| starring =
Arnold SchwarzeneggerGeorge ClooneyChris O'DonnellUma ThurmanAlicia Silverstone
| music =
Elliot Goldenthal
| cinematography =
Stephen Goldblatt
| editing =
Dennis VirklerMark Stevens
| distributor =
Warner Bros.
| released =
| runtime = 125 minutes
| country =
| language = English
| budget =
$140 million After this, Warner Bros. canceled the unproduced
Batman Triumphant, and the
film series was eventually
rebooted with
Batman Begins (2005) by director
Christopher Nolan.
Plot
In
Gotham City,
Batman and
Robin attempt to stop
Mr. Freeze from stealing a cache of diamonds, but he escapes. The Dynamic Duo soon learn that Mr. Freeze was once a scientist named Victor Fries who became dependent on a diamond-powered subzero suit following an accident in a
cryogenics lab he was using to find a cure for his wife,
Nora, who was suffering from a
terminal illness called MacGregor's Syndrome.
In South America, Pamela Isley is working under Dr. Jason Woodrue, a mad scientist who is experimenting with the Venom drug. She witnesses Woodrue use the formula to turn a diminutive convict into a hulking monstrosity dubbed "Bane". Woodrue and Isley argue over the use of the drug and Woodrue overturns a shelf of various toxins onto her. She transforms into the beautiful and seductive Poison Ivy before killing Woodrue with a kiss from her now-poisonous lips. She finds that Wayne Enterprises funded Woodrue, so she takes Bane with her to Gotham.
Meanwhile, butler Alfred Pennyworth's niece, Barbara Wilson, makes a surprise visit and is invited by Bruce Wayne to stay at Wayne Manor until she goes back to school. Alfred is revealed to be suffering from MacGregor's Syndrome.
Poison Ivy interrupts a Wayne Enterprises press conference to propose a project that could help the environment. Bruce Wayne declines her offer, as it would kill millions of people. That night, a charity event is held by Wayne Enterprises with special guests Batman and Robin in attendance. Poison Ivy decides to seduce them. Freeze crashes the party and steals a diamond from the event. He is captured and sent to a chamber prison in Arkham Asylum, but escapes with the help of Ivy and Bane.
Robin becomes smitten with Ivy and begins to rebel against Batman. Ivy imprisons Robin when he does not give in to her charms; she also subdues Batman when he arrives to save his partner. Just then, Barbara — now a costumed crimefighter calling herself Batgirl — shows up and fights Ivy, eventually defeating her.
Batman, Robin, and Batgirl decide to go after Freeze together. By the time they get to the observatory where Freeze and Bane are, Gotham is completely frozen. Robin and Batgirl confront Bane and defeat him, while Batman and Freeze begin to fight each other, with Batman winning. Batgirl and Robin unfreeze Gotham.
Batman then shows Freeze a recording of Ivy during her fight with Batgirl, in which the former brags about killing Nora. Batman then tells Freeze that his wife is not dead; she has been restored in cryogenic slumber and moved to Arkham so he can finish his research. Batman asks Freeze for the cure he has created for the first stage of MacGregor's Syndrome for Alfred; Freeze atones for his misdeeds by giving him the medicine he had developed.
Ivy is shown imprisoned in Arkham with a vengeful Freeze as her cellmate. Alfred is eventually healed. Everyone agrees to let Barbara stay at the mansion.
Cast
Arnold Schwarzenegger as
Dr. Victor Fries / Mr. Freeze: A
molecular biologist who suffers a terrible accident while trying to cryogenically preserve his terminally ill wife. As a result, he is transformed into a criminal forced to live in a sub-zero suit powered by diamonds.
Patrick Stewart was considered for the role, before the script was rewritten to accommodate Schwarzenegger's casting. Schumacher decided that Mr. Freeze must be "big and strong like he was chiseled out of a glacier". while his
prosthetic makeup and wardrobe took six hours to apply each day.
George Clooney as
Bruce Wayne / Batman: A billionaire industrialist who witnessed his parents' murder as a young boy. At night, Bruce becomes Batman, Gotham City's vigilante protector.
Eric Lloyd portrays him as a child in a flashback.
Val Kilmer decided not to reprise the role from
Batman Forever. Director Joel Schumacher admitted he had difficulty working with Kilmer on
Forever. "He sort of quit," Schumacher said, "and we sort of fired him." Kilmer said he was not aware of the fast track production and was already committed to
The Saint (1997). Schumacher wanted to
homage both the broad
camp style of the
1960s television series and the work of
Dick Sprang. The storyline of
Batman & Robin was conceived by Schumacher and Goldsman during
pre-production on
A Time to Kill. Portions of Mr. Freeze's
back-story were based on the
episode "", written by
Paul Dini. The original
start date was August 1996,
Batman & Robin finished filming in late-January 1997, two weeks ahead of the
shooting schedule.
Rhythm and Hues and
Pacific Data Images created the visual effects sequences, with
John Dykstra and
Andrew Adamson credited as the
visual effects supervisors.
Marketing
The
Batman & Robin film trailer debuted on the February 19, 1997 episode of
Entertainment Tonight.
