Batman and Robin (1997)

REVIEW

The third sequel to Tim Burton's Batman (1989), the second to be directed by Joel Schumacher, is by any standards an unmitigated disaster. Completely abandoning the dark gothic of the first two films, a process that he began in the equally rubbish Batman Forever (1995), Schumacher instead seems to be trying to recapture the Technicolor camp of the 1960s TV series. Injecting what amounts to a half-hearted gay subtext into the proceedings (what is Schumacher's fixation with Batman's nipples all about?) succeeded only in alienating what few fans he'd managed to bring over from his first Bat-movie and his ham-fisted handling of the key action sequences renders them incoherent.

Akiva Goldman and, it has been suggested, anything up to fifteen other writers, were responsible for the appalling script that seems to rely almost exclusively on sexual innuendo and dreadful, Arnie-friendly one-liners to get it through. The plot is minimal and gives the cast little to work with, resulting in some of the least convincing performances ever seen in a big-budget Hollywood movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger is his usual monolithic self, grunting out puns so bad even the Carry On films would have thought twice, while George Clooney - an immensely talented actor who deserves so much better than this - simply seems embarrassed by it all. He's certainly the least effective of the 1980s / 1990s Batmans. Chris O'Donnell makes no impact whatsoever as Robin, a fate that also befalls Uma Thurman whose part as Poison Ivy is so thinly written she might just as well have not turned up. And the less said about Alicia Silverstone's excruciating performances as Batgirl the better...

The intelligence, wit and dark visuals of the Tim Burton films is nowhere to be seen here - the dark psychology of Batman (1989) and intense pseudo-Gothic of Batman Returns (1992) have been replaced by eye-blistering effects, MTV-style editing and a shallowness that beggars belief. For all its visual pyrotechnics, there's not a single stand-out scene in Batman and Robin and it remains the least memorable of the whole series thus far. Even the introduction of the potentially fatal disease afflicting Alfred is handled so clumsily that one feels manipulated instead of moved. And the equally clumsy attempt to introduce some sort of conflict between Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson (a fledgling father / son relationship tinged with sexual jealousy over Poison Ivy) is made with such a lack of conviction that it's barely noticeable. Imagine what Burton could have done with potentially explosive material like that!

To its credit, the film looks good - or at least it does when Schumacher allows us to see it properly without his visual grandstanding getting in the way. The set design is stunning and Stephen Goldblatt's photography is probably the film's strongest asset, though Schumacher's insistence on using super-fast cutting and oddball camera angles (another nod to the 60s TV incarnation of Batman (1966 - 1968)) barely gives it a chance to shine.

Following the astonishing reception to Batman and Robin (the fans were up in arms and quick to make their feelings known), Warner Brothers quickly dropped the ailing Batman franchise and to be honest, they were probably a film too late in doing so. Schumacher's glitzy, neon-tinged fiasco was simply the death knell for the character in its 90s incarnation and, hard though it was to accept for those of us who had marvelled at the way the earlier films in the series had so successfully resurrected Batman for the big screen, there was simply nowhere left for the character to go. It was a tragic - though thankfully temporary (Batman Begins (2005) deftly restored much of the dignity to the character that had been snatched away by Schumacher) - demise for a series that had begun so promisingly.
KEVIN LYONS

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008