Batman Forever: Difference between revisions

Batman Forever (1995) is the third of the Batman movies which began with Tim Burton's 1989 version of the character, although it is a major departure from previous entries in the franchise, with the dramatic changes to such things as the cast, design and Danny Elfman's theme, which is scrapped completely (the music was composed by Elliot Goldenthal). It starred Val Kilmer as Batman, in his first and only appearance as the Dark Knight, and marked the series debut of Robin (played by Chris O'Donnell).

Cast

• Val Kilmer ... Batman/Bruce Wayne
• Tommy Lee Jones ... Harvey Two-Face/Harvey Dent
• Jim Carrey ... The Riddler/Edward Nygma
• Nicole Kidman ... Dr. Chase Meridian
• Chris O'Donnell ... Robin/Richard "Dick" Grayson
• Michael Gough ... Alfred Pennyworth
• Pat Hingle ... Commissioner Gordon
• Drew Barrymore ... Sugar
• Debi Mazar ... Spice

Plot

Template:Spoiler On the second anniversary of the day he captured Two-Face, Batman is summoned by the police to a scene of a major bank theft led by the villain. Also summoned to the crime is the beautiful Dr. Chase Meridian, a psychiatrist who specializes in the field of multiple personalities and who takes a liking to the Caped Crusader.

Batman enters the bank, and finds a guard tied up in a safe, who tells him too late that it is a trap when the safe closes and is lifted up into the sky by Two-Face's helicopter. Inside the safe, boiling acid starts to pour out and slowly fill up, but Batman uses the guard's hearing aid to open the safe and escape. Batman then uses a gadget to break the chain holding the safe and swing it straight back into place with his grappling gun. The guard ends up in safe hands, but Batman holds onto Two-Face's helicopter. Two-Face tries many attempts to make Batman let go, but Batman refuses and makes his way into the helicopter. However, Two-Face fixes the helicopter's steering wheel for it to fly straight into Liberty Island, and escapes on a parachute just before the collision. Batman also manages to jump off in time, but sees no choice but to let Two-Face escape.

The next day, Bruce Wayne (Batman's true identity) visits Wayne Enterprises, where he is shown around by his director, Fred Stickley (an uncredited performance by Ed Begley, Jr.), until they are interrupted by an eccentric scientist named Edward Nygma. Despite Stickley having terminated Nygma's project, Nygma shows his latest invention to Bruce, and explains that it is to beam TV Signals into the human brain to make them believe that they are inside the programme. But as Nygma begs Bruce for a bit more funding, Bruce sees the Bat Signal through the window, and hastily departs the scene after turning the angry and frustrated Nygma down ("Tampering with people's brain waves... mind manipulation... it just raises too many questions").

Batman goes to the Signal, and finds not Commissioner Gordon, but Chase, who called him for a private meeting. Chase tries to seduce Batman, but Batman refuses, being angry at Chase treating the Signal like a mere beeper. Commissioner Gordon then arrives in his pajamas and dressing gown, and Batman leaves after muttering "False Alarm".

Meanwhile, back at Wayne Enterprises, Nygma has broken into the lab to finish his project, but is confronted by Stickley, who is knocked out by Nygma to stop him calling security. Nygma then straps Stickley to a chair and tests his new invention on him. Stickley and Nygma lose their minds for a few seconds, but when the test ends, Nygma reveals to an angry Stickley that a side-effect happened in which Nygma used Stickley's hormones and grew cleverer than before. As the enraged Stickley shouts about what he's going to do (report to the police, FBI, send him to prison and a mental institute, etc.), Nygma takes no risks and fiercely wheels the chair with Stickley and out of the window, sending the strapped Stickley to a watery grave.

The next day, Bruce's butler, Alfred Pennyworth, receives a call from Commissioner Gordon and tells Bruce that there has been an incident at the company. Bruce visits the crime scene, and pass a "weeping" Nygma who shows them a suicide note in Stickley's handwriting. Bruce and Gordon then take a look at the previous night's surveilance recording, and watch a laughing Stickley run toward a window and jump out to his death. When Bruce goes to his office, he sees a mysterious envelope on his table that bears a question mark. Bruce opens it, and reads the contents, which turn out to be a riddle ("If you look at the numbers on my face, you won't find 13 anyplace" - A Clock).

