Batman & Robin Film Review

Every superhero film franchise has just as much lows as it does highs with the Batman franchise being a very good example of that. As for every good Batman film live action or otherwise there's bad one and sadly the film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today is actually frequently stated to be the worst Batman movie ever made and so then join me as I review the film that not only destroyed Batman in live action films for almost ten years but that also star Chris O'Donnell hates as well with the film in question being called simply just "Batman & Robin" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when two new supervillain arrive in the form of Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy Batman and Robin have to try and take them down and stop them from enacting there plan of freezing Gotham forever with the help of Batgirl. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I im all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as while the idea of having Batman and Robin take on two villains at once and having one of them even cause a break in there bond as friends is a good idea the films plot is bogged down by so much dumb stuff that you can't help but roll your eyes at it but in saying this tho having a dumb plot isn't always a bad thing infact sometimes that's all people want to see but here in this film it's just not something that works with the main thinking behind this film seeming to be that more equals better and so the film becomes over stuffed with characters that take away from the main plot of the film as while this films plot does get alot of focus it also make it even more obvious as to why this films plot doesn't work as this is meant to be set in the world of Tim Burtons Batman 1989 and yet the film instead feels more like the kind of plot that you'd see Adam Wests Batman deal with and if the film did have his Batman in it then the plot would have worked alot more better because of the fact that his Batman was always more goofy and silly but this more modern version of the character wasn't silly and goofy and therefor giving him a silly and goofy plot doesn't work with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.  

Starring in this film is George Clooney as Bruce Wayne / Batman and Chris O'Donnell as Dick Grayson / Robin. Also starring in this film is Arnold Schwarzenegger as Doctor Victor Fries / Mr. Freeze , Uma Thurman as Doctor Pamela Isley / Poison Ivy , Alicia Silverstone as Barbara Wilson / Batgirl , Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth , Pat Hingle as Commissioner James Gordon , Elle Macpherson as Julie Madison Robert Swenson as Bane and John Glover as Doctor Jason Woodrue.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. To be fair to this film the acting in it isn't as bad as it really could have been as by all rights this films acting should have stunk to the highest of heavens but you can tell that all of this films actors are at the very least trying to make this films lack of a decent script work for them however tho that's also the issue as you can tell that this films script was made by a committee and not by people who understood what it was that made Batman Forever work so well in the first place with this films acting feeling like the kind of acting that you'd see in a toy advert which is pretty fitting as this film feel more like an advert for the films toys then it does an actual movie something which has been echoed by actor Chris O'Donnell who famously stated "things felt much sharper and more focused, and it just felt like everything got a little softer on the second one. The first one, I felt like I was making a movie. The second one, I felt like I was making a toy commercial." with this coming through in the films acting as everyone overacts every scene that there in with there not really being a best actor in this film as no one is really allowed to show us just what it is that they can do as actors with the acting that's in this film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does help to hurt the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Much like the films acting and plot the films characters really aren't all that great either this is despite the fact that the film does at least try to do something new with them. With the film making Alfred sort of a main character on the film which is something that wasn't done before and hasn't been done since this film with the film taking the time to show us him caring for Bruce when he was a kid and showing us how he does care for both Bruce and Dick however the issue is tho is that the film does nothing interesting with his character as we don't get to find anything new about him as a character but to be fair since he's not the films main character that might be the point but in saying this tho he gets the gold star treatment when compared to quite literally any of this films characters as they are all so one dimensional heck even Batman: The Animated Series took the time to delve into it's characters and reveal what it was that made them tick and yet here in this film it felt like that the makers of the film where just on auto-pilot alot of the time and therefor didn't bother to give the characters much character with the best example of this being Bane who goes from being this well spoken person in the comics who is capable of toppling governments whenever he feels like it to now being someone else's thug of a bodyguard who can't talk and is to be frank quite dumb with all of the other characters just being either plain and boring or made to be dumb as rock which is what they did with James Gordan someone who was presented as being a very well spoken cop even in just the previous film to someone is just there for comedic relief and that's it.

Speaking of Batman: The Animated Series that show gave us perhaps the most well known village origin story in the episode "Heart Of Ice" which was an emotional gut punch of an episode that made the Mr. Freeze character all the more interesting because of how well done that that episode was in the first place. Well in this episode any of that intrigue or interest that the show had built up for the character is gone and is instead replaced with ice puns granted this was the characters first time in a live action film and so maybe the makers of the film didn't know what to do with his character which is fair enough as he could be seen as being a difficult character to adapt for a live action film but then the film includes his origin from the "Heart Of Ice" episode which makes it look like that the makers of this film knew what they were doing with the character but still chose to make those mistakes in the first place with this being something that could have very easily been fixed just by removing alot of the ice puns as there not funny and there not clever and focusing more on the tragic human side of the character as that's the side of the character that the people really connected to as his story is meant to be a tragedy and and how can we feel sad for him when he's shouting out bad ice puns every other line however to be fair tho having the character team up with Poison Ivy was a good idea as it's team up that whilst on paper it should work but it really doesn't work in the film with it only working due to the fact that Uma Thurman is really good in the role but tho it's the fact that they tried to replicate what "Heart Of Ice" did so wonderfully as that episode made you question who the real villain of the story was in the first place Freeze or his boss who fired him at the start of the episode and being a contributing factor in his turn to the dark side something which could have worked here but it really doesn't and infact the only two times where we get to see Freeze show off his humanity help the film out quite a bit.

