I still love this movie. Val Kilmer was a great Bruce and a great Batman, Jim Carrey was hilarious as Riddler, the Batmobile was awesome, and the city was gorgeous. Two-Face and Robin were ok.
Batman Forever treated Robin pretty decently, but Batman and Robin just made him a whiny baby obsessed with hooking up with a villain for most of the runtime. It's kinda sad.
This is still one of my favorites. You can definitely tell he's batman playing a persona of Bruce, not the other way around. I loved the guilt he felt "I killed them" when referring to his parents death. Too bad the deleted scene that fleshed out the idea of merging the two sides of Bruce's coin, Bruce/Batman, will never see the light of day. Also Two Face is terrible. We only see one side of him and it's always overshadowed by The Riddler. Everyone else knew their parts, what they were supposed to do and did exactly that.
With this being _the_ first Bat-flick I saw as a kid (and what led me to becoming a Batman fan), this will always hold a special place in my heart (😊). I actually wouldn't mind seeing this alternate cut of the film; it ironically sounds more in line (as far as tone goes) with Tim Burton's first two films.
On paper Tommy Lee Jones sounds like a perfect casting for Two Face. In execution, he tried so hard to one up Jim Carrey he just played a discount Joker
The movie that got me into reading entertainment news rags. Of course as a kid, that just came in the form of Disney Adventures: BTS of Batman Forever. I led me to my first "kick" (revisiting an actor's filmography) starting with Val Kilmer, mainly because the magazine hid his face in shadow, and because of how much I dug the movie led to me getting my first CD, Forever's soundtrack and led to my hype around its follow up Batman & Robin in the form of my first subscription to Entertainment Weekly in junior high.
I loved Batman Returns and was hoping for more of _that_ when I went to see Forever. I still remember that the shot with the CGI helicopter was the moment I realised this particular version of Batman wasn't going to be for me. Haven't watched it since, but should revisit it, since I'm a firm believer in always seeing a film at least twice. Loved the soundtrack though, as pop-compilations go it was solid. But then again, the 90's had a lot of great compilation-soundtracks.
One of my favorites just because we snuck out of school to watch this in theaters. All i currently recall are Jim Carrey, Kiss by a Rose, and bat NIPPLES!!!
I'm so glad you mentioned the autobiographical film, Val. I am not really into such movies, but I really like Val Kilmer, and it was very interesting to get a behind the scenes to who he is both professionally and personally through his eyes and "voice" by way of his son narrating it. I am a Batman fan, so I love the early Batman films, including this one, as they are my childhood films of a character I love very much. It is great revisiting this and I already knew a lot of what was mentioned, but it was still very well done, so great job!
This was my younger kids fav batman movie and rightly so, I was 40 at the time and really enjoyed it but I didn't and still don't like the batmobile on this one
Tim Burton is known for Nightmare Before Christmas...but he didnt even direct it. At the time, he was "contractually obligated" to do Batman, and complained ever moment of it. Only to then agree to do Batman Returns, which he AGAIN took a MAJOR LEAVE ON so he could "focus" on Edward Scissor Hands. I have ZERO respect for Tim Burton. Shcumacher is the man, in my book.
On one had this movie had alot of small problems that them from script, acting, design etc. However the film still is fun, entertaining, and a dark take on 1966 Batman
I reckon the trouble with seeing this movie for me (which I disliked and never chose to watch again) was I kept weighing it against Keaton and the version (with a Billy Dee Willaims Two-Face) that he and Burton would've done of this story. That and not being a Kilmer fan (though God bless him in his struggles) probably doomed this from the start for me. That said, these are a generations Batman, Riddler and Two-Face, so that's something special. But with all of the talk of Meaton's Batman coming back finally and "multiverse" being a hot button right now still, I really would like to see at least a photo or cameo showing a version of this film with Billy Dee and one of those actors you showed as Riddler; any one of them can be pictured doing a very Burton-esque Riddler. At least we got Jerry Ordway' s awesome comicbook art version of Billy Dee as Two-Face.