Nygma then resigns from Wayne Enterprises, and goes back home, where he starts cutting letters from a newspapaer and gluing them for a mysterious purpose. That night, Nygma rides up on his motorbike to the gates of Wayne Manor, where he reveals himself to the audience as the one who sent Bruce the riddle when he sticks a similar envelope on the gate and leaves.

The next day, Bruce pays a visit to Dr. Chase Meridian (he breaks her door down after hearing her make struggling noises, which turn out to be her exercising). He shows Chase the riddles, whose answers turn out to be "Clock" and "Match". She then deduces the sender to be a "Total wacko". Finding himself attracted to the doctor, Bruce asks Chase to be his date to the Charity Circus he had planned to go to that night.

At the circus, Bruce and Chase, along with other important people like Commissioner Gordon and Mayor Hill, are entertained with astonishing performances by the Flying Graysons. However, after the final performance, the circus ringmaster is knocked out and an impostor takes his place: Two-Face has resurfaced! Convinced that Batman is somewhere in the audience, Two-Face demands that the person who is Batman show himself in two minutes, otherwise he will destroy the circus with a ball containing two-hundred dynamite sticks. As the bomb rises, chaos ensues, in which the visitors attempt to fight Two-Face's goons and the Flying Graysons try to disconnect the bomb and throw it out. Unfortunately, the Graysons' valiant efforts come with a price, for Two-Face shoots and breaks the rope on which they are hanging, and as Two-Face escapes once again, three of the Graysons fall to their deaths. The youngest and only remaining one, Dick, successfully manages to push the bomb out of the circus and into the water, but arrives back to see his mother, father and brother lying lifelessly on the circus floor.

Bruce then decides to take Dick in as a foster-son, but Dick stubbornly refuses, since he doesn't want to be a burden on Bruce and wants to track down and kill Two-Face. But when Dick sees that Alfred and Bruce have already prepared a meal and proper room for him, Dick accepts, and decides to stay at Wayne Manor. Although he asks Alfred to throw away his circus attire, Alfred puts it in Dick's draw. As the days go by, Dick slowly gets used to living at his new home, but often avoids letting Alfred wait on him.

Later on, that night, Batman goes on his nightly patrol and by luck, comes face-to-face-to-face with Two-Face. A car chase ensues, but Batman manages to escape from Two-Face's dirty clutches.

Meanwhile, Nygma, who saw Two-Face disrupt the circus on his TV and was filled with admiration, is having trouble coming up with a criminal name. First, he tries "The Puzzler", but his advisor machine disagrees. Second, he tries "The Gamester", but to no avail. Third, Nygma goes too far and tries the name "Captain Kill", but to no avail. Losing patience, he tries "The Question Mark Man", but the machine takes a liking to the question mark, and Nygma uses his envelope idea to come up with an all-new name: The Riddler.

Two-Face, on the other hand, is back at his lair, fuming at his repeated attempts to catch Batman, and his girlfriends, Sugar and Spice, try to cheer him up when he receives a surprise visit by the Riddler. Innitially, Two-Face prepares to kill the Riddler for breaking into his home, but when the Riddler tells Two-Face that he can help him get Batman, Two-Face decides to give him a chance. The Riddler then reveals that he found Two-Face's lair via his new invetion, and opts to make a deal with him: if Two-Face helps him steal enough priceless goods in order for the Riddler to be rich enough to complete his project and somehow become the cleverest person in Gotham, the Riddler will return the favour by telling Two-Face Batman's true identity. With the deal sealed, Two-Face and the Riddler start their rampage by robbing a casino and a jewellery store with no sign of Batman.

The next day, on Claw Island, a laboratory island offshore, Nygma reveals his vision to many Gothamites, in the form of his new invention, the Nygmatech Box, on every TV in Gotham and maybe someday the world. That night, when the stores are sold out of Nygmatech Boxes, a riot ensues. It is then revealed that the Nygmatech Boxes are actually analyzing the information within countless human brains, and that the information is being sucked all the way to the machine on the island, where it enters Nygma's brain while Nygma is seated in the machine, growing cleverer by the second.

