Batman and Robin (1997)

Overall: A+
Cast: B+
Plot: A+
Special Effects/Stunts: B
Similarity to Comic: D
Director: Joel Schumacher
Comic Company: DC
Stars: George Cooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alicia Silverstone
Rating: PG-13
See the IMDB page
See the Rotten Tomatoes page

So many things have been said about this particular Batman film, and most of them are bad.  "But if most people hate this movie, why are you giving it an A+ overall rating Tom???" is probably what you're wondering, and the answer is simple; I don't care what people say, this is a fantastic piece of film and superhero movie critics are too bloody picky.

The Good: So many good things!  The costumes are top notch, Mr. Freeze's suit couldn't have been any cooler (pun intended), and Poison Ivy's outfits were to die for (last pun, I promise).  The special effects were also a big step up from the previous Batman films and that made for more intense action sequences.

One major thing I liked about this movie is that it used Batman's and Robin's relationship in a way that built drama.  Everyone thinks Batman and Robin are superhero and sidekick and everything between them is just gravy.  Anyone who has actually read the comics or knows anything besides the basics of Batman knows that Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne had some serious problems with their partnership and that's ultimately what led to Dick Grayson going solo and becoming Nightwing.  This movie shows the struggles of their relationship well and takes full advantage of it.

The Bad: Well Bane is obviously not done right in this movie.  Then again I don't think he was done right in The Dark Knight Rises either.  This film portrays him as being simply a thug that obeys all of the commands of Poison Ivy.  Bane is so much more than that in almost every other Batman interpretation.  The thing that bothers me the most is that it could have been an easy fix!  Poison Ivy can use her pheromones to control men, all they had to do was show her blowing them at an intelligent Bane and Boom! Comic continuity issue solved, but they didn't.  Bane is highly intelligent, ruthless, and plans all of his moves in advance.  The Dark Knight Rises version is very much like the true Bane, except the true Bane uses Venom (another thing that would have been so easy for them to add into THAT movie, but I digress).  A good interpretation of Bane lies somewhere between 'The Dark Knight Rises' and 'Batman and Robin', maybe someday we'll get to see him.

Another major comic continuity error is that Batgirl is Gordon's daughter, not Alfred's niece.  All things considering they wrote her into the plot pretty well, but why they chose to do that in the first place baffles me.  It almost would have made more sense to make an entirely new character for Batgirl, but instead they used Barbara and just gave her the completely wrong background, why?

The Interesting: Robin's suit in this movie is Nightwing's suit from the comics.  Was that supposed to be foreshadowing or did they just like that suit better? I like the suit personally, but I also really liked robin's suit at the end of 'Batman Forever', which was more true to the comics and didn't confuse me.

Speaking of being confused by suits; at the end of the movie when Batman, Robin (Nightwing?), and Batgirl all drive out to fight Freeze, the suits they are wearing all came out of nowhere and are ice themed?  If they had some special purpose or function it would have been nice to get an explanation, or were they just cool suits the director wanted to throw in there?  They were pretty awesome, but again, why?

Conclusion: So this movie has some major continuity errors, so maybe the cast wasn't nearly as good as it was in 'Batman Forever', so maybe George Clooney's face looks weird in the Batsuit.  All problems aside this movie is exceptionally entertaining and gets my vote as the best Batman movie Of. All. Time.