Movielogr
Batman & Robin (1997)
Directed by Joel Schumacher
Twitter Facebook Google+Action | Science Fiction | Crime
Most recently watched by Angjonesy, danfinn, themarc, CoffeeEater
Overview
Batman and Robin deal with relationship issues while preventing Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy from attacking Gotham City.
Rated PG-13 | Length 125 minutes
Actors
George Clooney | Chris O'Donnell | Uma Thurman | Arnold Schwarzenegger | Alicia Silverstone | Michael Gough | Pat Hingle | John Glover | Elle Macpherson | Vivica A. Fox | Vendela Kirsebom | Elizabeth Sanders | Jeep Swenson | John Fink | Michael Reid MacKay | Eric Lloyd | Jon Simmons | Christian Boeving | Stogie Kenyatta | Andy LaCombe | Joe Sabatino | Michael Paul Chan | Kimberly Scott | Jay Luchs | Roger Nehls | Anthony E. Cantrell | Alex Daniels | Peter Navy Tuiasosopo | Harry Van Gorkum | Sandra Taylor | Elizabeth Guber | Jack Betts | Marc Glimcher | Mark Leahy | Jim McMullan | Patrick Leahy | Jesse Ventura | Ralf Moeller | Doug Hutchison | Tobias Jelinek | Greg Lauren | Dean Cochran | Coolio | Nicky Katt | Lucas Berman | Uzi Gal | Howard Velasco | Bruce Roberts | John Ingle | Gene LeBell | Azikiwee Anderson | Michael Bernardo | Steve Blalock | Steve Boyles | David Cardoza | Christopher Caso | Mark Chadwick | Danny Costa | Simon Kim | Todd Matthew Grossman | Jim Hardy | Steven Ito | Dennis Keiffer | Stephan Desjardins | James Kim | Dennis Lefevre | Jean-Luc Martin | Cory M. Miller | Chris C. Mitchell | Christopher Nelson | Jim Palmer | Jeff Podgurski | Robert Powell | Chris Sayour | Don Sinnar | Paul Sklar | Takis Triggelis | Corey Haim | Greg Bronson | Spitfire Brown | Johnathan Brownlee | Ryan Allen Carrillo | Ellen Dunning | Eva Ford | Earnest Hart Jr. | Matthew Hurley | Valentina | Khristian Lupo | Julie Michaels | David Novak | Gloria Koehn Straube | Dick Shawn | Deron McBee
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07/12/2020 | TV | Blu-ray | Library | 4 stars |
| (Average) 4 stars |
Viewing Notes
RIP Joel Schumacher August 29, 1939 - June 22, 2020
When Joel passed away last month I wanted to watch and revisit a few of his films to celebrate his career. I checked off PHONE BOOTH and requested BATMAN FOREVER and BATMAN & ROBIN from the library.
Forgot how dreadfully bad this movie is. Like, I knew it was bad but wowza. I think I’ve only seen it once or twice definitely on release in theater and recall thinking it was just the worst thing then maybe… maybe I saw it once more when it hit dvd or HBO or something. I do know I’ve seen so many clips from this film it feels like I’ve it seen it more than I have. However, I have not b/c I didn’t recall the subplot w/Alfred dying, at all. And I mostly forgot that ridiculous motorcycle race w/Alicia Silverstone’s Barbara and all the wacky gangs.
That sequence among many other things really illustrates how far they stretched the fantasy and hyper comic book styling from the first film in 1989. It’s absurd and often looks like a Broadway musical that was filmed for a movie release. Nearly everything looks fake and like actual theatre sets. Most of all the ice looks fake. It’s just so bizarre to see in a big blockbuster franchise film. Almost like they were parodying themselves (maybe they were?).
Even the opening w/the quick glimpses of the rubber suit specifically the shot of the bat nipples, codpiece and rear. It’s as if Joel said, “oh so you’re going to criticize my vision of Batman in BATMAN FOREVER? Well I’m gonna go full gay Broadway this time!” The overacting is bad but i get the sense that Schumacher wanted these villains even more over the top from what Carrey and Jones did in FOREVER. Both Schwarzenegger and Thurman are caricatures and come off so silly.
Still amusing that Schwarzenegger was top billed over George Clooney but I’m sure that was in his contract. Also weird that Clooney doesn’t have that much screen time. Perhaps a good thing b/c I don’t care for his Batman. He’s got too much of a wise guy smirk that he carried early in his film career. Like nothing he says you can take seriously. Of course maybe if they were going for a serious take he could have done it differently and been effective. Just an odd shift from Val Kilmer’s serious take to this one.
I totally get what Schumacher was going for: a homage to the original Batman television show. There are several obvious nods to this besides the dopey dialogue. But it doesn’t work. Perhaps because the scope is so big and that this is following three much better sorta more serious films in the franchise. I dunno if there’s a book about the production and reaction to this film but I’d love to read it. This movie killed that franchise and I cannot imagine what kind of movie they could’ve made to follow this one.
All that said, this is absolutely an entertaining watch in the way you can’t look away from a train wreck. It just keeps topping it self getting worse as it goes. For that I give it a 1-star rating bump bc I could not look away. But my god is this a bad movie. It’s honestly no wonder why Clooney has always trashed this film.
4 years ago
Was watching the extras and there’s the music video for Foolish Games by Jewel, which I don’t think is even in the movie. But goddamn talk about a nostalgia bomb. The movie did nothing for me but viewing that video took me right back to 1997. Such a wild feeling and it’s crazy to me that it’s that old now. Damn