Later on, Bruce receives another riddle, to which the answer is revealed to be chess pawns. Meanwhile, Dick comes across the only locked door in the house, and Alfred tells him that it is where Bruce keeps his dead wives. However, after catching Alfred go through the door, Dick quickly pulls off many stunts and manages to reach the door before it closes. It it then revealed that Dick has found the Batcave, and this is where Dick finally learns that Bruce Wayne is Batman. For a bit of excitement, Dick takes the Batmobile out for a ride in Gotham, but Alfred contacts Bruce, who is sharing a private moment with Chase, and informs him of Dick's departure.

Dick, in the Batmobile, confronts a group of punks harassing a young girl. He claims to be Batman, and the punks laugh at him ("Hey, so I forgot my suit, alright!?"). The punks attack, but Dick uses his circus skills to dodge their fists and manages to defeat them, including the leader. Dick kisses the girl ("Doesn't Batman ever kiss the girl?"), just as the leader calls for help in the form of an entire army of punks. Fortunately, Batman appears and scares them off. Dick then releases his anger on Batman for not having saved his parents, but Batman tells him that there was nothing that he could have done, because Two-Face would have killed them even if Bruce had revealed himself.

Back home, Dick explains his desire for revenge to Bruce and demands to be trained as Batman's partner. Bruce refuses, not wanting to endanger Dick's life, but Dick insists and tells Bruce that he will be his partner no matter what. That night, Bruce, Dick and Chase attend a party on the top floor of the Ritz Gotham, where Nygma (his date is Two-Face's Sugar) has revealed his new Nygmatech Superbox which produces holograms into the human brain. To demonstrate, Commissioner Gordon walks into the Superbox, and deliberately believes himself to be in Hawaii with two sexy women. While Nygma dances for a while with Chase, Bruce decides to give the Superbox a try, and asks Sugar to switch it off for him. But when Bruce walks inside, Sugar turns the Superbox back on, and the Superbox then begins exploring Bruce's brain.

Suddenly, Two-Face and his goons break into the party, much to Nygma's annoyance. During the chaos, Bruce escapes through a window and gets into his Batman attire in the car. Batman then starts fighting the goons while Dick also gets into his circus attire in order to help Batman. Batman rescues Chase from a goon. Chase kisses Batman and asks him to meet her at her apartment at midnight. Batman then chases Two-Face but accidentally falls into a trap, where Two-Face opens a gas tank and sets fire to it. Miraculously, Batman emerges from the flames, but Two-Face shoots Batman's footing, and he falls to the bottom and is covered by a pile of sand. However, he is rescued at the last minute by Dick.

At the Batcave, Bruce scolds Dick for interfering, but the stubborn Dick says that he will not stop following Batman, and angrily leaves the cave. Bruce then reveals to Alfred that he is in love with Chase, and goes to visit her at her apartment. There, Batman and Chase kiss passionately, but Chase tells Batman that although she loves him, she has met someone else, someone who isn't Batman. Understanding, Batman leaves, but smiles to himself, for he knows that Chase is talking about Bruce Wayne.

Two-Face is shocked and actually cries when the Riddler shows him the newspaper showing Batman's survival, but to cheer Two-Face up, the Riddler shows him what he was recorded from Bruce Wayne's brain during his time in the Superbox: a flying bat. Immediately deducing Bruce Wayne to be Batman, the Riddler and Two-Face then plot another trap for Batman.

Meanwhile, Bruce declares that he is going to cease being Batman, since Chase described it as being a curse, much to Dick's dismay. Angry and frustrated, Dick secretly takes his things and runs away from Wayne Manor on his motorbike, just as Chase arrives for dinner with Bruce. Bruce and Chase talk for a while, and Bruce's memory of his parents' death comes to haunt him again. To calm him down, Chase kisses Bruce passionately.