Warner Bros. spent $15 million to market and promote the film, bringing the total budget from $125 million to $140 million. The studio also brought in toy companies to be involved with
pre-production, including the design of
concept art and character illustrations. Director Joel Schumacher criticized Warner Bros.' strategy for
Batman & Robin as being overtly
toyetic. Various
Six Flags parks (
Six Flags Great Adventure,
Six Flags Over Texas, and
Six Flags St. Louis) all debuted coasters themed to the film. making it the third-highest opening weekend of 1997. However, the film rapidly declined with a 63% second week plunge. Many observers based the second week drop on negative
word of mouth. In addition,
Batman & Robin faced early competition with
Face/Off and
Hercules. The film went on to gross $107.3 million in North America and $130.9 million internationally, coming to a worldwide total of $238.2 million. By comparison
Metacritic collected an average score of 28, based on 21 reviews.
Schumacher and producer Peter MacGregor-Scott blamed the negative reception of Batman & Robin on Warner Bros.' decision to fast track production. "There was a lot of pressure from Warner Bros. to make Batman & Robin more family-friendly," Schumacher explained. "We decided to do a less depressing Batman movie and less torture and more heroic. I know I have been criticized a lot for this, but I didn't see the harm in that approach at all." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times believed the film "killed" the Batman film series, and felt Batman & Robin depended too much on visual effects. Desson Thomson of The Washington Post largely disapproved of Schumacher's direction and Akiva Goldsman's script. Mick LaSalle, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, said, "George Clooney is the big zero of the film, and should go down in history as the George Lazenby of the series." However, Janet Maslin of The New York Times gave a positive review. She praised Uma Thurman's acting, as well as the production and costume design.
Batman & Robin was nominated the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, as well as categories for Best Make-up and Best Costume. Alicia Silverstone won the Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Other nominations at the Razzie Awards included Schumacher (Worst Director), George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell (Worst Screen Couple), Akiva Goldsman (Worst Screenplay), both Chris O'Donnell and Arnold Schwarzenegger (Worst Supporting Actor), Uma Thurman (Worst Supporting Actress), and Billy Corgan (Worst Song for "The End Is the Beginning Is the End"). Batman & Robin also received nominations for Worst Picture, Worst Remake or Sequel and Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property. Ultimately, out of 11 nominations, this movie garnered only one Razzie Award.
Many observers accused Schumacher of adding possible homosexual innuendo in the storyline. Similar to Batman Forever, this primarily included the decision to add nipples and enlarged codpieces to Batman and Robin suits. Schumacher stated, "I had no idea that putting nipples on the Batsuit and Robin suit were going to spark international headlines. The bodies of the suits come from ancient Greek statues, which display perfect bodies. They are anatomically erotic." Clooney himself has spoken critically of the film, saying, "I think we might have killed the franchise", and called it "a waste of money".
Legacy
During the filming of
Batman & Robin, Warner Bros. was impressed with the
dailies, prompting them to immediately hire Joel Schumacher to return as director for a sequel. However, writer
Akiva Goldsman, who worked on
Batman Forever and
Batman & Robin with Schumacher, turned down the chance to write the script. Titled
Batman Triumphant, Protosevich's script had the
Scarecrow as the main villain. Through the use of his fear
toxin, he resurrects the
Joker as a hallucination in Batman's mind.
Harley Quinn appeared as a supporting character, written as the Joker's daughter. George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell were set to reprise the roles of Batman and Robin.
Nevertheless, when Batman & Robin received negative reviews and failed to outgross any of its predecessors, Warner Bros. was unsure of their plans for Batman Triumphant. The studio decided it was best to consider a live-action Batman Beyond film and an adaptation of Frank Miller's . Warner would then greenlight whichever idea suited them the most. but they were more interested in hiring Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky and Frank Miller developed a Year One script with Aronofsky to direct, but it was ultimately canceled. Christopher Nolan was eventually hired to helm the next Batman film in January 2003, resulting in the rebooted Batman Begins (2005).
In "Legends of the Dark Knight", an episode of The New Batman Adventures, three teenagers discuss their ideas about what Batman is really like. They briefly meet an effeminate youth called Joel (in front of a shoemaker's shop) whose idea of Batman consists mainly of a fascination with the tight rubber suits and a Batmobile that can drive up walls. The other three kids treat Joel's ideas with utter disdain. In Watchmen, director Zack Snyder and comic book artist Dave Gibbons choose to parody the molded muscle and nipple Batsuit design from Batman & Robin for the Ozymandias costume. The film is referenced in the episode "Legends of the Dark Mite!", when Bat-Mite briefly uses his powers to transform Batman's costume into the same suit shown in the Joel Schumacher Batman films, before declaring it "Too icky". The Batman from Batman & Robin later appeared as part of an army of Batmen gathered from across the Multiverse in "Night of the Batmen!", complete with the rubber blue Batsuit. Artist Phil Noto revealed on his Twitter feed that he had drawn an unused cover for Batgirl #1 which referenced the film. The cover showed Stephanie Brown looking over photos of potential Batgirl costumes and writing notes for each of them. A photo of the Alicia Silverstone Batgirl design from Batman & Robin is shown crossed out with the words "Definitely not" scrawled over it.
References
External links
Batman & Robin (Archive)
Batman & Robin at RiffTrax
Category:1997 films
Category:1990s action films
Category:Batman films
Category:American action films
Category:Sequel films
Category:American action comedy films
Category:Warner Bros. films
Category:Films shot in Los Angeles, California
Category:Films shot in Montreal
Category:Films shot in Ottawa
Category:Films shot in Vermont
Category:Films directed by Joel Schumacher
