With this third installment, we have new villains and it's doing the same as Batman Returns by having two of them. However with Joel Schumacher as director, would his style be as good, better, or worse then the first two?
With the opening of the Warner Bros. logo turning into the Batman symbol, it really gets the juices flowing, as does the romping score by Elliot Goldenthal. However, the first line of the film does slight put things on a downward spiral. Thankfully, it does not free-fall. It's just a gradual descent.
From being dark and gothic, we now have a more upbeat and gradually campy tone that even has glimpses of the Adam West's TV series. I've forgotten how flashy the fight scenes and character introductions are made.
Like with all Batman films, it does still manage to focus on the developments of the villains instead of Batman. Tommy Lee Jones plays the campy tone well as Two-Face. But it is Jim Carey who makes this film an entertaining watch. His style of acting works with the tone really well, has many memorable quotes that I remember saying as a kid and is a constant scene stealer. The on-screen partnership between Carey and Jones was a particular highlight. They camped up enough to be entertaining rather than be seen as terrible.
As for Batman, it was Val Kilmer taking the reigns from Michael Keaton. He was pretty solid. Definitely did not show anything exceptional, but did nothing to down-grade the film.
Nicole Kidman as the leading female was given an interesting story to her character. Being a psychiatrist was a good choice as it gave an angle of helping Bruce Wayne confront his fears. It was totally executed well, but it showed the potential. Also, it seemed Kidman was accompanied by a wind machine in every scene she was in.
My big positives was the introduction of the Dick Grayson/Robin character. The first time we see him was a pretty tense and emotional scene. The end credits song choice of U2's 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me' was a great choice and I have played many times since first hearing it.
One positives that does not help the film was production and set design. It was impressive, but for this film it felt a bit over the top. I also noticed one small mention of Metropolis which was a nice to hear.
The writing was a mixed bag. There was a lot of ex-positioning that felt forced rather than genuine. But there was moments that had me invested to still make this solid viewing.
I was not a fan of the re-visiting of how Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered. It felt hugely unnecessary, and they could have gone on a more interesting angle on the relationship between Batman and Two-Face perhaps.
The big negatives were some of the choices made by the characters which seemed odd and out of place with everything that has happened. There was the occasional cringe-worthy moments and a lot of them take place towards the end. We will see more of that in Batman & Robin.
In the end, it's ok. For many people, it was seen as not that good but with a small amount of positives. But you can enjoy it if you're in the right mood. However, for the long terms this is now seen as the beginning of the end.
Rating: 6/10
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