Suddenly, Alfred is attacked by a group of thugs who claimed to be doing Trick or Treat (it was Halloween), led by the Riddler and Two-Face. Two-Face and his goons go to the living room and stall Bruce and Chase in order to give the Riddler enough time to destroy the Batcave. As Bruce and Chase fight the goons, Two-Face sits himself down and starts to flip his coin repeatedly to decide whether or not to shoot Bruce (the film's most unpopular scene). After landing on Heads many times, the coin finally lands on Tails, and Two-Face shoots at Bruce, whose head is merely scratched by the bullet. As Two-Face moves in for the kill, the Riddler returns from the Batcave and stops Two-Face at the last minute from shooting the unconscious Bruce. The Riddler leaves one last riddle, and they all leave, taking the screaming Chase with them.

Later on, Bruce wakes up in bed, and is informed by Alfred that Chase has been abducted, Dick has run away, the cave has been demolished, and that there is another riddle. Bruce and Alfred worked on the riddle, and find the answer in the form of vowels. They then see that each riddle has a number in it, and after they do a bit of working out, they find the numbers 13, 18 and 5. Using them as letters of the alphabet, they come up with MRE, then MR. E, then Mystery, then Enigma (another word for mystery). Bruce then thinks "Mr. Enigma", and they finally deduce the riddle-sender as Edward Nygma. They also realize that Stickley's suicide was actually a CGI fraud.

Preparing to attack the Riddler and Two-Face head-on, Bruce uses the last remaining Batsuit: the untested Sonar Batsuit. But when deciding whether to travel by sea (the Batboat) or by air (the Batwing), since the Batmobile was destroyed during the raid, Dick suddenly turns up in an all-new costume. Revealing his tailor to be Alfred and his new name Robin, Dick tells Batman that he will be needing help. Batman accepts, and he and Robin form an alliance to bring the Riddler and Two-Face to justice. Batman travels via air, and Robin via sea.

However, the Riddler and Two-Face have detected Batman and Robin approaching their island, and prepare to counterattck by using a realistic Battleship game. As the Riddler and Two-Face pick different spots in the game, underwater bombs start to explode until one of them catches Robin, who uses the ejector just before the blast. To make matters worse, the Riddler uses a trick with the giant machine to blast the Batwing out of the sky with dangerous brainwaves. Fortunately, while Robin is being dragged by evil divers, Batman intervenes and fires a net straight into the divers and ties them to a nearby piece of land as he and Robin head for the island.

The ground seems to be made of metal, and full of holes, which Robin identifies as "Holey" ("Holey rusted metal, Batman!" being a parody on the frequent use of "Holy XYZ Batman!" in the TV series). Unfortunately, that particular piece of ground is raised into the air, justifying Robin's comment as "Holy". As Batman enters the pole and tries to climb his way to the top, Robin is encountered by Two-Face and a fight ensues. Robin manages to kick Two-Face off the high ground, which leaves him hanging on for dear life, but Robin, no longer able to watch Two-Face die, offers his help and pulls the villain back up. Unfortunately, Two-Face gets a gun and takes Robin prisoner.

Meanwhile, Batman finally makes his way to the top of the pole and into a large room where he confronts the Riddler, seated on a throne. Two-Face then enters the room, and the Riddler reveals the two prisoners, Chase and Robin, who are trapped in plastic containers hanging over a chasm which leads to a watery grave below. But Batman plays a trick on the Riddler and asks him a riddle: "I see without seeing. To me, darkness is as clear as daylight. What am I?" The Riddler responds "You're as blind as a bat!", and Batman uses his opportunity to throw a Batarang straight into the brainwave generator, and the ensuing explosion manipulates and twists the brainwaves inside the Riddler's head, seriously injuring him and rendering him helpless. However, using his last chance, the Riddler presses the release buttons, which sends Chase and Robin falling down the chasm.

Batman drops down after them, and fires two grapples at the top. He first reaches Chase, and ties her to the first grapple, hanging her safely above. He just reaches Robin before he falls into the water, and ties him to the second grapple, saving him in the nick of time. Batman, Robin and Chase then make their way back to the top of the chasm, where they proceed to untie Chase just as Two-Face appears, pointing a gun at them while standing dangerously above the chasm.

