Batman Forever

Three years after the Batman Returns  movie, Batman Forever was released into theatres in the Summer of 1995. Just before filming began on this sequel, Michael Keaton, who was set to reprise his role, backed out, complaining that like the first two movies, there was too little concentration on Batman and too much focus given to the villains. Tim Burton acted only as a producer on this one, handing over the directing to Joel Schumacher who was now faced with a Batman movie without a 'Batman'.

Val Kilmer, fresh from his success in Tombstone, was chosen for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman while filming the Ghost in the Darkness in Africa. This move surprised fans who had now become accustomed to Michael Keaton but were eager to see what a younger man would do in the Bat-suit. This movie also saw the introduction of Dick Grayson/Robin played by Chris O'Donnell and starred Jim Carrey as Edward Nygma/The Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent/Two Face and Nicole Kidman as Dr Chase Meridian. Michael Gough and Pat Hingle returned one again to play Alfred Pennyworth and Commissioner Gordon. There was also room for cameos from Drew Barrymore who played Sugar and Debi Mazaar as Spice. Batman Forever once again became the biggest grossing film of 1995.

Even saying that and with the pulling power of the lead actors, Batman Forever was a rather poor effort, showing signs of campiness creeping into the storyline and with a final cut which was rather confusing. Basically, the film was in the region of about 2 hours and 40 minutes long but for its cinematic release, the movie was cut down to 2 hours, losing many vital elements of the movie in my opinion. A 'promised' director's cut of the film was scheduled for release onto DVD but has, as yet, not been made available.