the franchise as long is Pat Hingle who plays Commissioner Gordan and was in each Batman film. They could have done a subplot with him as well, which would have made more sense considering that Alfred’s subplot revolved around a niece named Barbara Goodson who ends up becoming Batgirl. Yeah, the story makes sense to the arch of the film and the moral code being taught about family that seems to be spread all across the movie, but in the comic book Jim Gordan’s daughter Barbara is Batgirl, which makes it very easy for me to hate Alicia Silverstone’s version. Don’t know what I thought of it as a kid. Quit possible I only cared that Batgirl was on the screen with the dynamic duo. Now, However, I can only think to myself that Barbara Goodson is a disservice to the fan boys because they could have so easily used Barbara Gordan in the film. Watching this shit I can only see all the flaws in Alicia Silverstone. a little too cute and too quirky in her delivery to make me believe she can be the batgirl that is useful to the team over the batgirl that gets kidnapped by the villain and needs saving. At least she did look like a teenager.

As it turns out, Elle McPherson’s charter in the movie Julie Madisen is someone that exist in the comics. It makes no sense that Bruce Wayne would allow a woman this close to him and not tell her who he is (especially considering how many women already know: Vicky Vale, Cat woman. Chase Meridian. Barbra Goodson knows he’s Batman and like with Vale, Alfred did not even give the Dark Knight the choice to tell (in fairness, the old man was dying in this movie and he was putting measures in place to assure Batman would not have to do this alone, but still). Her role in the movie seems stupid, just another ploy to add booties to the seat.

Then you have Bane. Bane as a character was in the movie because Bane the character was popular at the time. A similar reason for putting Venom in Spider-Man 3 when the filmmaker did not like the character of Venom (which was obvious when you see it). Bane works for me in this movie. Not much change to who the character is, a psychopathy injected with a super serum that turns him into a monster (That reminds me of Jason from Friday the 13th, making him very scary for me). Now he uses his skills for money, in the case of this movie he worked for Poison Ivy (Who in the movie has an origin story that ripps off the Catwoman origin and is connected with Bane.). Can can be hard to have so many villains in one movie but Bane being in the film fit in nicely to me actually. you want Bane to do more cause he’s Bane, but Bane is actually doing what he’s suppose to do.

Plus, can’t feel bad for a villian who got his chance to shine.

Give a shout out to the art direction and set design of this film. I’ve been watching a lot of old movies lately that use sound stage pre the popularity of green screen and I will say Batman & Robin’s Gotham city was great. Not because of the colorfulness that makes it appeal to children, but because whatever soundstage they use was able to open up the space and not make it seem so enclosed. That must have had something to do with the amount of money they were able to put into this film.

The biggest problem with Batman & Robin is that it’s turning back a clock that nobody wanted turned back. in the 80s Frank Miller helped turned Batman into this dark and grim hero (Which makes sense due to his origin story). Tim Burton’s first two movies help popularize that, but even the cartoon that was popular at the time knew that the dark version of Batman was the best. for whatever reason Joel Schumacher thought a lighter Batman man was the key and he and whoever else made him do it got it wrong. I remember watching a Behind the scenes feature of Batman & Robin in which Joel Schumacher was editing the movie and told the editor to do this and when they played it back it sucked. Schumacher was like “alright I ruined the movie, dam” It was a joke as it turned out people were laughing at for the wrong reason.