My Problem with Robin

[BatmanFurst]

How this film treats Robin has always bothered me. Throughout the film Batman constantly says he doesn't need a partner, and that Dick is going to get himself killed. However, at the end of the film he accepts Robin as his partner. Why? What changed in Bruce to make him finally accept a partner. On top of that he's proven to be right in not wanting a partner because Robin is completely useless. He gets captured by the Riddler's henchmen, then gets captured again by Two-Face. Seems like a glaring problem with the script.

[thecolorsblend]

Batman knew he was heading to the main headquarters of two supervillains where he would have to fight them after fighting their minions in order to rescue his girlfriend.

Can't imagine why he would've wanted help with all that. I mean, I do that with one arm tied behind my back every Tuesday.

[BatmanFurst]

Batman knew he was heading to the main headquarters of two supervillains where he would have to fight them after fighting their minions in order to rescue his girlfriend.

Can't imagine why he would've wanted help with all that. I mean, I do that with one arm tied behind my back every Tuesday.

I may've accepted it a bit better if they had a scene of Bruce training Dick. As it stands in the film he's taking an inexperienced teen(?) on a dangerous mission.

[The Dark Knight]

Dick was an accomplished acrobat and saved Batman from being buried alive. Dick stole the Batmobile to fight neon goons in a dingy back alley. He had ability. Bruce just saw his mentality as reckless, and thought he could hone that into something more disciplined. That's the point of being a mentor - your apprentice is not the final product. They are a work in progress.

[thecolorsblend]

I may've accepted it a bit better if they had a scene of Bruce training Dick. As it stands in the film he's taking an inexperienced teen(?) on a dangerous mission.

As much as I love BF, I won't blow sunshine. It's very much a Turn your brain off and enjoy type of film. Yes, there are some meaty character dynamics going on. But at the end of the day, it's an action-adventure carnival ride. So things like taking a completely raw Dick Grayson out on his first adventure as Robin sort of have to be accepted at face value. If that single plot point was enough to bother me, there are tons of things that happen earlier in the movie that are just about as egregious that should spoiled it for me first.

Batman took a totally untrained Dick with him to defeat Two Face and the Riddler. Eh, I go with it.

[BatmanFurst]

Dick was an accomplished acrobat and saved Batman from being buried alive. Dick stole the Batmobile to fight neon goons in a dingy back alley. He had ability. Bruce just saw his mentality as reckless, and thought he could hone that into something more disciplined. That's the point of being a mentor - your apprentice is not the final product. They are a work in progress.

The fact that he handled himself well with the street gang makes me question what happened with the Riddler's henchmen. Maybe it's just a case of him being out of his depth.

[BatmanFurst]

I may've accepted it a bit better if they had a scene of Bruce training Dick. As it stands in the film he's taking an inexperienced teen(?) on a dangerous mission.

As much as I love BF, I won't blow sunshine. It's very much a Turn your brain off and enjoy type of film. Yes, there are some meaty character dynamics going on. But at the end of the day, it's an action-adventure carnival ride. So things like taking a completely raw Dick Grayson out on his first adventure as Robin sort of have to be accepted at face value. If that single plot point was enough to bother me, there are tons of things that happen earlier in the movie that are just about as egregious that should spoiled it for me first.

Batman took a totally untrained Dick with him to defeat Two Face and the Riddler. Eh, I go with it.

Fair enough, and to be honest most of the Batman films are like that. Sometimes I'm willing to go along for the ride no matter what, whereas other times the film gets derailed by inconsistencies, motivations, etc.

[The Dark Knight]

Dick was an accomplished acrobat and saved Batman from being buried alive. Dick stole the Batmobile to fight neon goons in a dingy back alley. He had ability. Bruce just saw his mentality as reckless, and thought he could hone that into something more disciplined. That's the point of being a mentor - your apprentice is not the final product. They are a work in progress.

The fact that he handled himself well with the street gang makes me question what happened with the Riddler's henchmen. Maybe it's just a case of him being out of his depth.

Plot necessity. Two people (Two-Face) and apparently one choice to make. Bruce saves both because he claims to be both Bruce Wayne AND Batman.

[BatmanFurst]

Dick was an accomplished acrobat and saved Batman from being buried alive. Dick stole the Batmobile to fight neon goons in a dingy back alley. He had ability. Bruce just saw his mentality as reckless, and thought he could hone that into something more disciplined. That's the point of being a mentor - your apprentice is not the final product. They are a work in progress.

The fact that he handled himself well with the street gang makes me question what happened with the Riddler's henchmen. Maybe it's just a case of him being out of his depth.

Plot necessity. Two people (Two-Face) and apparently one choice to make. Bruce saves both because he claims to be both Bruce Wayne AND Batman.

That's true, and I do like the symbolism in that scene.

[Slash Man]

Dick was an accomplished acrobat and saved Batman from being buried alive. Dick stole the Batmobile to fight neon goons in a dingy back alley. He had ability. Bruce just saw his mentality as reckless, and thought he could hone that into something more disciplined. That's the point of being a mentor - your apprentice is not the final product. They are a work in progress.

This right here. I thought we were given adequate evidence as to why Dick was suitable for the role. It's stressed that both heroes needed each other, and their formal partnership began when they've both put aside pride and anger and focus on the mission at hand. A good scene that got cut shows Robin training and Bruce starting to mentor him.

The only part of the plot that could have been stronger was Robin becoming a liability once he's Batman's partner. By this point, it was already a trope to have Robin get caught by the bad guys and have Batman have to bail him out. As a fan of Robin, I think that device does a disservice to the character.