Preparing to kill them all, Two-Face is tricked into flipping his coin by Batman, and he thanks his old friend Bruce one last time before flipping it. However, Batman tosses a handful of coins at Two-Face, who frantically tries to catch his own coin and ultimately falls off his ground, disappearing into the watery chasm below.

Batman then confronts the Riddler, who is temporarily unable to move due to his brainwaves having been twisted, and cursing about not being able to kill Batman. Batman then explains to the Riddler that he had to save both Chase and Robin because he is in reality both Bruce Wayne and Batman. The Riddler then starts screaming hysterically as he sees a bat flying straight towards him.

At Arkham Asylum, Chase pays a visit to the Riddler after being told by Dr. Burton that the Riddler has been screaming for hours about knowing Batman's real name. Chase tries to get the Riddler to tell her, but he refuses, and uses his straightjacket sleeves as wings, laughing all the while like a maniac.

Outside, Chase informs Bruce that his secret is safe, and that Nygma is a true wacko. Returning a dream catcher to Chase, Bruce shares a passionate kiss with her, bidding her farewell as she prepares to leave Gotham and return to her home city.

The film ends with the Bat Signal shining and Batman and Robin running into the night, presumably to fight another crime. Template:Endspoiler

Background

While the previous two films had been directed by Tim Burton, Batman Forever was directed by Joel Schumacher, whose changes to the established designs and thematics of the first two films -- Batman's costume includes latex nipples for example -- are regarded by many as being less serious than the franchise's previous two.

The villains in the movie are The Riddler, played by Jim Carrey, and Two-Face/Harvey Dent, a role played in the original 1989 movie by Billy Dee Williams, but assumed here by Tommy Lee Jones. Also in the movie is Dr. Chase Meridian, played by Nicole Kidman; the movie proved to be Kidman's breakout role and put her on the road to superstardom.

Picking up a few years after the events of Batman Returns, this sequel follows Two-Face's alliance with The Riddler and their resulting plan to destroy Batman. It also tells the origin story of Robin, who was not seen in either of the two previous films; As in the comic books, Robin is a circus performer whose family is murdered (although, in the film, his family is killed by Two-Face, rather than an ordinary gangster) and becomes Bruce Wayne's ward and Batman's partner in crime-fighting. The Riddler, meanwhile, is portrayed as a vengeful, obsessive former engineer who once worked for Bruce Wayne, Batman's alter ego.

At the time the third Batman film went into production it was initially going to be directed by Burton with Michael Keaton. Billy Dee Williams was to reprise his role (from the 1989 film) as Harvey Dent (also known as Two Face) and rumors claimed Micky Dolenz was the Riddler and that Robin Williams was offered the role, but turned it down, along with a possible return of the Catwoman character (who survived the events of Batman Returns). After initial casting with Marlon Wayans actually signed and costume tested for the film, Warner Bros. ultimately threw out Burton after they realised the tone of the film was to be similar to Batman Returns. When Schumacher came on board as the new director he threw out most of Burton's decisions and ideas, starting from scratch. As a result Marlon Wayans' contract was actually paid out in full by Warner Brothers and Chris O'Donnell was cast as Robin instead. Tommy Lee Jones was then cast as Two-Face to replace Burton's choice of Billy Dee Williams.

After some negotiating, Keaton left the film as he was unhappy with the script being lighter-in-tone and the absence of Tim Burton. Due to its huge success, Batman Forever was followed two years later by Batman and Robin (1997).

Critical reaction and box office

The film's budget was approximately $90 - $100 million and earned $184,031,112 in total domestic sales and $152.5 million worldwide (according to Box Office Mojo ^[1]), making it the most commercially successful movie of the summer of 1995 and second-best of that year (next to Toy Story). It was also the third highest grossing Batman movie as of 2005 (after the 1989 original and 2005's Batman Begins).

