Batman & Robin

Daniel Nekonečný's favorite movie. It certainly can't be accused of being condescendingly trashy, which are usually the reasons I resort to low ratings. After all, Schumacher's vision to bring Batman closer to his 1930s visual origins was declared from the outset, so from a visual standpoint, the result is simply part of an auteur's vision and not mere failure. This was mainly due to the rushed production, where after the success of Batman Forever, Warner Bros did everything possible to make sure that the next sequel would hit cinemas in two years, with the godless motivation of cashing in on the merchandising sales that were impossible to escape at the time (the marketing of this film cost 150 million while its budget was 160). The combination of rushed production, pressure from the toy industry, and the pursuit of a bold auteur vision resulted in an understandably epic fail. The characters speak almost only in double-entendre one-liners (to be used in talking action figures), and the flashy studio set design comes across as an over-the-top extravaganza created on an LSD high. What’s more, the actors didn't have time for any physical training, which would have been impossible anyway, because the costumes were so tight and impractical that no action moves could be invented with them. So the action scenes are just a confused jumble of quick cuts to close-ups in changing lights. Plus, the whole budget thing, with 25m invested in an uncooperative Schwarzenegger, leaving no money to make sure at the very least that his stupid icicles wouldn't flap when someone walked past them, is just a testament to the thorough failure of practically all the factors that make a film. Occasionally it works and it's a guilty pleasure. But this, unfortunately, is too exhausting to be worth it. And yet Uma Thurman, who doesn't give a damn about any of this and cheerfully enjoys her role to the hilt, never gets old in this one. (19/01/2020)

It was great fun actually. Since I’m not a Batman fan, I can say with a clear conscience that I would welcome more of this stupid and childish big budget romps – it really looked like everyone in front of the camera was very aware of the funny stew Schumacher was cooking. It won’t let you catch your breath, from the second scene onwards we have Arnold dropping one gem after another, Thurman probably looking better than at any other time in her career, Clooney as a cool guy who somehow found himself here and can cope with it, and all those colours! They get you high. This film is preceded by an incredibly opulent reputation, but I still loved it in its own way, and now I fully understand why Christopher Nolan decided to embark on his rescue mission. (15/01/2021)

Did no one else see that the script itself is just ridiculous? Clooney isn't miscast at all, but the script is such an overblown nonsense that even contradicts comic book facts, making it unwatchable. It could be the insane colors. It's sad when the best scene to me is the very last one, where the characters of three superheroes run towards the camera. That's what the whole movie was supposed to be. Dark, not a panopticon of lunatics and colors. (23/05/2014)

Compared to the first films, the director turned it into nothing more than a funny farce with good visual effects and a star-studded cast. The atmosphere is gone and so is the darkness. The plot is laughable, but on the other hand, George Clooney is okay, Chris O'Donnell fits the role of Robin, and there is also the beautiful female duo of Uma Thurman and Alicia Silverstone. But Joel Schumacher almost killed the Batman franchise. (06/11/2003)

Before Christopher Nolan came along, Batman was dead. Whether it was Tim Burton's excessive darkness and inappropriate weirdness or Joel Schumacher's neon vision, none of it suited the dark knight in my book (even though Batman will always be more than a favorite of mine with his fury). Unfortunately, this installment is the symbolic end of it all, under the heading "how it shouldn't be". Robin is an arrogant metrosexual, Poison Ivy speaks in a voice that is incomprehensible, and Arnold Schwarzenegger embarrasses himself as Mr. Freeze. So for the boys, there's Alicia Silverstone, for the girls, the phlegmatic George Clooney, and then just forget where all the copies of the scariest chapters of Gotham's history have gone. And skip eight years until the moment when it really begins. (28/10/2005)