Batman and Robin

I'm sorry to say that I found this fairly disappointing. A wafer thin plot (bad guy tries to freeze Gotham, sexy woman tries to make it into a rain forest), little dialogue....nothing new, really. The bad guys aren't anything amazing - Michelle Pfeiffer was sexier as Catwoman, and Mrs. Doubtfire's more scary than Arnie as Mr. Freeze. At least in the last film we had Jim Carrey as a wildly over the top Riddler - this time there's just nothing interesting enough.

George Clooney does a good enough job, but he seems to have little to do, to be honest. Lots of fight scenes, the occasional "deep and meaningful" discussion with Robin or Alfred, and that's as much as my mind can recall. A few interesting effects (the ice effects are good), and Joel Schumacker (is that spelt right?) certainly packs every shot with colour, but in a way that's the problem - all style and little substance. Some people complained that the first two films, directed by Tim Burton, were far too dark and foreboding, but I actually preferred that. Because we weren't distracted by the sets, the film makers knew we'd be concentrating on what went on in them, and so had to make that interesting. Batman seemed to be a deep character, with his own problems, working on his own.

Now, he's got a whole entourage - Robin and Batgirl. One thing the cynical side of my brain pointed out to me was that in the first two films, Batman never got into any situation that he couldn't get out of on his own. As soon as he's got someone to help him, he suddenly needs someone to help him. Just a thought.

Overall, it's not a terrible film, but there are much better things on at the moment. Entertaining enough, I suppose, but nothing particularly satisfying, unless you count Alicia Silverstone in black rubber.

Or George Clooney in rubber of course, if that's what you prefer. Can't think why anyone would, though.

Updated 29/5/98 by JWES