This movie is a guilty pleasure of mine. No it’s not in my top 30 favorite comic book movies and I acknowledged there is a lot wrong with it but it is five times better than the sequel to this movie Batman and Robin. I was probably 15 when this came out and I remember loving the fact that they were going to have Robin in the movie. Believe it or not this movie actually got over with the casual moviegoer back in the day. Everyone I knew was talking about this movie. But yeah, as a diehard DC comics fan I acknowledge that it could’ve been 10 times better and it’s not a movie I watch once a year or anything I would say once every six or seven years I’ll go back and rewatch it and it just takes me back so it’s pure nostalgia . That being said, and the evolution of comic book movies today which are being taken seriously and will be around for a while if its own Fanbase doesn’t kill it off because the comic book movie, Fanbase does nothing but complain, endlessly day and night about anything they can but I would love to see a Batman trilogy where are the first two movies are just your regular Batman stories, but done very well and then in the third movie, he adopts Dick Grayson, but we never see him become Robin. If it were in a shared cinematic universe, you could probably put four or five other DC movies After that third movie, and then have a trilogy of movies titled the dynamic duo. The first movie is him becoming robin, and the next two movies are the dynamic duo at their best. Then of course you could do the movie where it’s not a Batman movie but you could have Batman in it, but it would be Rob, informing the teen titans , which would kick off a trilogy of teen titan movies, but after the second teen titans movie he goes from Robin to Nightwing and then the third titans movie, he would be leading the Titans as Nightwing. That’s how I’ve always pictured Dick Grayson story playing out on the big screen anyway, but that’s just me.
While Batman Returns is still my absolute favorite I unapologetically love this movie and its AMAZING soundtrack. I even have The Riddler and Two Face mugs still that my friend bought for me back in the day because I don't like McDonald's food, but she knew I'd want the mugs. 😆 Great review, thanks for the nostalgia. Think I'll go dig out those mugs now...
Val Kilmer hated being cast as Batman. He said it was show up on set stand here. Val said very little actual acting went into the character Batman. Saw in Val on Amazon Prime highly recommend watching. Read the book Val an autobiography. Both very interesting.
So coincidentally I was watching this film ln and paused the movie where Riddler leaves the forged suicide note and I just could not stop laughing now it's my wallpaper Jajaja
The Robin Williams story I was familiar with, and also consider it to be so sad. I would have preferred Gibson and Williams have gotten those parts, first. Such missed opportunities.
You know there was a reason why Tommy Lee Jones did not like Jim Carrey and it turns out that Jones’ movies were coming out the same time as Carrey’s and each time except for The Client, Jones’ movies were beaten by Carrey’s movies. Also that and Jones has the disposition of sandpaper and only few actually have his respect and friendship (Will Smith, for instance).
Considering just recently Kravitz came out as being told she was “too urban” to be in The Dark Knight Rises, it’s not hard to speculate that WB chose not to keep Wayans or Williams (as they were black). Wonder how that would of gone?
Batman Forever is that kind of movie wich if you made a little adjustments, nowadays would be very well held by fans. In my eyes, people put too much hate in this movie because of Batman & Robin and generally thinks its the same vibe, but i believe this one is a much better Batman movie, only lighthearted instead of hyper realistic or dark, something that is a little different, yes, but is a good change. I have great memories of this movie. Crazy fun:)
It’s a fun movie but it hasn’t really aged well. Jim Carrey was good as Edward but once he loses his mind he ramps it up & just plays Jim Carrey in a green suit. Although Harvey Dent’s brief origin in the video clip scene where his face gets scarred & Batman in the courtroom trying to jump in the way was 100% comic book accurate so I’ll give them that
Channel Awesome did a couple videos on where they screwed up Batman. They basically rewrote Batman returns, and Forever into what they should have always been. Forever being a Burton movie, the toy companies keeping their big freaking nose out of it, and two face's fall from grace as Harvey Dent in Batman Returns. Highly recommend you watch them! I couldn't get over how good these were and how I desperately wanted them to have been done in this way!
I'm surprised That Jim and Tommy didn't get along because when you watch it they seemed to be having fun 🤠 with the movie.And that's what you want to do when you're in a commercial film 😁.
