Rewatching the Batman movies

[Bohandas]

Batman Forever. Not as much of a departure as I remember. Mainly it’s set design and vehicles. Brooding is exchanged for camp. Val Kilmer is doing a decent Keaton impersonation. The villains are a pair of annoying cackling clowns trying to out-cackle each other. Not a good film, but not as awful as....

Batman & Robin. My goodness. There isn’t a single good thing to say about this film. Camp dialled up another notch. It’s utterly awful.

What did you guys think?

Batman is supposed to be camp.

 

[Morrus]

Batman is supposed to be camp.

Who says?

 

[Bohandas]

Well, I mean traditionally Batman is campy. The original TV and movie adaptations were the ones with Adam West in the title role. Viewed in this context, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin and be seen as a happy medium between excessive camp and excessive seriousness

 

[Morrus]

Well, I mean traditionally Batman is campy. The original TV and movie adaptations were the ones with Adam West in the title role. Viewed in this context, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin and be seen as a happy medium between excessive camp and excessive seriousness

Batman is whatever the current writer or film maker decides it is. It’s been camp; it’s been dark; it’s been gothic; it’s been 60s flair; it’s been horror; it’s been noir; it’s been action. It’s been around for 80 years and has been reinterpreted dozens of times. It’s not ‘supposed’ to be anything.

 

[Rikka66]

Well, I mean traditionally Batman is campy. The original TV and movie adaptations were the ones with Adam West in the title role. Viewed in this context, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin and be seen as a happy medium between excessive camp and excessive seriousness

Even people who prefer a campy Batman don't find Batman and Robin a happy medium.

 

[Mercurius]

This last couple of weeks I’ve rewatched the Burtonverse Batman movies

It’s pretty much what I remember. Same pattern as most movie series — Alien, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon. Starts strong then descends into farce.

Batman (1989). Still a great film. The atmosphere, the way Gotham has character, the supporting characters, Jack. It has flaws, but it’s a great film.

Batman Returns. Very different in look and feel to Batman, but still good.

Batman Forever. Not as much of a departure as I remember. Mainly it’s set design and vehicles. Brooding is exchanged for camp. Val Kilmer is doing a decent Keaton impersonation. The villains are a pair of annoying cackling clowns trying to out-cackle each other. Not a good film, but not as awful as....

Batman & Robin. My goodness. There isn’t a single good thing to say about this film. Camp dialled up another notch. It’s utterly awful.

What did you guys think?

I feel similarly. One way of ranking films is how often one re-watches them. I saw the first three in the theater, have re-watched the first several times over the last 30 years, the second once or twice, but never bothered re-watching the third. As for the fourth, never saw it and see no reason to bother.

 

[Imaculata]

Batman and Robin was one of the few movies where I found myself and family looking at each other in disbelief during the first few minutes of the film as the horror of George Clooney as Batman unfolded before our very eyes.

It is also one of the few times I've actually wanted to leave the theater. Give me Adam West any day over that disaster.

 

[ART!]

I think the biggest problem with that Man of Steel "Kill" was that ... we didn't know enough about this Superman to know whether he would go so far or not. The emotional impact on him killing someone would be bigger if he had seen a movie or two where he went out of his way to not do it.

The death of Zod is justified in that movie. He won't surrender, and he is just as strong and dangerous as Superman - he can't safely subdue him and give him to the authorities. The whole reason Superman doesn't kill generally is because he's... super. He is far beyond his enemies physically. But beating up and killing weaker people isn't exactly a hard thing to do in his situation, by usually going out of his way to avoid killing people, he is showing moral superiority. But against Zod, his only way to save people his to kill him.

After he murders Zod during a battle that decimates metropolis there's a scene of him gettin' stern with a general about spying on him and a joke about Supes being "hot", and then Calrk is riding his bike to work through what we can only assume is a recovered?!? Metropolis. So, yeah - no follow-through.

Batman is supposed to be camp.

Insofar as "adults in tights" is campy? Sure.

 

[Eric V]

I think the biggest problem with that Man of Steel "Kill" was that ... we didn't know enough about this Superman to know whether he would go so far or not. The emotional impact on him killing someone would be bigger if he had seen a movie or two where he went out of his way to not do it.

The death of Zod is justified in that movie. He won't surrender, and he is just as strong and dangerous as Superman - he can't safely subdue him and give him to the authorities. The whole reason Superman doesn't kill generally is because he's... super. He is far beyond his enemies physically. But beating up and killing weaker people isn't exactly a hard thing to do in his situation, by usually going out of his way to avoid killing people, he is showing moral superiority. But against Zod, his only way to save people his to kill him.

In fact, I believe that Clark killing Zod is the birth of the no killing rule...people need to remember that this is a brand-new Superman; by the time he kills Zod, he is literally only hours away from having thrown his first punch. This is all new to him!!

 

[Ryujin]

In fact, I believe that Clark killing Zod is the birth of the no killing rule...people need to remember that this is a brand-new Superman; by the time he kills Zod, he is literally only hours away from having thrown his first punch. This is all new to him!!

If that was the case, it was incredibly poorly telegraphed. There's also the bit about thousands of regular humans presumably being dead (as supported by the B v. S movie), but he only cried over Zod.