Batman & Robin (film)

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Batman & Robin
Directed by	Joel Schumacher
Produced by	Peter MacGregor-Scott
Written by	Characters: Bob Kane Bill Finger Screenplay: Akiva Goldsman
Starring	George Clooney Chris O'Donnell Arnold Schwarzenegger Uma Thurman Alicia Silverstone
Music by	Elliot Goldenthal
Cinematography	Stephen Goldblatt
Editing by	Dennis Virkler Mark Stevens
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	June 20, 1997
Running time	125 minutes
Country	United Kingdom  United States
Language	English
Budget	$125,000,000
Gross revenue	Domestic: $107,325,195 Worldwide: $238,207,122
Preceded by	Batman Forever
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Batman & Robin is a 1997 film starring George Clooney as Batman, Chris O'Donnell returning as Robin and introducing Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone), a niece of Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred (Michael Gough). Michael Gough and Pat Hingle (Commissioner Gordon) are the only two people to feature in all four of the original Batman films. The villains in this movie are Poison Ivy, played by Uma Thurman; Mr. Freeze, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger (who received top billing for this film); and Bane, played by Jeep Swenson. This is the final film continuity-wise in the original Batman movie franchise (1989-1997), as the franchise's story was re-imagined with 2005's Batman Begins.

[edit] Plot

The film begins with Batman and Robin preparing to save Gotham City yet again. Batman receives a call from Commissioner Gordon, informing him of a new villain that has come alive named "Mr. Freeze." The two of them go to the museum, but are forced to battle with his henchmen first. Freeze, whose goal is to steal a diamond of exceptional size, succeeds, and attempts to escape. Batman attempts to follow him by climbing into his rocket, but is trapped by Freeze, who freezes Batman to a wall. Freeze sets the ship to explode, before fleeing the craft. Robin, who grappled onto the rocket before its takeoff, manages to enter the ship before it detonates and rescues Batman.

Batman and Robin chase after Freeze, retrieving the diamond in the process; however, Robin is frozen by Freeze, and the diamond is stolen yet again. Batman, faced with the decision to either chase Freeze, or thaw out Robin, stays behind in order to save his young ward. As a result, Freeze escapes with the diamond.

Meanwhile, Pamela Isley, a scientist in South America, is trapped in a lab by her insane boss, Dr. Jason Woodrue, who refuses to tell her about his new experiment. She escapes the lab and witnesses him use her formula, developed to give plants the ability to defend themselves, to turn a diminutive convict into a hulking monstrosity, dubbed "Bane." Woodrue discovers Isley and attempts to sway her to his side, but his advances are denied. In a final effort to silence Isley, he throws her to the ground and crushes her under a shelf of poisons and toxins, killing her.

Isley is later revived as a beautiful echantress rather than the unattractive nerd she was before. She uses her newfound beauty to seduce Woodrue who can hardly speak as he looks at her. She calls herself "Poison Ivy" and tells him that her blood was replaced with aloe, her skin replaced with chlorophyll, and her lips filled with "Venom"; the latter is proven correct when Woodrue dies instantly after she kisses him. She devotes her new life to destroying humanity and recreating the environment, with plants dominating the ecosystem. She destroys the lab, but not before deciding to visit Wayne Labs in Gotham City with Bane.

Mr. Freeze, hiding in an ice cream store, announces his plan to freeze Gotham City and hold it for ransom, in order to cure his wife's advanced case of the fictional disease McGregor's Syndrome. In order to keep her alive as he searches for a cure, Freeze has cryonically frozen her.

The next day, at the Wayne Mansion, Alfred Pennyworth's niece, Barbara, makes a surprise visit and is invited by Bruce to stay until she goes back to school. That night, when she's talking to Alfred, it's explained that her parents died in a car accident and that Alfred was very close to her mother, Margaret, nicknamed "Peg." After putting him to bed, Barbara sneaks out of the house and steals one of the Wayne Manor motorcycles.

Bruce Wayne, attending the unveiling of a new telescope, demonstrates its ability to reflect light off satellites in the sky, allowing it to see any point on Earth. His girlfriend Julie Madison is present and a reporter asks when they're getting married; Julie says that their love is enough, for now. The conference is interrupted by Isley, who tells Bruce that his company should be more focused on the environment and it's survival. Bruce declines her offer, as it would result in the deaths of millions of people, due to the fact that her proposal would have Gotham City halt all operations of its energy plants. Angered by this, Isley tells the gathering that the plants they have so carelessly destroyed will rise up against them. She's then told that Batman and Robin are the protectors of Gotham and will be attending a ball where one of the Wayne Manor diamonds will be available for auction.

