Awesomely Horrible Netflix Instant Films: “Batman Forever”

I've seen a lot of movies in the theater in my life and most of them were pretty forgettable. I vividly remember going to see Tim Burton's first Batman film when I was a little kid with my dad. I was a lifelong Batman fan, both of the comics and the old Adam West TV show from the 60's. Tim Burton's take on the Caped Crusader was bold and dark, a throwback to the original spirit of Batman. The second Tim Burton film was nowhere near as good but it was still pretty darn entertaining. Then Burton left the franchise and terrible director Joel Schumacher took the helm. His first outing was Batman Forever and it is an over-the-top miracle of cheese.

Val Kilmer stars as Batman/Bruce Wayne, which if you ask me is an even weirder casting choice than Michael Keaton. He has to do battle with two villains, Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face and Jim Carrey as the Riddler. It's hard to say which of the two of them chews more scenery. It's an overacting competition where the winner is no one. Batman recruits an assistant in the form of Robin, played by 90's heartthrob Chris O'Donnell. There is also a love interest played by Nicole Kidman but no one really cares about her. Kilmer and O'Donnell foil the Riddler and Two-Face's plot, of course. It's hard to say what the plot was exactly. It's all a blur of color and rubber Batsuits.

Sure, Batman Forever is a bad movie but it is at least partially entertaining in a campy fun way. It wasn't like Schumacher's follow-up Batman and Robin. That movie was an abomination. It's the only film I've ever been to that I saw people walk out en masse like I did at Batman and Robin. At least in Batman Forever there aren't nipples on the Batsuit. But it does have the following boner jam from Seal.