10 Reasons Why Val Kilmer Is The Most Underrated Batman
4. He Actually Did A Lot Of His Own Fight Scenes
These days one of the fundamentals of a great Batman movie is the fight scenes. That, however, wasn't always the way because, while Batman and Batman Returns are both great films, they were a little light on the action - so, in a way, Batman Forever was the first to include what many would class as modern day fight scenes.
The film's opening fight, in which the Caped Crusader battles Two-Face's thugs, is particularly great, but what makes it all the more impressive is that, according to Costume Designer Bob Ringwood, the person pulling off that intricate fight choreography is actually Kilmer himself.
“Val really worked hard on his body and martial arts. In fact, the first martial arts sequence you see in the movie, a bank job that Two-Face is trying to pull off, Val did almost if not all of everything you're seeing, the kicks and everything - in the suit and the cape, which weights 40 or 50 pounds (about 20 kg).”
Considering that, like with all of Batman's big-screen offerings, the film had highly-trained stunt doubles to execute the choreography, it's admirable that Kilmer went to such great effort (especially when there aren't that many close-up shots) to pick it up - and this effort showed, because as that scene highlights, he did a great job.
Guess Batman does do his own stunts after all...