Batman and Robin attend the ball, where women are being "auctioned" in order to raise money for the telescope. However, everyone's attention is diverted by a person in a gorilla suit, dancing seductively atop some rocks. The gorilla reveals itself to be Poison Ivy, who uses her pheromone mist to entrance everyone in the hall, including Batman and Robin. She attempts to disrupt Batman and Robin's friendship by having them argue over her; she then puts herself up for auction, which starts a frenzy of bids. Batman is ultimately the victor, but before he can enjoy his spoils, Mr. Freeze bursts in and steals the diamond. Poison Ivy tries to use her mist on him, but because of his condition, he's immune.

Batman and Robin track down Freeze and his henchmen, and Batman prevents Robin from following him, knowing that his Redbird will be unable to make a perilous jump. Freeze is captured, and Batman and Robin have a falling-out. Robin says that until Bruce learns to trust him, their team will never work. Barbara, stealing another of the Wayne motorcycles, is seen by Dick, who grows suspicious.

Freeze is imprisoned in a chamber within a small area of the Arkham Asylum. He tries to escape, but is unsuccessful because he cannot survive without a cold climate. Meanwhile, Ivy and Bane acquire a new hideout, which they steal from a petty gang.

Later, Bruce is eating with Julie, who proposes to him; however, he fantasizes Ivy walking into the room and doesn't pay attention to what Julie is saying. She kisses him, while he imagines that he is kissing Ivy. She angrily tells him that he called her Ivy, and asks him who Ivy is; he replies that he doesn't know. Barbara tells Dick that Alfred has McGregor's Syndrome, the same illness plaguing Freeze's wife.

Freeze is rescued by Ivy, posing as his sister; she disposes of two guards by seducing them and giving them her deadly kiss, and the three escape from the prison. Batman and Robin rush to Freeze's hideout, to find that he's no longer there. They enter the room where Freeze's wife is being held and smell Ivy's dust. They follow it into the air vent, which leads to a new room.

Batman and Robin fight Bane, but Robin, who now knows Ivy's true ways, is interrupted by Ivy who seduces him and comes close to kissing him, but decides to seduce Batman when she sees he's been defeated by Bane. Batman, who unlike Robin can control his desire for Ivy, tells her to tell him where Freeze is, only to be caught by Bane again. Now that Bane has Batman, Ivy seduces Robin once again. Robin gives in to her beauty and agrees to kiss her, but is stopped by Batman, who now knows Ivy's deadly ability. Robin gets frustrated that he almost kissed Ivy, but was disrupted by Batman, so he fights him. While they fight, Ivy and Bane manage to escape. On the way out, Ivy disconnects the cryogenic chamber keeping Freeze's wife alive because she believes she is the dominant woman. Next, she and Bane steal the Bat-Signal from the police station.

Alfred, now bedridden, gives Barbara a disc. She manages to guess the password and is told by a digital representation of Alfred who Batman and Robin are, where the Batcave is, and that there is a Batsuit for her.

Later that night, Dick and Bruce see a Robin signal in the sky, and Dick explains Ivy is only calling him. Dick goes there alone and asks Ivy what Freeze's plan is. She tells him, then kisses him; however, Robin has prepared for this, revealing that he's wearing rubber lips, immune to the toxic effects of her kiss. Ivy traps Robin, then Batman, who appears shortly thereafter. However, a young, costumed girl appears to save the two of them.

Ivy and the girl fight and the girl pushes Ivy into her seat, where the supervillainess is trapped by the giant leaves. Batman and Robin both escape from their traps. The girl says that she is Batgirl and explains that she is actually Barbara. The three of them decide to go after Freeze together. By the time they get to the lab where Freeze and Bane are, Gotham is already almost completely frozen. Batgirl and Robin pull the tube on Bane's mask and release the venom, turning him back to the puny man that he was.

