Watched Batman Forever last night

[Grissom]

Nothing that interests me was on last night so I decided to pop in my old VHS copy of Batman Forever. It's been a several years since I saw it and I still like it. It's a step down from what Burton did, but overall I was entertained. Jim Carry was a more hyper Jim Carrey as The Riddler (while channeling some Frank Gorshin), Two Face was a bit of a throwaway, he was practically Two face throughout without examining his duality. But I guess the fillmakers wanted a "lighter" film with action and characters spewing one liners.

I liked Kilmer as batman/bruce wayne, I think he brought a bit of the complexity that keaton had, although Keaton is the best at showing the trgic hero, I also liked how Robin was introduced and the interaction Batman/bruce had with Alfred. Overall not a bad bat-film and a good superhero movie, they should have kept that tone going into batman & robin but they took a big nose dive on that one.

[gordonblu]

Personally, I felt they nose dived with Batman Forever, but if everyone was a carbon copy of me the world would be a very boring place, and society would die out.

[thecolorsblend]

I would argue that B&R is the more direct film.  It's everything that Forever was but pretended not to be.  I appreciate the honesty, if nothing else.

[The Dark Knight]

but if everyone was a carbon copy of me the world would be a very boring place, and society would die out.

I know.

Only if everybody was like me. That's a very tall order, though. Nigh impossible.

[The Joker]

Nothing that interests me was on last night so I decided to pop in my old VHS copy of Batman Forever. It's been a several years since I saw it and I still like it. It's a step down from what Burton did, but overall I was entertained. Jim Carry was a more hyper Jim Carrey as The Riddler (while channeling some Frank Gorshin), Two Face was a bit of a throwaway, he was practically Two face throughout without examining his duality. But I guess the fillmakers wanted a "lighter" film with action and characters spewing one liners.

I liked Kilmer as batman/bruce wayne, I think he brought a bit of the complexity that keaton had, although Keaton is the best at showing the trgic hero, I also liked how Robin was introduced and the interaction Batman/bruce had with Alfred. Overall not a bad bat-film and a good superhero movie

Batman Forever is definately a much more focused movie than what came later, though unfortunately the decisions to "lighten it up for the kids so parents won't bitch again about buying those darn Bat-Happy Meals", and remove scenes pertaining to the "Red Book" subplot (which would have made the title make more sense) ultimately hurt the film in the long run despite it's big splash at the box office.

However, Batman Forever does feature Nicole Kidman at her apex. So it does get points for that.

they should have kept that tone going into batman & robin but they took a big nose dive on that one.

Yes, Batman & Robin is a good example of a franchise literally running away with itself and right into the ground. It's a movie, much like TMNT III, that you watch and can't help but think the entire time that this shouldn't exist.

[Azrael]

LOL, Nicole Kidman has always been one of the reasons I have a bit of a problem watching Eyes Wide Shut, let alone Batman Forever 

There's a few people that offer quite good arguments about why Batman Forever is maybe the closest Comic-to-Film Batman movie one could get, or that it's not as bad as some others make it to be, but for me it fails in every possible department. I'd say that the only value it has is pure nostalgia, reminds me of early teenhood and innocent times, not to mention Acclaim's crappy game for Mega Drive/SNES. So, every time it pops up on TV, I watch it. I'm ashamed to admit that back then I had Kenner's BF Batwing hung on my wall. 

[thecolorsblend]

Agreed.  There is a nostalgia factor there for me as well.  Getting ready to start up in high school and all that.  Always liked the U2 video from this movie.

As to the movie itself... well, like B&R, it's a little easier to reluctantly accept given that we have so much other kickass Batman on DVD nowadays.  At first, I rather liked it.  Then I grew disenchanted with it.  Then B&R came out and I hated both.

Now?  Now, it's a little easier to enjoy on the grounds of an alternate universe Batman or something.  But that's about it.  And nostalgia too.

[johnnygobbs]

Like I've stated before, I was more disappointed with Forever than I was with Batman and Robin.  The downward leap in quality between Burton's borderline masterpieces and Schumacher's first toy commercial was much, much greater than it was between Forever and B&R.  In fact, there are aspects about B&R that I actually prefer to Forever, although Carrey and U2's excellent song (not normally a band I'm overly keen on) has the edge (no pun intended) if I have to make an overall judgment between the two.

[The Dark Knight]

As to the movie itself... well, like B&R, it's a little easier to reluctantly accept given that we have so much other kickass Batman on DVD nowadays.  At first, I rather liked it.  Then I grew disenchanted with it.  Then B&R came out and I hated both.

Same experience for me as well.

And yes, the music behind the film rocked. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me and
Kiss From A Rose - two solid songs and love them both. They seem to capture the different moods of Batman really well.

Face to Face is good don't get me wrong, but I find these to be the best songs associated with any Batman film. And they don't appear in the film.

[thecolorsblend]

Actually, I'd agree with that.   I like F2F better but it's more about Batman and Catwoman IN THAT MOVIE than Batman in general.

Good call.