10 Positives Joel Schumacher Actually Brought To Batman Movies

3. Continuity

Batman and Batman Returns were incredible and certainly the best entries in the Batman quadrilogy. However, Tim Burton was not keen on the idea of making a direct sequel to Batman and therefore remodelled its first sequels, other than retaining the absolute key ingredients (i.e. the presence of Michael Keaton, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, the 1989 version of the Batmobile and Danny Elfman’s superb musical score). Therefore, there is little continuity between the two films.

Whilst Schumacher picked and chose what he wanted to carry over from the Burton films, he did at least provide an element of continuity and progression within his own vision of Gotham City, rather than the near-complete change that Burton instilled between his own two films.

For example, in both Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, Gotham is a great, teeming metropolis of eye-catching statues, glittering architecture and dazzling neon. It may not be everyone’s idea of Gotham, but it remained consistent in both films

One downside in this, of course, was that he didn’t seem able to keep hold of the same actor as Batman/Bruce Wayne...