{"id":19452,"date":"2012-05-04T06:50:39","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T11:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/?p=19452"},"modified":"2012-09-10T21:58:38","modified_gmt":"2012-09-11T01:58:38","slug":"history-of-the-comic-book-film-holy-failures-batman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/2012\/05\/04\/history-of-the-comic-book-film-holy-failures-batman\/","title":{"rendered":"HISTORY OF THE COMIC BOOK FILM: Holy Failures, Batman!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>In a multi-part series, Comic Book Film Editor William Gatevackes will be tracing the history of comic book movies from the earliest days of the film serials to today\u2019s big blockbusters and beyond. Along with the history lesson, Bill will be covering some of the most prominent comic book films over the years and why they were so special. This time, we come to the dark ages of the Batman franchise\u2014<strong>Batman Forever <\/strong>and <strong>Batman and Robin<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I can trace the moment I knew the Batman franchise was in trouble to one particular scene in <strong>Batman Forever. <\/strong>\u00a0Batman, now played by Val Kilmer, had just finished a heart to heart with Dr. Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman) and as he leaves, Meridian tells him to be careful out there. Batman, whose back is to Meridian yet facing the camera, flashes the goofiest grin you would ever see. No, not a subtle smile or a acerbic smirk, but the type of grin the school bookworm in an ABC Family telefilm would grin if she was just asked out by the star quarterback. You can see the grin around the 1:47 mark on the trailer.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oGytaGTK7j8\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"550\" height=\"403\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know if this was a particular director\u2019s note from new franchise director Joel Schumacher or a sly bit of sabotage by Kilmer (who\u2019s combative relationship with Schumacher doing filming was legendary), but the smile was so glaringly out of character that it made me fear for the franchise\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<p>Warner Brothers was not happy with <strong>Batman Returns\u2019 <\/strong>$266,822,354 box office take, and put the blame for what they felt was a lackluster performance on the dark tone Tim Burton gave to the film. Warners convinced Burton to move to producer and brought in Schumacher with an eye on making a more kid-friendly (and toy generating) flick. Michael Keaton bailed on the franchise once he found out the direction it was going in. Smart man.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/600full-batman-forever-poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-19456\" title=\"600full-batman-forever-poster\" src=\"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/600full-batman-forever-poster-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Schumacher replaced Burton\u2019s dark moodiness with a garish, neon soaked cyberpunk look.\u00a0<strong>Batman Forever<\/strong> was a loud assault on the senses. We begin to see more campy elements make their way into the film, including, but not limited to, the Batmobile being driven up a wall, the over-the-top performances of Jim Carrey as the Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones, who stepped in for Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent\/Two-Face, and a painful, self-referential gag about \u201choley rusted metal\u201d at the bad guy\u2019s hideout. Schumacher also added nipples to the batsuit and an uncomfortable focus on generous codpieces and vinyl clad buttocks of Batman and Robin during the inevitable \u201csuiting up\u201d montages\u2014a bit too hyper sexualized for what was supposed to be a kid\u2019s film, in my opinion.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Batman Forever <\/strong>was a success, making $336,529,844 at the box office. A sequel was put on the fast track, with George Clooney replacing the contentious Kilmer as Bruce Wayne\/Batman<strong>. \u00a0<\/strong>And, thusly, <strong>Batman &amp; Robin <\/strong>was unleashed onto an unsuspecting world.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aKNSstnq4sg\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"550\" height=\"403\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Batman &amp; Robin <\/strong>was unabashedly, unapologetically campy. It was also horrible. Those of you, the lucky few who didn\u2019t see the movie, might be asking a few questions. How campy was it? How bad could it really be? Let me show you:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dcukDDDhuYk\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"550\" height=\"403\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I wonder what he does when he tries to use it at places that require a form of ID to verify the card. Does he toss a batarang on the counter? A typewritten list of all his daddy issues?