I've always thought it was really weird to cast Drew Barrymore in a bit part like this. I mean, she doesn't even have lines or does she? She had a long career even then and the part was better suited for a model or someone without real acting skills. Only a pretty face was needed. Really weird situation.
Despite it being directed by someone new it's still supposed to be a sequel is it not? The term "soft reboot" hadn't yet been invented. So why did they do away with everything that audiences were familiar with from the first two movies? I'm going to paraphrase this but the most often sentence heard in this video is "Joel Schumacher wanted to do away with this awesome thing from the first two movies." Tim Burton must've been stoked with his choice of director to take over the franchise.
I would love to see a darker version of Forever. Was never a massive fan of it, but I was young enough to not care as much and just went along with the ride lol
I absolutely loved this movie back when it was released. But I was only about 10 years old. As I grew older, I found this movie and Batman & Robin too cringe to sit through now. The numerous Dutch Angles, silly shit like Two Face being a weird camp version of a serious supervillain etc are something I just cannot stand anymore.
I was 11 when this came out, batman was my guy, I loved anything from Tim Burton, (I was a weird kid) so when I saw this I was confused. It wasnt my Batman. I thought the new batmobile sucked, this was always my least favorite. The only thing that made it barely watchable was Jim Carrey.
Batman forever was ok, Val Kilmer wasn’t that bad as Batman. But I won’t go out of my way to watch Batman forever or Batman and Robin, I have to be in a certain mood to watch those films, Tim burtons however I can watch those everyday.
This movie is underrated and I really would have loved to seen the darker version of the film that Schumacher had tried to bring to life, hell I’d even see that Batman year one adaptation he was so passionate to try and adapt. The deleted scenes of batman forever have some scenes with a lot of introspection especially for a superhero movie back then. Those scenes are basically the live action equivalent of a comic book monologue inside a character’s head that’s written in squared off text boxes. It’s great I suggest you all check out the deleted scenes, concepts or ideas. It’s unfortunate that it all got cut but hey I still think that aside from critical reception Joel never made these movies with regret or out of obligation . And I’m happy that he did. Rest In Peace Mr Schumacher.
I still love Batman Forever, and I’d love to see the Schumacher cut. I’m certain that a version of the film without all of the cartoon sound effects added over the fights and with the original order of events restored would be well received. It might even result in it being reevaluated as not being the same shallow rubbish that was Batman & Robin. I really think there’s some good depth to the story with the duality of Bruce Wayne/Batman juxtaposed with the dichotomy of Two-Face, with Bruce being able to accept his two halves where Two-Face can’t. The only weak link is IMHO Tommy Lee Jones, who seemed to be competing with Carrey to see who could go the most over the top. He seemed to forget in most scenes that Two-Face should have two personalities, not just one loud one. If there really is a Schumacher cut, I hope there are some alternate takes of TLJ where he does play up the duality of the part.
You can always tell who the people were when the movie in question comes out . They call it 'underrated '. They dont realize that this movie was the smash of the summer of '95.
@@daveyboy_ im not talking box office im talking about critical reception which especially these days people dont look back at this with too much fondness.
I think if they kept Two-Face the way he looked but actually made him a dark, sinister foil to Riddler's comedic side it would have been a much better film. I really like the design because of how over the top it is, it almost loops around to being comics accurate
It was actually meant to be much darker, closer to Returns. WB forced it through many cuts. One of the things we lose is Two Face’s character arc. Harvey was Gotham’s leading DA and was Batman’s friend, helping to clear his name of the whole Penguin situation from Batman returns. After that, Batman asked Harvey to meet him on a rooftop. Harvey wanted to retire and settle down but Batman didn’t let him, saying that they are two sides of the same coin. Batman promised Harvey that as a reward for staying DA, Batman would protect him NO MATTER WHAT. We all know what happened after that and Two Face was sent to prison for Two years until he escaped by killing a prison guard, by getting him to play double or nothing, where Two Face’s coin landed on the bad side and he said nothing means you don’t even get to live. Throughout the book, Batman feels guilty about what happened and at the circus instead of saying I’m Batman was going to say something he had mentioned to Dent at the rooftop and actively tries to stop Harvey by throwing a gun to his head, hoping it will distract him from flipping the coin at the circus. Not only is Batman sympathetic to Harvey but Two Face follows his coin much more in this version, not minding when the good side turns up. He even tried to kill Riddler at one point after Face thought that he had successfully killed Batman. The infamous coin toss scene is still in there but as Face clearly explains “For each time Batman and chase pass me, it’s a new chance to kill him, requiring a new toss”. Finally, Face dies differently and it was Dent that chooses the death. After the “you’ve always been a good friend” line, Harvey flips and Batman still feeling guilty only uses something to knock the coin off tangent. Face catches it but before he can flip again to see what is the accurate result, Robin says he acts as though the coin is making the decisions for him and asks him to flip for himself. Face does and WITHOUT looking at the outcome smiles at Robin, says “you owe us one sunny!” and kills himself, making as what Batman says is the first real decision he’s made in years. If you want to see what this film could have been, pick up the Batman Forever book by Peter David.