Batman and Freeze fight each other, with Freeze still thinking that Batman was the one who killed his wife. Batman wins the fight, as Batgirl and Robin unfreeze Gotham. Batman shows Freeze a recording of Ivy during her fight with Batgirl; it shows Ivy telling Batgirl that she was the one who pulled his wife's plug. Freeze is angered by the betrayal. Batman tells him that his wife isn't dead; she's being held at a high-profile room at the hospital. Batman asks Freeze for a favor, in return for saving his wife: the cure Freeze has created for the first stage of McGregor's Syndrome, for a friend (Alfred) who's dying. Freeze gives him two tubes of medicine.

At the mansion, Bruce injects Alfred with the medicine, and he, Dick, and Barbara pray that it will work. Ivy is shown imprisoned in Arkham, pulling petals off of a flower, saying, "He loves me, he loves me not." She picks a petal off the flower, then puts it in her mouth and starts to eat it. Just before she finishes it, Freeze walks in and tells her that he's her new cellmate and intends to make her life a living hell for almost killing his wife. The next morning, Alfred wakes up and tells Bruce, Dick, and Barbara that he feels fine. Everyone agrees to let Barbara stay at the mansion, and the three of them agree to work together, fighting crime; Alfred remarks that they'll need a bigger cave. The movie ends with Batman, Robin, and Batgirl running in front of the Bat-Signal to save the day again.

[edit] Cast

• George Clooney as Bruce Wayne / Batman^[1]
  The crime-fighting protagonist of the franchise. Batman, along with Robin and Batgirl, take on two villains: Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. However, Batman is facing an argument with Robin feeling he can take on villains without him. Until the end, he realizes Robin is family and ask for his help to defeat their evil foes threating Gotham City. Meanwhile, Bruce is trying to help his ill butler back to health.
• Chris O'Donnell as Richard "Dick" Grayson / Robin
  Batman's sidekick is shown as an apparent amalgamation between the characters of Robin and Nightwing. He is also depicted as being unhappy in his role as somewhat of a second fiddle, and shows a weakness for Poison Ivy's beauty, as he gives in to her sexual advances, even after he knows she is evil.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger as Doctor Victor Fries / Mr. Freeze
  Before coming Mr. Freeze, he started of as a brilliant scientist named Victor Frees. However during his studies, he falls into cold water. He survives although his whole body is only adaptable to ice. At the same time, his wife falls ill and in order to keep her alive, he puts her in a tank of water wearing an ice crystal. After teaming up with Poison Ivy, he vows to freeze Gotham City. This version was prone to making puns related to cold weather and temperatures.^[2]
• Uma Thurman as Doctor Pamela Isley / Poison Ivy
  Before her start as a villainess, Poison Ivy started out as Dr. Pamela Isley, an employee to Doctor Jason Woodrue, in South America. But after he creates Bane, he asks for her to. She refuses making her boss throw toxic poison chemicals on her. Isley dies, but moments later, she resurrects as Poison Ivy and kills Woodrue with a kiss full of poison. Ivy destroys the lab escaping with Bane and goes to Gotham City and teams up with Mr. Freeze to freeze the city while ruining the partnership of Batman and Robin.
• Alicia Silverstone as Barbara Wilson / Batgirl
  A new interpretation of the Batgirl character, who in this film is the niece of Alfred Pennyworth, unlike the comics where she was depicted as the daughter of Commissioner Gordon.
• Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth
  Bruce Wayne's faithful butler, often a father figure to both Bruce and Dick. Alfred is dying from MacGregor's Syndrome which is the same illness Freeze's wife is suffering at the same time. While sick, he prepares her niece, Barbara, with a suit so she can fight along Batman and Robin. After Batman defeats Mr. Freeze, Freeze gives him two tubes of medicine to help heal his dying butler.
• Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon
  The head of police in Gotham City.
• Elle Macpherson as Julie Madison
  The love interest of Bruce Wayne.
• Jeep Swenson as Antonio Diego / Bane
  Rather than being the devious, intelligent villain of the comics, Bane is a mindless thug who serves as the sidekick and protector of Poison Ivy, and is barely even capable of speech.^[2]
• John Glover as Doctor Jason Woodrue
  Woodrue is a mad scientist who created Bane and accidentally transforms Pamela Isley into Poison Ivy. He is the first victim of Ivy's poison kiss, after he witnesses her transform from the unattractive nerd she was before to the amazingly sexy seductress. He gives into her advances, and is killed because of it.

[edit] Cameos

• Vivica A. Fox as the only female member of Mr. Freeze's gang.
• Jesse Ventura as a security guard in Arkham Asylum.
• Coolio and Nicky Katt appear in the bike racing scenes.
• Elizabeth Sanders (wife of Batman co-creator Bob Kane) reprising her role of Gossip Gerty from Batman Forever.
• Vendela Kirsebom as the cryogenically frozen Nora Fries.