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/batman-and-robin-poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-19461\" title=\"batman-and-robin-poster\" src=\"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/batman-and-robin-poster-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>Clooney often speaks in a self-deprecating way about his performance in the film, like he\u2019s solely to blame for how awful it is. He\u2019s not. His portrayal of Bruce Wayne is a bright spot in the film. And his performance as Batman is hampered by the horrible screenwriting of Akiva Goldsman, who unbelievably would later win an Oscar for writing 2002\u2019s <strong>A Beautiful Mind<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>What did Goldsman and Schumacher get wrong this time around? Well, are you sitting down? You have to start with lame gags like the Bat-Credit Card. Then the lame puns spouted by all the characters, especially Arnold Schwarzenegger\u2019s Mr. Freeze (it\u2019s like Goldsman took all the \u201cice\u201d related puns he could think of and put them all, good or bad, into the film).<\/p>\n<p>Then you had Chris O\u2019Donnell, who gave the worst performance by a grown man (he would turn 27 six days after the film opened) pretending to be a teenager overacting his way through an immature, crybaby tantrum (he\u2019d hold the title until Hayden Christensen\u2019s performance in 2002\u2019s <strong>Star Wars: Episode II &#8211; Attack of the Clones<\/strong>). The film also introduced <a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/batgirl_alicia.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-19462\" title=\"batgirl_alicia\" src=\"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/batgirl_alicia-171x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"171\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/batgirl_alicia-171x300.jpg 171w, https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/batgirl_alicia.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 171px) 100vw, 171px\" \/><\/a>Batgirl in the personage of Alicia Silverstone, who played Bruce Wayne\u2019s British butler Alfred\u2019s niece, who came directly from her studies in London to visit her uncle, leaving all traces of any kind of British accent behind. She did have nipples on her batsuit and a lingering shot or two of her curves during her suiting up montage, proving that Schumacher is an equal opportunity fetishist.<\/p>\n<p>There were also too many characters this time around. In addition to those already mentioned, you had Uma Thurman playing Poison Ivy as the second major villain (because you <em>had<\/em> to have two major villains in a Batman film). Plus, you had Bane, a character who broke Batman\u2019s back in the comic books, a character that Christopher Nolan felt strong enough about to make a main villain in <strong>The Dark Knight Rises<\/strong>, relegated to a mindless, brutal lackey of Poison Ivy. An even bigger waste was the character of Jason Woodrue, who was an awesome character in the comics by the name of Floronic Man and was portrayed by the excellent actor John Glover. His only purpose was to establish Poison Ivy\u2019s origin by being the mad scientist who gives her superpowers as a result of trying to kill her. He is killed off after only five minutes of screen time.<\/p>\n<p>The film was critically lambasted and while it earned $238,207,122, it was the lowest grossing Batfilm to date and, therefore, a failure. Positive response to the rushes put a third Schumacher sequel titled <strong>Batman Triumphant<\/strong> into pre-production with Clooney and O\u2019Donnell reprising their roles and the Scarecrow as the main villain. The disappointing response cancelled that film and caused Warners to look towards rebooting the franchise. It also garnered an apology from Schumacher himself.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/r6epsGrcuTs\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"550\" height=\"403\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Scarecrow would become the villain of the next Batman film, one which would come closest to capturing the comic book feel on the big screen. But before that, a legendary comic book arc almost made it to movie theaters. We\u2019ll tell you which one next time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">Why is this Batman smiling? No, really, why is he smiling?<\/div>\n<p> <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/2012\/05\/04\/history-of-the-comic-book-film-holy-failures-batman\/\" title=\"HISTORY OF THE COMIC BOOK FILM: Holy Failures, Batman!\">[click for more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[106,3185,5636],"tags":[4986,1973,4989,1267,1601,2743,4959,4991,2096,4987,899,471,3074,3914,1828,2373,4990,426,4526,4988,3219,677,404,2640,4985],"series":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-comicsandfilm","8":"category-featured-stories","9":"category-history-comic-book-film","10":"tag-a-beautiful-mind","11":"tag-akiva-goldsman","12":"tag-alicia-silverstone","13":"tag-arnold-schwarzenegger","14":"tag-batman-and-robin","15":"tag-batman-forever","16":"tag-batman-returns","17":"tag-batman-triumphant","18":"tag-billy-dee-williams","19":"tag-chris-odonnell","20":"tag-christopher-nolan","21":"tag-george-clooney","22":"tag-hayden-christensen","23":"tag-history-of-the-comic-book-film","24":"tag-jim-carrey","25":"tag-joel-schumacher","26":"tag-john-glover","27":"tag-michael-keaton","28":"tag-nicole-kidman","29":"tag-star-wars-episode-ii-attack-of-the-clones","30":"tag-the-dark-knight-rises","31":"tag-tim-burton","32":"tag-tommy-lee-jones","33":"tag-uma-thurman","34":"tag-val-kilmer"},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO Pro 4.9.9 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why is this Batman smiling? 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