

Directing the movie as if it's a music video with quick edits, tilted angles, and garish sets, Joel Schumacher presents the gaily dressed heroes and villains such that they're always ready to break into a song and dance routine.and, sadly, not even the Batusi. In Batman Forever, this same tone just plays out like a cartoon aimed at grade schoolers. Granted, the Caped Crusader's '60s TV adventures hold a special place in pop culture but this trippy production was a White Buffalo in the Zeitgeist. And then Batman Forever follows Batman starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Americans keep saying some historic gaffes will never happen again. Regressing superhero flicks back to the days of candy-colored camp, the slapsticky and recast Batman Forever sports a title that's quite apt seeing as it begins a once-edgy franchise's slow demise.

As the caped crusader also deals with tortured memories of his parents' murder, he has a new romance, with psychologist Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman). Throughout the years, many legendary characters have essayed this role, some to perfection and others more of a miss than a hit.Batman (Val Kilmer) faces off against two foes: the schizophrenic, horribly scarred former District Attorney Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), and the Riddler (Jim Carrey), a disgruntled ex-Wayne Enterprises inventor seeking revenge against his former employer by unleashing his brain-sucking weapon on Gotham City's residents. Joker is one of the most iconic and dramatic DC villains and Batman's arch-enemy.