[edit] Development

Given the success of Batman Forever, a sequel was planned, with Joel Schumacher, Val Kilmer, and Chris O'Donnell set to return. Poison Ivy was earmarked as the next villain and Julia Roberts was reported as a suitable candidate.^[3]

Akiva Goldsman, who had co-written the screenplay to Batman Forever was hired to write the script. With the perceived success of Batman Forever towards a "kid-friendly" audience, Warner Bros. sought for the sequel to include even more material geared towards that audience.^[2]

In February 1996, Val Kilmer decided not to return for a sequel, feeling (much as Michael Keaton had when he vacated the role) that Batman was being marginalized in favor of the villains.^[4] Kilmer went on to do The Saint with a salary of $6 million (triple the amount of his contract for Batman Forever).^[4] When asked why he didn't return for a fourth installment, Kilmer said he liked the characterization of Simon Templar better than Bruce Wayne. Kilmer commented "Simon is a literary character who uses his wit, and not violence. Batman is a real screwed-up guy who has hustled an entire city, and now he's running around in a cape. What's it all about?"^[5]

Days later, George Clooney signed on to take over the part. Clooney was signed for three films, with a contract totaling $28 million.^[4] Clooney backed out of the long-in-development Green Hornet motion picture in order to star in Batman & Robin.^[6]

Batgirl was finally introduced in the franchise and Gwyneth Paltrow was the first choice for the role. Paltrow declined the role however. Kristin Chenoweth was considered next for the role but she declined as well. Alicia Silverstone was finally cast for the role of Batgirl. For this movie, she was named Barbara Wilson and was the niece of Alfred Pennyworth rather than the daughter of Commissioner Gordon as in the comics.^[7]

Julia Roberts (as previously mentioned), Demi Moore, and Sharon Stone were all considered for the role of Poison Ivy. Moore turned down the role and it is speculated that Roberts did as well.^[7] In March 1996, Uma Thurman was cast in the part.^[8] Anthony Hopkins, Patrick Stewart, and Ben Kingsley were all considered for the role of Mr. Freeze, though ultimately Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast because Joel Schumacher decided that Mr. Freeze must be "big and strong like he was chiseled out of a glacier".^[7] Sylvester Stallone and Hulk Hogan were considered for the role of Mr. Freeze if Arnold Schwarzenegger had not wanted to play the character.^[9]

[edit] Reception

Published financial figures indicate that the movie was made on a budget of $125 million.^[10] Batman & Robin opened at #1 at the box office, and had an opening weekend of $42,872,605 in 2,934 theaters averaging $14,612 per venue, which were two of its very few successes.^[11] However, over time, its popularity slipped, (possibly when put in competition with The Lost World: Jurassic Park, another summer film, which became a huge financial success) and the film collected only $107,325,195 domestically — less than any other Batman film — and $130,881,927 abroad, for a total worldwide gross of $238,207,122, but still covering the film's budget.^[10]

The film was neither a critical nor a huge financial success. It was mocked for the poor script, and overextending the campy attitude, comprising the smirky one-liners and ludicrous stunts of its predecessor, Batman Forever.^[12] Author Mark S. Reinhart said, "The combination of Batman & Robin's terrible script, ridiculous costuming, garish sets, uninspired direction, etc. made the film into the appalling dump heap that it is".^[13] In his review of the film, critic Leonard Maltin found that "the 'story' often makes no sense" and that the "action and effects are loud, gargantuan, and ultimately numbing".

The film was derisively dubbed Batman on Ice by critics for a scene in which Batman and Robin inexplicably have retractable ice skates in their boots while battling Mr. Freeze's henchmen on an icy floor in the opening sequence.^[14][15][16] George Clooney was severely embarrassed himself, by the film, saying "I think we might have killed the franchise."^[17] George Clooney has said he would personally refund the money of any fan he meets who paid to see the movie. On the special edition DVD of Batman & Robin, (in a featurette entitled "Batman Unbound"^[18]), Chris O'Donnell compared his experiences on making Batman Forever to his experiences on making Batman & Robin by saying "When I made Batman Forever, I felt like I was making a movie. When I made Batman & Robin, I felt like I was making a toy commercial."^[19]

Yet another reason as to why the film was ridiculed by critics and fans alike was because of the pun-ridden dialogue, which mainly came from the two main villains of the film, Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy. Some of the most criticized portions of the dialogue were Mr. Freeze's ice puns,^[20] such as 'You won't send me to the cooler!' and 'Hey, everybody! Chill!' Lines such as these were seen as something of a lowlight in the Batman universe.

