2 - Batman & Robin

Connection To BATMAN FOREVER - what's the connection? let me think... 

Batman & Robin - a name that strikes fear into cinema-goers and Batmaniacs (is that the term for them, I have no idea) the world everywhere with garish sets, stupid set pieces, constant (and mostly stupid) one-liners and of course BAT NIPPLES (except on Alicia Silverstone, where of course it would be most welcome) - at least those things are my overriding memories of the film.

Like Batman Forever in writing this I am watching B&R for the first time since the 1990's and a lot of what's wrong with the movie is apparent in it's first 10 minutes - unnecessary close up of Bat butt (and Robin's as well) and three of Mr. Freeze's first four lines are literally ice puns (The Iceman Cometh etc.) and the fourth is also a reference to ice (talk about obsession), B&R fight Mr. Freeze and his mooks for a while including a silly ice-hockey scene with a crystal before Mr. Freeze has a chance to kill Batman but literally says he'll kill him next time (would kind of end the movie way too early though)

We then get the origin of Poison Ivy when John Glover thinks he's killed her off when she spots him injecting men with super-strength syrium and sells them off to the highest bidder, she comes back all Ivy like and thus we get the main villains for the film - her partner in crime or big lackey is Bane - a man that was injected with that syrium. One major weakness of the film is that Bane is relegated to being the lackey, Bane here is played by Jeep Swenson, a professional wrestler who died a few months after the film came out, though it's no stretch to say Arnold Schwarzenegger had more impact on wrestling then Swenson ever did.

I won't bore with the plot points, but performance wise of the villains gone are the enjoyable OTT performances of Forever and are left with weak performances, Schwarzenegger we always knew wasn't exactly Daniel Day Lewis but Uma Thurman is just weak here, there's no sexiness here, which is a shame because she has been so enjoyable in other movies.

Chris O'Donnell is still weak for me and if anything a bit more whiny this time and Alicia Silverstone as Barbara Gordon Pennyworth is nothing to write home about but at least she was at her peak hotness, also there is a line about her being schooled in England and her being Alfred's niece, it would make you thinks he would have some Englishness in her accent - whilst there is none at all.

The previous mention of Alfred brings me to my next thing, one of the films postives the scenes between Clooney and Gough (as Alfred), who is suffering from the entirely made-up McGregor's Syndrome are the only scenes that have any heart. Clooney is decent enough as Batman overall but really doesn't have the material to work with.

Overall I sort of enjoyed the film, the trainwreck of a movie that it is somehow makes it watchable for me, whether it's way too much going on or the dumb one-liners I wasn't bored watching this.