Batman Forever
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 "Riddle me this, riddle me that, who's afraid of the big, black bat?" - The Riddler (Edward Nygma)
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"Then it will happen this way: You make the kill, but your pain doesn't die with Harvey, it grows. So you run out into the night to find another face, and another, and another, until one terrible morning you wake up and realize that revenge has become your whole life. And you won't know why."
— Bruce Wayne
"And then you get even older, you can't run as fast, jump as high, sleep as well, and you realise something. You realise that young you, the four year old kid who watched that movie 427 times a day was a f***in' genius! Several geniuses, a flock of freakin' Freuds!"
— Alex Hunter/HiTop Films
Batman Forever is a 1995 American superhero film distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, which tells the story of how while Batman struggles to manage both his dual identities and the presence of a new ward, Edward Nygma develops a powerful new technology and partners with one of Batman's former allies to take him down.
This film is the third in the Batman Motion Picture Anthology, being preceded by Batman Returns. The film received mixed to positive reviews on release, with criticisms mainly directed at the film's lighter tone. Aspects that were praised include the performance of Jim Carrey, the action sequences, and Elliot Goldenthal's soundtrack. Nonetheless, the film was successful, and the film was followed by Batman and Robin in 1997.
Plot
On the second anniversary of Harvey Two-Face's capture, he breaks out of Arkham Asylum to commit a bank robbery. Batman arrives to stop him, but fails in recapturing him. The following morning he meets WayneTech employee Edward Nygma, who enquires about extra funding into his brain wave manipulation project, initially developed for escapism. Bruce ultimately rejects his project, sending him down a dark path, developing an obsession with outperforming Bruce Wayne and unmasking the Batman. Now calling himself The Riddler, he teams up with Two-Face to put Nygma's brain wave tech in every house in Gotham and destroy the Batman.
Batman wonders if he can keep up his dual identities much longer when he meets Dr. Chase Meridian, a seductive psychologist and Richard Grayson, a hurting orphaned acrobat. Dr. Meridian is obsessed with the Batman and Dick Grayson wants to kill Two-Face in revenge for the murder of his parents and brother. Batman eventually has to make the choice on what lifestyle he should live when the Riddler and Two-Face kidnap Dr. Meridian, eventually reconciling both halves of his identity.
Bad Qualities
- The film's presence in the same continuity as the Burton films is debated. With the presence of Burton's Batman as played by Michael Keaton in The Flash and Batman '89, the Schumacher films have been downgraded from directly taking place afterwards to now being set in a parallel continuity which follows most of the same events of the Burton movies.
- Originally the film was much longer and focused much more on the character development of Bruce Wayne. These segments were presumably cut out to give more emphasis to the comedic scenes, as well as the action scenes. However, this unfortunately comes at the cost of Bruce Wayne's character development.
- The deleted scenes made it into the shooting script but were cut out during the editing process, as revealed by several people who have allegedly seen a workprint of Batman Forever dating back to November 1994.
- Fortunately, some of these deleted scenes, including the resolution to Bruce Wayne's character arc are included within the bonus features on the 2005 DVD and 2009 Blu-Ray.
- The character of Harvey Dent/Harvey Two-Face is often cited as the worst part of the movie, cackling and jumping around like a fool instead of acting like two people (an honorable lawman and a nihilistic killer) trapped in a single body.
- The death of Two-Face at the hands of Batman flies in the face of the film's intended message, where it was to be hinted at that Batman is trying not to kill. His actions at the end of the movie directly impact Two-Face by taking advantage of his disassociative identity disorder, thereby getting Robin's revenge for him.
- In an earlier draft of the script dated June 24th, 1994, Batman is not responsible for Two-Face's death. He instead simply loses balance and falls to his death. This was changed by October 13th of the same year, as seen in the shooting script.
- The presence of nipples on Batman's initial armor and Robin armor is often cited as a negative element of the movie, despite not being a major or even minor aesthetic element.
Good Qualities
- To start off strong, Jim Carrey's performance as Edward Nygma, aka The Riddler, is phenomenal. While he exudes an air of charisma and comedic charm, he never forgets to add a layer of mystery and creepiness to the character.
- Despite his reputation for being combative on set, Val Kilmer turns in a tragic performance as Bruce Wayne, playing the character straight and showing that Bruce Wayne does not want Dick Grayson to fall into the same cycle that he has.
- Chris O'Donnell also follows suit, as Dick Grayson, aka Robin. Initially a hurting young man who wants revenge on the man who changed his life, he decides to spare him, deciding he'd rather see him in prison rather than dead.
- Joel Schumacher's direction is masterful, creating a team who brought his unique vision for Gotham City to life.
- Barbara Ling's set design is radically different from what came before or what came after, bringing life to Gotham, lighting it up with neon spotlights dancing over the skyscrapers at night and populating the city with statues and other impressive displays of the human physique.
- Stephen Goldblatt's cinematography is very deliberate, made to frame the characters in iconic ways, bringing the impossible scale of Barbara Ling's statue-riddled and neon-lit Gotham City to life.
- Batman Forever was one of the first major uses of CGI in filmmaking along with 1991's Terminator 2: Judgement Day and 1993's Jurassic Park, and while it may not hold up perfectly today, it still conveys the impossibly impressive scale of Gotham City.
- Not to be overshadowed, the film also uses practically built sets and vehicles, such as a functioning Batmobile, Batcave and the Riddler's Claw Island base. Furthermore, the use of miniatures helps to compliment the scale of Gotham City.
- This film was the first Batman movie to attempt to give Bruce Wayne an arc or character development, focusing on not only the lives he took (Jack Napier and Oswald Cobblepot), but whether he should give up the cape and cowl to try and live a genuine life as Bruce Wayne.
- The Batsuit has been redesigned, dubbed the "Panther Suit" during production. It reverts back to the muscular look of the first Michael Keaton Batsuit, increases the gloss finish, introduces real boots instead of disguised sneakers, redesigns and blackens the belt and introduces the infamous nipples associated with Joel Schumacher's Batman movies. The return to musculature and the addition of nipples was inspired by the beauty of Ancient Greek statues.
- Elliot Goldenthal's score is incredible, written to capture the feeling of a child playing make-believe, making him a worthy successor to Danny Elfman's mysterious and awe-inspiring compositions.
- Lastly, the film serves as a direct sequel to the Tim Burton Batman movies, as seen with a reference to Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman, and the return of Pat Hingle as James Gordon and Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth. However, see below.
Trivia
- One of the trailers is narrated by Canadian voice actor Peter Cullen, also known for voicing the Predator in the first Predator film, and Optimus Prime in multiple entries of the Transformers franchise.
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