Drastic Makeover

The film obtained generally mixed reviews. Much of the negative reaction came from the drastic makeover of the franchise^[2] (most of it led by Joel Schumacher at the will of the Warner Bros. executives). Due to the fact that Batman Returns earned less than the original, Warner Bros. insisted the movie be aimed predominantly at children to improve merchandising turnover. This included deleting over 30 minutes of footage, including Two-Face escaping from Arkham Asylum, the resolution to the Red Book subplot, and a sequence in which Bruce confronts a section of the Batcave with a giant bat. Further editing rearranged the first half of the film to start it off with an action scene. This resulted making the third Batman movie with a feel that was more reminiscent to the 1960s TV show than its Burton predecessors.

Val Kilmer as Batman

Disapproval was also heaped upon Val Kilmer; critics charged that Kilmer, while physically fit to play Batman, more so than his predecessor Michael Keaton had been, gave a wooden performance as Bruce Wayne. Some fans, however, defend Kilmer's performance, insisting that he did the best he could with lesser material — as well as frequent clashes with Schumacher about the film's direction — and some even insisting that he surpassed Keaton. Interestingly, Batman creator Bob Kane said in a Cinescape interview that of all the actors to have played Batman up to that point, he felt Kilmer had given the best interpretation. Film critic Leonard Maltin (who heavily criticized the dark tone contained in Batman Returns) complimented Kilmer's portrayal when he reviewed the film for his expanding collection of film reviews, as well as being very favorable of the film as a whole. Defenders of Batman Forever (comprised mostly of people who objected to the grotesque, macabre elements found in the Tim Burton films) praised the movie for portraying Batman as a more heroic, less ruthless, and more human character^[3] than in the Tim Burton films. One of the biggest complaints about the Burton films was their portrayal of Batman killing his adversaries (especially in Batman Returns) without showing much remorse.^[4]

Two-Face and Riddler

Others accused Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones of giving cartoonish performances as the Riddler and Two-Face (Carrey himself even stated, though non-judgmentally, that this film "didn't take itself as seriously" as the past films had.) Many fans found Jones' interpretation of Two-Face to be ridiculously far from the brooding, intelligent way he is portrayed in the comics. Jones' Two-Face, while certainly criminally insane, spends the movie spouting one-liners and generally coming across more goofy than threatening. A scene showing Two-Face repeatedly flipping his coin until achieving the desired outcome is the source of many fan complaints; in the comics Two-Face always adheres to results of a single cointoss when a decision must be reached. Reactions to Carrey's performance were generally far kinder, though some still complained that his portrayal was too over the top, and had more in common with the Joker than with the comic book version of the Riddler. Some fans have also commented that the Riddler's scheme in the film, involving mind control over the population of Gotham^[5], would have been better suited to other Batman villains such as the Mad Hatter.

Gotham City and Bat-Gadgets

A prominent criticism of the film's atmosphere centers on the constant use of neon lights, black lights, and glow-in-the-dark elements^[6], which seemingly reaches its peak with the street gang Robin fights halfway through the film. These effects are regarded by some fans as slightly nonsensical. Another issue some fans have had with the film are the new gadgets. While Batman's technology has always been sci-fi and fantastical, some fans thought that the Batmobile being able to be climbing walls and a cape that melts into a fire resistant shell were pushing plausibility to its limit.

Charges of Homoerocticsm

Batman Forever has been regarded by some as homoerotic^[7], especially after Gary Willis, a conservative columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, sardonically bashed the movie's campiness and perceived homoerotic motifs ("Batman Forever" is a Gay Old Time," Chicago Sun-Times, 1995). One source of this controversy is the introduction of nipples on the chest of the Batsuit worn during the majority of the film (the finale features a different, nipple-less "sonar" suit), as well as the humorous close-ups of Bruce Wayne while donning the Batman costume, including the close-up shots of the groin and buttocks. Incidentally, director Joel Schumacher is, himself, openly gay. Though not defending the film's cinematic merits, most view this analysis a groundless throwback to similar homophobic criticisms of the early years of the comic books and the 1960s TV series.

On DVD

Batman Forever was given a "bare bones" DVD release when the medium was introduced in 1997-1998. However, in 2005, the newest feature film, Batman Begins,