Batman & Robin

Don't get me wrong, the old Adam West Batman TV show was certainly funny, and given the times, a more accurate representation of what Batman was trying to be wouldn't have succeeded nearly as well. But the show still betrayed all the emotion and grimness of Batman's themes.

In Batman & Robin, Schumacher seems to be getting back to those roots. He treats the entire Batman franchise like a joke. Even if it was funny, this would be betraying the name of Batman. But here, seeing as it's NOT funny, it only succeeds in becoming the worst of the Batman movies, and, arguably, the worst films ever created. And I'm taking into account Plan 9 From Outer Space, Gigli, and You Got Served.

George Clooney just plays George Clooney. Which is the road he usually takes, but this suave, dashing, and charming Batman seems more like Mystery Men's Captain Amazing than the crimefighter of legend.

There's Chris O'Donnell, the angst-ridden Robin trying to break out of Batman's shadow. The only thing he ever really does is act like a child.

Alicia Silverstone. Wow. I seriously wonder what makes someone say, "Hmm, who should we get to play Batgirl . . . I know! Alicia Silverstone!" No offense to Alicia, but she's out in right field on this one. Her tough-girl performance is sprinkled with reminders of her Clueless days. But all that aside, she actually does very little.

Now, onto the villains. Uma Thurman, who we know CAN act, is hamming it up to ridiculous proportions. First, when she's playing the nerdy Dr. Pamela, she exaggerates that to a level I thought impossible. And then she inexplicably turns into an extremely sexualized villainess whose plan, by the way, would kill all the plants she advocated protecting.

Arnold seems like the worst possible choice for Mr. Freeze. I mean, of all the Batman villains I could see him playing - Bane, for christ's sake - Mr. Freeze is not on that list. He possesses none of the emotionless, calculated, and cold (no pun intended) sociopathy which makes Mr. Freeze such a good character.

And then, all that aside, they're handed ridiculous catch phrases and cliches they're expected to say with any level of sincerity? At one point Mr. Freeze says "chill out." Of all the ways it sounds, menacing is not among them.

Seriously, I'd have more respect for Schumacher if I discovered that he hated Batman, and had intentionally ruined it with this garbage. Then, this might actually be just his own personal joke. Instead, it borders on a travesty of good cinema. I only wish that 0 stars was a selectable option at the imdb, for this film ALONE.

I loved it as a kid, because I didn't know any better and years of nostalgia has keep it close to me. I'm not saying it's a good movie by any means, but the bright colors and characters cheesiness is what I loved about it, and never got Joel Schumacher fascination with bat nipples, but I digress. It has always been a guilty pleasure for just like Batman Forever is, and I think i always will.

Back in the day, I felt disappointed when I watched it in theaters and I really disliked the movie for many reasons: it wasn't dark like the first two (same thing for "Foverer"), the dialogues ("chicks dig the car") the over-the-top silly acting, the props (batmobile, suits, weapons, etc), the goofy villains... However I loved the color palette and cinematography - it's pure Schumacher of course.

Over the years I have watched it again several times and when the BluRay came out I watched it more in depth and finally it happened: I like the movie now. Why? How? Well, nowadays I feel like I'm watching a "modern" take on the 60's TV series and it really makes sense to me for the very same elements I mentioned before: goofy villains, lots of colors, over-the-top cheesy acting, family-friendly overall tone. Gradually I started enjoying the movie in this context and I can say that I like it for what it is.

Unfortunately, this was the latest entry in the "comic-style" franchise.

I won't try and argue with anyone that says this movie is bad. It has a horrific script rife with far too many moments more interested in selling action figures than making sense. Arnold puts in the most camp performance as Mr. Freeze possibly ever that almost completely ruins what should be one of the most dramatic characters in the Batman lore.

George Clooney as Bruce Wayne isn't believable, Chris O'Donnell's Robin feels old and tired at this point after his kind of fresh feeling introduction in Batman Forever, the effects seem cheap and theme parkish (probably didn't help that Six Flags was really pushing live shows based on these movies back then) and so on and so forth.

If you were looking for a serious Batman movie, this totally missed the mark.

But what if, what if we just misunderstood what this movie was trying to do? What if the campiness, cheesiness, and ridiculousness was the entire point. What if instead of expecting The Dark Knight we should have been expecting Sharknado? Does it have any appeal as an expensive B movie satire?

In my opinion, it does. This movie is a BLAST to watch from the perspective that it's to be made fun of. Arnold Schwarzenegger's one liners become almost iconic when viewed from the lense of "what would be the dumbest, corniest, thing that could happen right now in this scene." Uma Thurman's over the top cringe worthy Poison Ivy is actually hilarious when you know what this actress is actually capable of when she's given a good role to work with. Bane looking something like a theme park mascot is impossible to take seriously when you've seen later, more serious versions of the character.

In short, for 1997 when this movie came out, and for a variety of marketing reasons, people didn't get that this movie was supposed to be a joke. People still had Tim Burton's Batman movies in their head they weren't expecting to go full Adam West.

That's a definite failure of the movie, to fail to make sure the audience understood what you were trying to do. But I think, 20 years later we can finally look back on this movie as being misunderstood in its time. It's suffered I think more than enough for the crime of being a joke that no one got. I think it's time people tried for a moment to rethink what this movie was.

If you still think this movie was the worst thing ever even after I've said my piece, I'm still not going to argue with you. I'm just going to smile as I agree with you.

I saw this movie upon it's release in 1997 I was just six years old and honestly I loved it so much I even had a Batman & Robin movie poster in my room that I got for attending the movies opening day. I got the movie on VHS for my birthday after it was released and I watched it pretty much every weekend at least twice but now that the movie is over twenty years old and I'm an adult with much better taste in movies I thought I'd watch the movie again on Blu Ray and give a review on my nostalgic experience and see if my opinion on the movie has changed much over the years.

The first thing I will say about Batman & Robin is that it's the worst Batman movie of them all hands down no amount of nostalgia or good memories of the movie will change that it is simply awful but having said that it's still a fun movie to watch simply because of how over the top and cheesy the movie is from the over the top acting down to the absolutely terrible Batman jokes like the Bat Credit card and the hilarious Mr Freeze one liners told by Arnold Schwarzenegger himself it is impossible not to laugh when watching this movie it's not the serious Batman movie we wanted and it doesn't do the Batman character justice at all.

This movie alone was the reason we didn't get a Batman movie for eight years because Batman & Robin failed completely and almost killed the franchise luckily in 2005 we got Batman Begins which introduced the true Dark Knight and would lead to the greatest Batman movie ever made in 2008 Batman The Dark Knight.

I love the cast involved Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr Freeze is hilarious and Uma Thurman as the sexy, seductive Poison Ivy she really makes a deadly character like Poison Ivy a lot of fun and she really does make the character look sexy as hell.

This movie is absolutely hilarious and is a guilty pleasure for me I don't watch it because it's a good movie I watch it simply because it's entertaining and enjoyable it's essentially Batman the parody it's not to be taken seriously it's a bunch of famous actors dressing in spandex so tight we actually get crotch and butt close ups so if you've always wanted to see a Bat suit with actual nipples and a cod peice then your in luck. This isn't the best Batman movie but try and enjoy it for what it is an hour and a half of entertaining fun.