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5 Stars (Excellent)
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1 Star (Poor)
3 Stars (Good)
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4 Stars (Very Good)
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When Tim Burton and Michael Keaton announced that they'd had enough of the Batman franchise, director Joel Schumacher stepped in (with Burton as coproducer) to make this action-packed extravaganza starring Val Kilmer as the caped crusader. Batman is up against two of Gotham City's most colorful criminals, the Riddler (a role tailor-made for funnyman Jim Carrey) and the diabolical Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), who join forces to conquer Gotham's population with a brain-draining device. Nicole Kidman plays the seductive psychologist who wants to know what makes Batman tick. Boasting a redesigned Batmobile and plenty of new Bat hardware, Batman Forever also introduces Robin the Boy Wonder (Chris O'Donnell) whose close alliance with Batman led more than a few critics to ponder the series' homoerotic subtext. No matter how you interpret it, Schumacher's take on the Batman legacy is simultaneously amusing, lavishly epic, and prone to chronic sensory overload.
3 Stars (Good)
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Following Val Kilmer's portrayal of the caped crusader in Batman Forever, the fourth Batman feature stars George Clooney under the pointy-eared cowl, with Chris O'Donnell returning as Robin the Boy Wonder. This time the dynamic duo is up against the nefarious Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger), who is bent on turning the world into an iceberg, and the slyly seductive but highly toxic Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman), who wants to eliminate all animal life and turn the Earth into a gigantic greenhouse. Alicia Silverstone lends a hand as Batgirl, and Elle McPherson plays the thankless role of Batman/Bruce Wayne's fiancée. A sensory assault of dazzling colors, senseless action, and lavish sets run amok, this Batman & Robin offers an overdose of eye candy, but it is strictly for devoted Bat-o-philes.
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Holy camp site, Batman! After a fabulously successful season on TV, the campy comic book adventure hit the big screen, complete with painful puns, outrageous supervillains, and fights punctuated with word balloons sporting such onomatopoeic syllables as "Pow!," "Thud!," and "Blammo!" Adam West's wooden Batman is the cowled vigilante alter ego of straight-arrow millionaire Bruce Wayne and Bruce Ward's Robin (a.k.a. Dick Grayson, Bruce's young collegiate protégé) his overeager sidekick in hot pants. Together they battle an unholy alliance of Gotham City's greatest criminals: the Joker (Cesar Romero, whooping up a storm), the Riddler (giggling Frank Gorshin), the Penguin (cackling Burgess Meredith), and the purr-fectly sexy Catwoman (Lee Meriwether slinking in a skin-tight black bodysuit). The criminals are, naturally, out to conquer the world, but with a little help from their unending supply of utility belt devices (bat shark repellent, anyone?), our dynamic duo thwarts their nefarious plans at every turn. Since the TV show ran under 30 minutes an episode (with commercials), the 105-minute film runs a little thin--a little camp goes a long way--but fans of the small-screen show will enjoy the spoofing tone throughout. Leslie H. Martinson directs Lorenzo Semple's screenplay like a big-budget TV episode minus the cliffhanger endings
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Batman battles a mysterious figure, known as the title character "Phantasm", who's killing the great gangsters of Gotham City, while, as Bruce Wayne, he romances his college sweetheart, just returned to town. Then the Joker turns up and begins reaking his own form of mayhem and destruction. Excellent design (inspired by the 1940s Superman cartoons) is hampered by some mediocre animation, but the story isn't bad, and the dialogue is better than you'd expect. This spinoff from the animated Batman TV series was originally intended for videotape release only, but went on to theaters instead. A wise move by Warner Bros. officials because it reached number one at the box office during it's theatrical release.
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4 Stars (Very Good)
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The Dark Knight and his cohorts Robin and Batgirl do battle with a scarily sympathetic archvillain in this superior animated movie that both kids and adults can watch without feeling insulted. While not quite as inspired as the previous Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (which is still the best portrayal of the title character ever to grace the screen), this well-plotted, awesomely stylish wall-to-wall actioner perfectly captures the fundamental essence of the classic comics, and makes the treatment of the same characters in the painful live-action Batman & Robin look even more ineptly misguided. Simply put, this is how the Masked Manhunter of Gotham should be depicted.
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5 Stars (Excellent)
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The new millennium has dawned and Gotham City has embraced the future, becoming an enormous megalopolis etched in neon with sleek futuristic vehicles and behemoth people movers. It's a city molded by corporate master plans, corporate wealth, and occasionally, corporate greed. In an environment such as this, corruption lurks just below the surface of order, waiting for the opportunity to break through and get a toehold from which to flourish.
Luckily for the citizens (and law enforcement) of Gotham City, one thing has remained constant in their lives -- the ever-vigilant Batman. While the integrity and ideals of Batman remain unchanged, the man behind the cape is no longer a young man and, finding it more and more difficult to keep up his crimefighting efforts, he retired.
Enter Terry McGinnis, a high-school senior who, through a series of fateful coincidences and circumstances, meets Bruce Wayne (now in his seventies) and inadvertently discovers the Batcave and Bruce Wayne's secret identity -- Batman! Terry's father, like Bruce Wayne's, died at the hands of criminals, and Terry, like Wayne, is determined to avenge his father's death -- what better way than as Batman! Wayne initially rejects the idea until he witnesses Terry's determination and skill.
By day, Terry is Waynes' personal assistant; by night he's a crimefighter-in-training, as the pair share a somewhat uneasy mentor/student relationship. While the new Batman, or Tomorrow Knight (as he has been dubbed by the city of Gotham) is guarding the city, Wayne stays at the Batcomputer providing him with vital information over the radio link in the new, high-tech Batsuit, also designed to eliminate the need for weaponry and capable of gliding flight.
Even though "Batman Beyond" was actually comprised of the three part premiere of a new series of the same name, it follows in the same style of the previous Batman animated movies which made them so popular. A good plot along with great animation make it a welcome addition to the animated Batman library.
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In 1949, a Batman Serial entitled "Batman & Robin" was made by Columbia Pictures. The serials starred Robert Lowery as Batman and John Duncan as Robin. Serials consisted of a bunch of 15-minute "chapters" that usually left you with a cliffhanger to keep you coming back the following week. The cost of admission was usually a nickel. This serial was based on the Batman and Detective Comics of that time (remember, Batman was created in 1939). Some of the ideas in the serial were actually adapted by the comics.
The story involves a scientist named Professor Hamill (portrayed by William Fawcett) who is developing a machine that can control vehicles and bring them to any destination desired by the operator. The machine is stolen, since it would be of great use to any criminal. Batman and Robin are called upon to help get the machine back. They soon learn that the machine runs on diamonds, and so they stake out a diamond store. Their instincts prove right, and as the criminals arrive they are surprised when Batman and Robin burst on the scene. One of the criminals gets away while Batman and Robin are distracted fighting the rest of the hoodlums. The escapee brings the diamonds to the villian of the story, The Wizard (actor unknown). The Wizard uses the machine to take over a train shipment of an explosive called X-90 and has his thugs take the explosive to the hideout. As Batman and Robin discover the hideout, actually under the professor's house, they learn that The Wizard is the twin brother of the professor's servant. They capture and turn him over to the authorities.
This Batman serial had a bit of a "campy" appeal to it. One of the funniest things while you're watching this film is that the Batmobile is nothing more than a regular car! With the budget they used to produce the films, make the costumes, and do the special effects, they really didn't have money left over to do anything fancy. On top of that, know one knew how the serials would go over. Even though this film is 50 years old and 3 hours/ 45 minutes long, it still captures the essence and feel of Batman and is a must have for any Bat fan.