Now at the time of the development of this series, the Batman franchise was dying due to the popularity of the campy Batman film that was released before the first one in this series and the creators felt that it was time to change everything we know about Batman to try and stay true to his darker and serious side. In the end, 4 films were made to try and succeed in doing a dark adaptation of Batman and for the most part, directors Tim Burton (Batman and Batman Returns) and Joel Schumacher (Batman Forever and Batman & Robin) did a great or at least tried to do a good job of it. So let's have a look at them:
Batman
Released in 1989, this film was Michael Keaton's first attempt at doing Batman and Bruce Wayne and while there was controversy on that due to his comedy roles beforehand, He did a good job of it having read some of the comic books beforehand. Anyway, so as Gotham is reaching its 200th adversary, the crime level has risen which the mayor is worried about and has district attorney Harvey Dent (played by Billy Dee Williams, aka Lando Calrissian from Star Wars) and Commissioner Gordon (played by Pat Hingle) help to make the city safe again. However, the crime activity seems to have been taken care of by a mysterious dark and masked vigilante called Batman (Keaton) who in turn is attracting the police and local media which as a result has the reporters Alexander Knox (played by Robert Whul) and Vicki Vale (played by Kim Basinger) go to investigate. Meanwhile, a gangster known as Jack Naiper (played by Jack Nicholson) has taken control of a gang that he was second in command of when he orders his boss to be killed. He and his gang head of the Ace Chemicals plant where a raid is taking place, during which Batman arrives, but upon trying to rescue Jack, accidentally has him fall into a pool of acid, which has him turn into the Joker. What has he got planned for Gotham you may be wondering. Well you'll have to see the film to find out. I felt personally that Keaton did a great job of being Batman and has been considered to be one of the definitive Batmans out there. I also enjoyed Nicholson's take on the Joker, but I was angry when a certain plot twist was revealed which I felt disappointed about. But still, its a great film and definitely one that brings the darkness to the Batman universe. 9/10
Batman Returns
In Keaton and Burton's second and final film in the series, the film begins with the origin story of Oswald Cobblepot, better known as the Penguin (played by Danny DeVito) alongside the origins of Catwoman as well (played by Michelle Pfeiffer). The 2 of them cause chaos all over Gotham (not working together however) which gets the attention of Batman who goes out to stop them. However as with his comic book counterpart, Bruce Wayne starts feeling affections for Catwoman's alter ego, Selina Kyle which makes things difficult. Can Batman stop these two villains and what is their real intentions? Despite what people have said about this film, I felt that both DeVito and Pfeiffer did a great job with their characters and Keaton was great as always too. But in all honesty, this was a film that for the most part, was just plain weird. But of course, its Tim Burton so I'll let it pass for now. 8/10
Batman Forever
So here we have the first film by Schumacher which has Val Kilmer replace Michael Keaton in his one and only appearance as Bruce Wayne/Batman and featuring the debuts of Edward Nigma/The Riddler (Jim Carey), Harvey Dent/Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones who replaces Billy Dee Williams by request of the director (or something like that)) and Dick Grayson/Robin (Chris O'Donnell). So the film has Two-Face (who was Harvey Dent until a pool of acid is put onto him during a trail in his district attorney days) at large with his gang of mobs, which are stopped by Batman. At Wayne Enterprises, we meet Edward Nigma who is obsessed with Bruce Wayne so much, that he decides to create some kind of device that can beam TV to a person's brain. Because of his obsession, this results in him getting fired by his supervisor, which he kills soon after. Bruce Wayne then meets a female psychiatrist called Dr Chase Meridian (played by Nicole Kidman) which he takes to a circus that has arrived in town. However, Two-Face and his gang stop the scene and in the hopes of finding out Batman's secret identity, they kill 3 members of Dick Grayson's family. Bruce then takes Dick into his care (and you can guess the rest of that story from there), while Nigma decides to become the Riddler and forms an alliance with Two-Face to take down Batman. Its up to Batman to stop them, but can he do it alone? The film is actually pretty good and is possibly the strongest entry in the series. Jim Carey plays the part of the Riddler really well with showing off his insane side, but being smart in the process. I would've liked Billy Dee Williams to return, but I guess it was never meant to be, but having said that, Tommy Lee Jones plays a good Two-Face in my opinion. As for the others, Batman was OK but I didn't see a lot of him in action (he only has like a few action scenes and that's it) and the rest were OK too, but could've been better. As for everything else, it was a dramatic change from what Burton did, but it still manages to retain the darkness that Batman is known for and it was a pretty good film overall. 9/10
Batman & Robin
Alright, here it is. The worst entry in the series with very odd looking costumes for the main characters, too much of a child orientated plot and of course the infamous Bat Credit Card. This film serves as a origin story for Mr Freeze (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (played by Uma Thurman) (while Bane is just there for the hell of it) and what a shock, Batman (this time played by George Clooney) and Robin (reprised by Chris O'Donnell) have to go and stop them. But at the same time, its revealed that Alfred (played by the late Michael Gough who has played the role of Alfred in all 4 films) is dying from some kind of disease so while the dynamic duo fight crime, Alfred's niece called Barbara Wilson (played by Alicia Silverstone) comes and looks after him (and there is a shocking twist for her too). This is just a terrible film. The costumes are just creepy and at times could turn the ladies on, the idea of the Bat Credit Card is stupid, the whole film is not as serious or dark as the other films which is a major bummer and its just a complete mess. I guess this was the reason why it didn't go as far as the original Superman films did. 6/10
So while the series may not be as great as people remember it, at least it was a good attempt by Warner Brothers to bring the character back to its roots. Sure it had its problems with there being a lot of over the top things happening and it may not have done a great job of adapting from the comic books, but its still a great series that people will continue to enjoy for many years to come (in my eyes anyway). 9/10
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