The Dark Knight Rises Legacy: Do The Original Batman Films Still Hold Up?
Batman Forever (1995)
Lets make something clear first and foremost- Batman Forever does have its strengths. Jim Carrey perfectly inhabits his role as The Riddler with a far better turn than in many of his own later films; Nicole Kidman is wonderful as the films love interest; Val Kilmer struggles in Michael Keatons shadow as Batman but does an admirable job and as ever the special effects of the flick dont cease to impress. Okay, now weve got those positive points out of the way, its time for the bad news. Losing Tim Burton as the centre of the final two Dark Knight adaptations proves to be a massive blow to the franchise as a whole come the late 1990s. What Forever gains from in a lighter tone through faster pacing and a more certain direction, it loses big time in the form of a strong villain. Much as Carrey provides a great conspirator in the shadows, Tommy-Lee Jones Two-Face was meant to be the main evil attraction of the piece, yet he proves to be nothing more than a dire pantomime-esque foil for Batman and his new teammate Dick Grayson. Hes got no lines that quite match up to What killed the dinosaurs? The ICE age! and yet in some ways I would rather have had him make more quips about chance and justice than seeing Jones reduced to cackling and constant dull dual-monologues. Id love to take Two-Face out of the equation and examine the piece without him, yet he plays such a central role in irritating the hell out of me that its really impossible to ignore him. Thats a crying shame, seeing as there are so many other elements of Batman Forever that show huge potential for development, only to be squandered with rushed conclusions later on. Riddle me this, what do you get when you add pantomime battles and bizarre music to a compelling but badly written flick? The beginning of the end!
rating: 2.5
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