If two-face would have hated working with the riddler as much as Tommy Lee Jones hated working with Jim Carrey the dynamic would have been so much more fun to watch.
9 year old me will always remember seeing the badass new suits in the end, then taking the new vehicles to fight the baddies. I'll *forever* love this movie. I never knew Christian Bale was almost Robin... we may have never had the Dark Knight Trilogy as we have it today! And I don't care if Nicole Kidman is ditsy, even as a child I knew she was smokin hot in this movie... and in the end, isn't that all that matters?
It's alright for what it is the movie is a easy fast watch its fun Jim Carry is funny Joknes is mostly enjoyable and Val Kilmer is alright with Robin being fin the film is a perfectly watchable alright family film for adults to watch with kids.
It really frustrates me that so many ppl automatically (& somewhat understandably) associate this very solid (IMO) Batman movie w/Schumacher's follow up, the abominable, abysmal (& in keeping w/the alliteration), atrocious Batman & Robin. I have fun watching Forever to this day. I'd rather punch myself in the mouth than sit through B&R ever again in my life.
The original version was supposed to reveal that bruce begged his parents to go watch a movie at the theater again which led to his parents deaths. This was so traumatic that he repressed the memory completely until Robin's parents die like in the theatrical cut. Bruce was supposed to face this plot point but they deleted it
Important question for Joblo: when this series eventually covers Justice League, will you be covering both cuts in the same episode or will the Snyder Cut be saved for a seperate episode?
People looked back at this movie completely different to how it was received by critics at the time. Carrey wasn't celebrated at all if I remember correctly.
My MOST favorite Batman movie will always be Batman Forever! This movie was so close to the comic version & the cast was legendary! I watched it many times when I was a child & I still love to rewatch it ♡ . All the new Batman movies are way too dark & boring... None of the new Batmans have the same charisma & attraction as Val Kilmer ♡ Thank you so much for this review!
I really enjoyed this film when it came out. Sure, it went in a different direction from the previous installments, but I found it entertaining despite being more campy. It's too bad Schumacher doubled down on the campiness in Batman and Robin to the point where I couldn't stand it.
Blame the studio for that. WB deemed the camp elements to be what made Batman Forever a hit. Tey were also still afraid of being too dark after the Batman Returns fiasco, which is why the best content got cut from the film. So in their rather ignorant logic, they wanted the next film to double down on camp with non of that annoying dark themed stuff at all. They also got greedy over the huge toy sales of Batman Forever, so they demanded that Joel make the film more "toyetic". Selling toys became more important. Joel did as he was ordered to do. WB was at the height of their ignorance during the 1990s.
Not only is this movie aging better than the Burton movies, more and more people are starting to apreciate Schumaher for at least trying to make something new with the character. Even the excellent The Batman goes back to the same old "dark and gritty" we saw for the last 33 years. Schumaher actually made a comic book movie that is not ashamed to be a comic book movie.
I have a lot of nostalgia for this movie and Chris O'Donnell's performance is so underrated in this movie, his character arc was similar to Tom Holland's Peter in No Way Home on a dark path of revenge but guided by a mentor who wasn't able to stop himself from going down the wrong path!