Uma Thurman's performance in the film received mainly negative reviews, and critics made comparisons between her and actress Mae West.^[14] The New York Times wrote, "like Mae West, she mixes true femininity with the winking womanliness of a drag queen." A similar comparison was made by the Houston Chronicle: "Thurman, to arrive at a ’40s femme fatale, sometimes seems to be doing Mae West by way of Jessica Rabbit."

Director Joel Schumacher has admitted to not being proud of his work,^[2] On October 18, 2005, Warner Bros. released a DVD of the movie with a director's commentary. On it, Schumacher said he was compelled to put in gadgets that could be adapted into a toy line, and that he went too far trying to make the movie more kid-friendly than the previous films. He defended screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, saying, "If you don't like the film, blame the director."

Executive producer Michael Uslan said, "In my estimation - you're not making movies, you're making two-hour infomercials for toys.^[2] And that's sad. Because, if a filmmaker is allowed to just go out and make a great film, I believe you will sell toys anyway".^[13]

The movie ranked "#1 Worst Superhero Movie" on an MSN Movies article describing "The Best Superhero Movies".^[21] The film critic aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes in 2007 listed the film 88th of 94 comic book movies.^[22]

In his book Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese, Michael J. Nelson, referring to the film's poor reputation, clarified that it was not the worst film ever, but the worst thing ever, on a scale encompassing everything in existence instead of simply films. Later, Nelson would team up with fellow MST3K alumni Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy to record an audio commentary track for the film under the RiffTrax label, citing that the film was "The single most requested movie on the forum." Unlike previous works, this track took the novel approach of being written entirely by RiffTrax fans.^[23]

[edit] Legacy

Following the film's poor critical and commercial reception, the Batman movie franchise was put on hold for nearly eight years. Warner Bros. launched a new series in 2005, with the successful Batman Begins, an origin story film with no continuity to the Burton and Schumacher movies.^[24] The role of the Dark Knight went to the much younger Christian Bale (who incidentally auditioned for Robin in Batman Forever),^[25] who was widely praised for his performance.^[24] Joel Schumacher was originally to make a sequel to Batman & Robin named Batman Triumphant.^[26] Batman Triumphant was originally scheduled to come out around 1999-2001, but since the film Batman & Robin did so poorly at the box office in 1997, they decided to call off the whole idea before Batman & Robin was even out of theaters.^[26] Batman Triumphant was originally supposed to star George Clooney as Batman and Chris O'Donnel as Robin/Nightwing, both actors reprising their lead roles.^[27] The villains were going to be the Scarecrow played by either Jeff Goldblum, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Lloyd, or Nicolas Cage and Man-Bat. Meanwhile, Jack Nicholson was rumored to come back as the Joker in a dream sequence.^[26]

For more details on this topic, see Batman (film series)#Batman Triumphant.

[edit] Home video

The Batman Motion Picture Anthology

Batman & Robin was released on VHS and Laserdisc in October 1997. It was also given a "bare bones" DVD release in 1999, devoid of extra features. The main menu featured background music while the only extra feature was a synopsis of the film. In 2005, Warner Bros. released a two-disc special edition set of all four Burton-Schumacher films in Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology.

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: Batman & Robin (soundtrack)

Despite the overwhelming negative publicity the film received, its soundtrack became very popular and was well received. The soundtrack included songs by R. Kelly, Arkarna, Jewel, The Goo Goo Dolls, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and The Smashing Pumpkins, whose song "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" rolled over the movie's closing credits. Three songs from the soundtrack became top-ten hits in the United States; Jewel's contribution, a radio-mix version of "Foolish Games", as well as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's "Look into My Eyes", and R. Kelly's "Gotham City". There was never an official release of Elliot Goldenthal's score to the film, aside from the brief suite on the song album, but bootleg copies are in fairly wide circulation.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Batman & Robin at the Internet Movie Database
• Batman & Robin at Rotten Tomatoes
• Batman & Robin at Box Office Mojo
• Nostalgia Critic's review of Batman & Robin

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