10 Overlooked Positives Of Batman Forever

9. The Action

Warner Bros. Pictures

Batman Forever marked the franchise's shift from Gothic thriller to more traditional superhero fare. While Michael Keaton's Batman was no stranger to getting his fists dirty (even if he'd rather shoot someone with his Batmobile, strap a bomb to their chest or drop the Joker from the side of a building), Batman Forever upped the game with more action, explosions and a slightly more flexible Batsuit.

The film opens with an action sequence bigger and louder than anything in Batman and Batman Returns put together. While Burton's fight sequences are undeniably better staged and more iconic, Forever rarely lets up whenever Batman is onscreen. In the first ten minutes alone, there's a mass punch-up, grisly yet old fashioned deathtrap, a helicopter chase and an enormous explosion. Whatever faults Forever may have as a Batman movie (and it has more than a few) the action isn't one of them.

When there is action, that is. Schadenfreude fanshoping to see Batman punch either of his excruciatingly annoying enemies in the face will be sorely disappointed: there's not a single Bat-blow exchanged in the finale, in which Two-Face gets beaten up by Robin before falling off a very high ledge to his watery grave. Damn.

Contributor
Contributor

A film critic and professional writer of over ten years, Joel Harley has a deep and abiding love of all things horror, Batman and Nicolas Cage. He can be found writing online and in print, all over the Internet and in especially good bookstores.