Joel Schumacher did an excellent job of bringing a comic book feel to the movie. It's probably just me, but that kind of movie I can do without. I disliked BATMAN RETURNS, and I disliked it a lot. I was happy that Tim Burton *wasn't* directing this installment. He contributed a certain slickness that Michael Keaton lacked, but Keaton was older and seemed a tad more complex of an individual, more of a grown-up. It didn't make lots of difference for me that Val Kilmer was playing Batman. I went to see The Batman go up against Two-Face and The Riddler.

What if we sacrifice a little character-depth for it all? So what? I didn't go into BATMAN FOREVER on its opening night looking for an angsty, self-indulgent overanalysis of character that would bore Sigmund Freud to tears. I go to see the superheroes, the supervillains, the larger-than-life conflict, an episode in the never-ending battle between Good and Evil, between Law and Chaos.

Okay, so what if the newest Batman movie doesn't follow the path/look/spirit of its angsty, semi-nihilistic comic counterpart? I hope no one takes this as shallow as it may seem, but I do not go to movies about superheroes to see regular people. Batman Forever Review by Matthew Turner (zzturnerm AT acad DOT winthrop DOT edu)

Batman forever movie review