At least Batman Forever used the same theme music. Everything that Tim Burton established with the first two Batman films has been tossed out the window to make room for colorful neon lights and grossly comical characters. If it wasn’t already hard enough to get in the mindset of believing in a masked avenger, Batman Forever makes it impossible.

Harvey “Two-Face” Dent (Tommy Lee Jones) blames Batman (Val Kilmer) for an accident that left him horribly disfigured – and suffering from schizophrenia and psychosis. In his grand scheme to destroy Batman, Two-Face robs banks and creates catastrophe for Gotham City, which is helpless without the Dark Knight. Adding to Batman’s troubles is Edward Nygma (Jim Carrey), an obsessed man who idolizes the rich and powerful Bruce Wayne. Having created a device that can extract the knowledge out of people’s minds, Nygma dons the disguise of The Riddler, a maniac who delights in unremitting puzzles and mayhem. He eventually joins Two-Face to bring down Batman once and for all.

Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne must deal with Dick Grayson (Chris O’Donnell), a young circus performer who loses his parents during an ordeal with the demented Dent. Grayson accidentally learns of Wayne’s big secret and begs to become his partner. As Wayne tries to dissuade Dick from following his own path of vengeance, he also woos the beautiful doctor Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman) who becomes infatuated with the mysterious Batman.

Gotham City has become more glaringly colorful, with fluorescent lights and bright neon signs on every corner. Despite the ominous smoke and murky, glistening streets, the sets appear comical – not comic-book-like – in their design. The once scarily grandiose streets of Gotham have been sacrificed for colorful goofiness and gangs of glow-rod toting ruffians. The buildings and sets are still enormous and unique, but the seriousness of Batman fighting amongst the rainbow-colored monstrosities is constantly laughable.

Instantly cheesy dialogue doesn’t help recreate the dark style and tone Tim Burton established with the original two films. While some criticized his disturbingly morbid visions of the characters, at least their designs attempted to be serious. With the introduction of Two-Face, who interestingly appears with little more than a TV clip backstory, the plot turns quickly nonsensical. Jim Carrey’s Riddler is not so much a villain as he is Jim Carrey – whose extreme over-the-top acting is enough of a predicament for the caped crusader. The antagonists are great maniacs – unfortunately they’re horribly insincere villains. If that weren’t bad enough, Batman himself conveniently has some cool new gadget that allows him to get out of every harrowing situation – which means he can rely on being foolishly daring and impulsively suicidal.

Schumacher’s Batman is flashier, more colorful and much less fun. The weapons, vehicles, action scenes, deathtraps, bat-nipples, Robin’s earring, stunts and riddles are all of the most deplorable nature, and the plot itself is anything but genuine. This isn’t Batman anymore – it’s a live-action cartoon. Gravitating to the Adam West serials that made the awe-inspiring image of Batman a laughingstock in the first place, Batman Forever does little more than increase the opportunity for merchandising. Batman may be forever, but this movie’s ending couldn’t come soon enough.

- Mike Massie

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