20 DVD Commentaries You Need To Hear Before You Die
18. Batman & Robin
Participant(s): Joel Schumacher Joel Schumachers Batman & Robin is remembered as the superhero movie which murdered the genre for many years, taking a gigantic $140-million budget and creating a film which felt like a parody of DCs iconic crime fighter. The abysmal, homo-eroticised film bombed both critically and at the box office and led to Warner Bros. putting the intellectual property on the shelf for several years and cancelling the planned sequel, Batman Triumphant. If for some strange reason you decide to rewatch the 1997 flop we recommend that you do yourselves a favour and allow Schumachers candid commentary to improve the experience. The director makes very little attempt to defend his film, eventually apologising for the atrocious rubber-nipple filled affair. He explains how he is a keen Batman fan himself, making his failure to do the comic books justice all the more galling. He also explains how he was under heavy pressure from the studio to guarantee the film's marketability, compromising the quality of the package. Schumachers commentary provides some closure on one of the darker moments in the history of comic book films. Its rare to see people in Hollywood own their mistakes but Joel Schumacher most certainly does just that. Thankfully more successful Marvel films proved the commercial viability of the genre and Warner Bros wounds eventually healed enough to trust Nolan with a new trilogy.
Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.
