Batman & Robin almost single handedly destroyed not only the Batman franchise but the comic book genre in general. Joel Schumacher ups the ante in terms of cheesy one-liners and terrible puns, in which he creates quite possibly one of the hardest movies to watch that I have ever seen.
George Clooney is quite miscast as Batman, now he plays Bruce Wayne brilliantly and that could be put down to the Clooney charm. However as Batman himself, he just seems like Bruce Wayne but in a suit. There is no differentiation between the persona of Batman and Bruce Wayne. Uma Thurman’s portrayal as Poison Ivy is a bit hit or miss. There are some scenes in which she excels in when trying to seduce her victims, but most of the time she is stuck with terrible dialogue. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the king of dad jokes as Mr Freeze. This is most certainly the worst character I have ever seen on film. Arnold is not the only one to blame for this portrayal as he was given a script flooded with terrible, cringey ice puns which was made only worse with Schwarzenegger’s delivery in the dialogue with the pauses before the punchline. Chris O’Donnell and Alicia Silverstone were just as bad as each other as Robin and Batgirl. Instead of coming off as partners and a team they more seemed like bickering siblings.
Gotham City still keeps the same aesthetic as it does in Batman Forever, but with the inclusion of Poison Ivy’s garden lair is a nice touch from the typical large buildings we see throughout the film. Elliot Goldenthall reuses his theme he created in Batman Forever except I swear this is the only musical number he did for this film. I feel this theme was played throughout every single scene which devalues the impact of the theme when Batman is in action.
Batman & Robin may have been a success in early childhood and a great money maker when it came to the toys that they produced. But as an adult watching this film now, it has most certainly not aged well and a film I will be happy to never revisit again.
1.0/10