It's no question that the films biggest sin is the fact that it does feel alot more like an advert for the films toys then it does an actual film. Something which alot of the films cast and crew have said at several points in there respective career's with it being something that is kind of distracting as it takes away from the film as in the opening scene where we see Batman and Robin suiting up which is a solid sequence on it's own and it does make sense to start the film off that way but they spend more time on the accessories that the duo have then they do in showing off anything else which makes it obvious that those accessories are going to be sold as toys and heck even in the films third act Batman , Robin and Batgirl all get different suits despite there being no reason for them to change there clothes which again makes it painfully obvious that there going to be sold as toys look fair enough Warner Bros wanted to sell Batman toys to kids but how they went about doing so meant that this film had no chance to begin with as if they let the makers of this film make the film that they wanted to make and make it actually feel like a film then guess what would have happened kids would have gone to buy the toys anyway but because they put more focus on selling toys then they did in making a good movie they did more harm to the Batman franchise then they did good and to be director Joel Schumacher he along with other cast and crew members have apologized for making the film in the first place and heck George Clooney even gave out refunds to people who saw the film meanwhile Warner Bros they have remained radio silent on the film when whoever was head at the studio at the time should be the one that's apologizing for how bad that the film ultimately ended up being.

Whilst having Arnold Schwarzenegger team up with Uma Thurman is a good idea from an acting point of view. From the point of view there characters it makes no sense as both of there respective plans contradict each other as Ivy wants to see the plants rule world and Mr. Freeze wants to freeze the world so why would these two characters that have no busisness being in the same room as each other want to team up with each other in the first place this is something that really should gave been more thought out when they were choosing the films villains as all it does make both characters look dumb heck why not have Mr. Freeze team up with Bane or have Poison Ivy be a solo villain as she's a strong enough character to be the main villain of the film grated tho that would then cause you another problem of how do you have both Batman and Robin fighting a woman in which case you could also have Mr. Freeze as a solo villain as he's also a strong enough villain he could be the main villain of the film but in this film it feels like that Ivy was only added to the villains so that Batgirl could have someone to fight with the fact that she causes a friction between Dick and Bruce being secondary which is a shame as that's the only smart thing that she does all film and while her and Freeze do make for a somewhat entertaining pair villains there also villains that shouldn't be paired together due to the fact that whatever there plans are it will at best feel against there characters and at worst contradict the other's plan with Freeze even coming across as being more of the films main villain as it's him that Batman himself fights whereas its Batgirl that mainly fights Poison Ivy.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and four minuets and fifty three seconds. Which to be fair to this film is a perfectly solid running time for this film as the film does have more then enough plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place but this film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the film doesn't take the time that it really could have done to fully develop it's plot with the film being more focused on giving Mr. Freeze ice puns then it is in giving us a well thought out plot with things that should have worked like the friction between Bruce and Dick not really working due to the fact that the film doesn't give us a reason to care for them as characters outside of the fact thar there the heroes and that's it with the same thing also being for Barbera and her going of and getting in motorbike races with this even effecting the films characters as none of them get any kind of character development as the main focus of the film isn't on being a generally good or even passable film it's about selling toys and therefor the films characters are all very dimensional characters with us knowing as much about any of the films characters coming out of the film then we did going into the film and while it could be argues that characters like Batman and Robin get there development in the other films and therefor don't really need it in this film but for characters like Barbera , Ivy and Mr. Freeze those are characters that really did to get there character development and they get nothing at all but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty the best part of the film. With it being made clear as day that the makers of this film put alot more thought and effort into making this films action really good then they did into making this a really good film in it's right as the film does gave plenty of really over the top and campy action scenes that all work really well with the films more campy tone with the best action scene in the whole film oddly enough being the films first action scene as we get to see Batman and Robin fighting Mr. Freeze in a museum whilst fighting several of hi goons all on ice skates only then for the action to go even more over the top with both Batman and Robin escaping a rocket that Freeze has rigged to blow up by surfing the sky on the rockets doors with the action in that going more and more over the top the longer that it goes on and while yes there some really dodgy CGI bits n that scene like the obviously CGI Robin it is a really fun action that does let you know just what kind of a film that your in for and while the film does gave plenty of other good action scenes none of them quite match the tone of the film by going as far as they could have done something upon which this films opening action scene really does excel in as an action scene should always escalate go to those more over the top places something which this film very easily could have done as this is a comic book movie and therefor could have gone to those places whilst still giving us some really creative action scenes in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall out of the two Joel Schumacher Batman movies Batman Forever is quite easily the better of the two films as that film at very least tries to be more of a film then an advert for the films toys whereas with this film it's more focused on selling the toys then it is being a good film in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old core of exactly a 4.5 out 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.