Batman Forever (1995)

Probably the best in the series
I definitely am proud that all the Batman movies are out on new deluxe editions. But I am most proud that Batman Forever is, because it has always been my favorite one out of all of them. This is where it stopped with the scary stuff and went to the fun and exciting shift. Nicole Kidman was an excellent addition to the cast as Dr. Chase Meridian., who was Bruce Wayne/Batman's love interest and worked with the police on Two-Face (all though they only have her doing that for a few minutes. She was mainly used as a love interest). Look for cameos by Drew Barrymore and Jon Favreau. My preference order of the Batman movies goes as follows: 1. Batman Forever 10/10 2. Batman Returns 9/10 3. Batman 8/10. Batman and Robin 7/10. Batman Begins 5/10. I haven't seen The Dark Knight yet, so I don't know what to rate it. I hope it's good.

Is it possible to give a movie 5 negative stars?
Joel Schumacher could have gone on to cure cancer, bring peace to the Middle East, and end world hunger. I would STILL hate him for this turgid hackwork. This gets a two-disc special edition? What kind of masochist would order that?

More light-hearted but still enjoyable
Not as brooding as the first Batman and not nearly as dark and disgusting as the second (I'm thinking here of Penguin's constant sliming-at-the-mouth) but this is a pretty solid entry into the series. While the brooding Batman worked great in the first one, sequels are not required to remake their predecessors. Taken on its own merit, Batman Forever works very well as a fun (yes, a little bit campy) adventure into this comic-book-movie franchise. With this one, they wanted to distance themselves from the very dark atmosphere of the second movie and it works for them. There's nothing wrong with a little camp in a movie that is meant to be this visual. (They unfortunately went way overboard with the complete sillyness of Batman & Robin.)

Kilmer works well in the bat suit but it's not necessarily that hard since almost everyone looks the same when all you can see is their chin and the suit only allows a certain range of movement. His Bruce Wayne doesn't seem quite as charming as Keaton's, though, but that's okay.

Tommy Lee Jones obviously enjoys his role here. It's just a pitty that he doesn't get more to do since the movie favors Carey's Riddler character. Two Face, the established villain, ends up playing second fiddle to this new-comer screwball.

All in all, though, it's an enjoyable film as long as you don't expect a retread of the ground covered in the first two.