Following my viewings of the Tim Burton Batman films, I decided to watch Batman Forever, a film I don't recall ever seeing in my childhood at all unlike the others. A major red flag going into this was reading that pretty much everyone from the prior films had declined to return. Tim Burton would no longer direct the film, taking on the role of a producer instead, likely a result of the studio trying to keep him around with some nice paychecks. Much of the charm of the prior entries came from Tim Burton's creative vision, his ability to really build atmosphere while keeping things quite grounded and close to something real for the audience. Michael Keaton also refused to return as Bruce Wayne, saying he had read the script and just had no interest in it, primarily a result of the new direction it went in, making the film more cartoonish rather than the more gritty portrayal of Batman and the characters seen under Burton's directing. I didn't have a lot of faith for this at all.
To add to this, the film boasts a cast that just doesn't seem suitable for this sort of film. Names perhaps a bit too large from other genres that just don't quite fit the comic book character world. Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face, Jim Carrey as always pretty much portraying himself, and Val Kilmer as Batman. I tend to prefer actors that we don't really have much connection to from prior acting works. Relatively unknown actors that we can see as the characters rather than the actor we've seen play a hundred others. From the very start, I just did not believe I could really get into this. But I wanted to give it a chance anyway. To see if it had any redeeming qualities to it, and to explore the films fully that had some Burton connection to them. But it's clear from here that Burton had little interest, the producer role being nothing more than a credit to keep the audiences walking to theatres, even knowing Michael Keaton would not return.
Releasing in 1995, it has that mid 90s film look to it, that less serious, more colourful home video appeal with a larger reliance on special effects. Under some instances, I don't quite mind this. But here? It lost the magic it had.
Batman Forever
Much like the prior films, it focuses on a very different set of villains. Though the approach largely seems inspired by a more cartoonish, youthful approach. The set design seems much cheaper, and with lighting that's more colourful and mystical to follow a more stylised video game and comic approach. In its defence, I will say that the colourful look and more stylised approach can be considered a positive. The negative however sits in the fact that the set design itself is blatantly low budget, with a much stronger reliance on special effects. So the world from the very start seems fake. Not as grounded as the Gotham we see in Burton's directing, where the city very much looks like it is a real, living space. With realistic lighting and buildings that you would find in a place like New York City.
This means the atmosphere of the prior films is certainly lost in the pursuit of something far more cartoonish and ultimately childish. It seems the target audiences are vastly different between the films, really going for that younger audience that'll be getting into comics. The change in target demographic also really explains the Jim Carrey approach, to which his character just throws out the usual jokes and references that pull the weight from the serious events in efforts to generate whacky laughs. I didn't really enjoy this aspect of it, I don't mind Jim Carrey as an actor, but I feel there's a time and place for his style of humour, and this wasn't really it. After all, there are characters already which are stylised and formed in the idea of humour.
This childish pursuit and cheapness is also felt in the costume design and makeup. Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face looks pretty awful. One side of his face being a very cheap looking makeup that seems as if it was only made that way to closely resemble any type of toys they could make and sell from the characters alongside the film, which makes a lot of sense when we look back at the direction of the film, and the year of 1995 where it was made. Figures and merchandise was really starting to pop off around this time, offering all sorts of games and collectibles that could kickstart the idea of a franchise into a new era; something we still see with Disney to this day. The idea that a film is an entertaining advertisement for the merchandise which really pulls in the big bucks.
As the film went on, I couldn't help but think of these things. The changes in society, the rapid differences in culture that definitely impacted the film. Looking back at the Burton entries and seeing it wasn't just the lack of Burton at the directing position that led to it being lackluster. Batman Forever was a clear sign of things changing, standards in Hollywood shifting under the discovery of new revenue streams. And I say these things as the adult I now am, knowing full well that had (and maybe I actually did) I seen this film as a child, I probably would've enjoyed it, because it was aimed at me. The new generation of comic book readers, the new consumers that pull at the change-filled pockets of parents at the sight of cheap-looking plastic figurine of Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face.
But if we step back slightly, the directing here isn't terrible for the era. Sure the set design is cheap and sucks, but the perspectives, the angles, the use of lighting. It's all decent stuff, it does things right still, even if the rest just isn't enough. One thing I disliked regarding the directing, though, was the comic book styled tilting of the camera in moments. Like artists that utilise perspective, though it doesn't translate so well with movement, instead it just gives off a nauseating feeling as if you're aboard a rocking boat. But I still think there's something here for people to enjoy. Perhaps it speaks more to the newer fans of these films, perhaps to some it offers a nostalgic trip to a simpler time perhaps when films weren't so serious.
For me, I can see why the other actors had declined to return. I have no doubts that they read the script and just couldn't see it working for them. Being totally different in almost every imaginable way to what they had worked on building in the last two films. Almost a rejection of all that passion that went into them. It'll be easily forgettable.
