10 Hated Movie Performances That Were Secretly Genius

In their 2006 album, The Great Burrito Extortion Case, pop punk band Bowling for Soup feature a track called "Val Kilmer", in which lead singer Jaret Reddick waxes lyrical about the comedic chops of the actor in movies like Real Genius and Top Secret, before concluding that he "sucked as Batman".

Kilmer's performance is, of course, generally less well-spoken of when compared to that of Michael Keaton's - who benefited from Tim Burton's gothic direction and is by far the best live-action Caped Crusader - but it's certainly not among the weakest to have featured in a DC adaptation. While Kilmer himself has spoken of his regret about taking on the role in the first place, equating the idea of Batman to an action figure and that the actor portraying him doesn't really matter, his performance as Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever oozes unrealised potential, with Joel Schumacher's film masking its nuances in a cacophony of neon lights and zebra-print villain costumes - as well as some pivotal scenes that were left on the cutting room floor.

Schumacher's film, famously, was influenced by the controversy surrounding Batman Returns, which was darker than the already intense Batman '89 and drew complaints from parents as a result. Schumacher was brought on board to make a lighter film once Burton had departed the planned third movie, but it wasn't entirely devoid of darkness or depth. The initial vision Schumacher had for Batman Forever involved unpacking the psychology of Bruce Wayne, pairing him with a psychologist love interest in Nicole Kidman's Chase Meridian and even filming a scene where Bruce would confront his ego, now manifested as a giant, mechanical bat.

Ultimately, only parts of this vision would wind up on the screen when Forever premiered in 1995, impacting both the thematic content of the film and Kilmer's performance, which, on the surface, seemed to lack the quirky interiority of Keaton's.

Despite the challenges that came with making a more kid-friendly Caped Crusader movie, though, Kilmer still manages to convey a bubbling darkness brewing beneath the cowl. His Bruce Wayne is typically dashing, but also vulnerable, the high point of this performance coming before the Riddler and Two-Face's assault on Wayne Manor. Kilmer's frustrations with the character are totally valid, but equally, so is Schumacher's interpretation. There are flaws aplenty, and there are probably depths to Kilmer's portrayal that have been lost on the cutting room floor, but what we're left with is still another compelling rendition of the character.