Fourth part of the first Batman film series is nowadays remembered as one of the most spectacular failures of 1990s Hollywood and one of the rare films that nearly extinguished otherwise successful media franchise. On paper, it didn't look that different from its more successful predecessor, 1995 Batman Forever – it had the same director (Joel Schumacher) and the same plot formula that confronted Batman with not one, but few memorable villains (Mr. Freeze played Arnold Schwarzenegger and Poison Ivy played by Uma Thurman). What was different was the casting (Val Kilmer being replaced with George Clooney in one of the least convincing roles of his career), more arrogance by producers and complete lack of effort by scriptwriters. There are simply too many characters (Batgirl played by Alicia Silverstone), too many melodramatic subplots (Wayne's butler Alfred dying of cancer) and too many atrocious one-liners that would make any character into unintentional self-parody of itself. Schumacher, on the other hand, doubles down on his efforts to re-arrange Gotham City from the dark Gothic metropolis into happy, kitschy family-friendly place like Disneyland. Hardly anything in this film makes sense and its commercial fiasco (made worse by the growing power of Internet geekdom that took Warner Bros. PR experts by surprise) is quite understandable.
RATING: 1/10
