what was it really that made the Batman movies so horrible

what was it really that made the Batman movies so horrible

Let's look back at Joel Schumacher's(more like SchuMockery heheh...lame I know) attempt at Batman I know you guys would rather not but bare with me

Editorial Opinion
By Mrmoviemaker09 - Aug 10, 2011 11:08 AM EST
Filed Under: Batman

So I was watching the two Batmen movies with my nephew and it was his 1st time seeing it and he was really enjoying himself because the only Batman movie he knows of is the Nolan/Bale Batman so after explainingto him all the different batmen movies I thought back to when I first saw this Batman and I was just as excited as he was.....so that got me wondering was this Batman really meant for older audiences or was it an attempt to bring Batman:The animated series to the big screen either way he failed....extremely

Here's what I mean: if they where meant for older audiences then why where his characters so damn animated and if it was supposed to be a take on TAS then why where the characters so.....so....wrong. I mean the backstories (except for batgirl) where pretty much on point but the portrayals were so wrong it was ridiculous well the riddler and poison ivy where good and Uma Thurman as the suductive...sensual....deadly poison ivy was a good move and Jim Carrey as the as eccentric Riddler was also a good choice.

Now for the bad: Bat-nipples....need I say more. Batgirl now as cute as Alicia Silverstone was in her Domino mask and bat suit I felt like it we deserved to see Barbra Gordan not Alfred's neice who came out of no where. Mr freeze more like Mr. Pun I mean who knew there could be so many ice puns within the 1st 10 minutes of the movie. And Bane when did Bane become an unintelligible goon (Hopefully its better in TDKR) and Two-face. Two-face was a mean....psychopathic....killer not some happy-go-lucky dick with a gun and an itchy trigger finger. Speaking of Two-face that brings me to Robin. Robin/Dick was a kid when Batman/Bruce found him why was he damn near 30 years old in the movie? What Schumacher should have done was make him a kid but then in the sequal brought him back as an adult...kept poison Ivy there to cause a rift between batman and robin then that paved the way for Nightwing or more than likely NippleWing.

I said all that to say this...Joel Schumacher has brought us plenty of good movies such as phonebooth....A time to kill....Number 23 and a bunch of others so maybe he should leave the capes and cowls to someone a little more capable of coming up with a good plot...cast...costume design...an all around better CBM....Mr Schumacher thank you but no thank you
P.s to those who sat down and read this I applaud you now feel free to sound off your thoughts and feelings in the usual place

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CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 8/10/2011, 11:39 AM
Jim Carrey's Riddler was like a Looney Tunes character, lol, terrible choice.

Uma Thurman was okay for the kind of movie they were making. But thats about it. That movie was ridiculous.

And there's no way they were trying to bring The Animated Series to the big screen. Batman: TAS had a WAY more serious tone than these movies, and it was damn near spot on with its character portrayals.

If anything, Schumacher was trying to go back to the old 60's television show. Full of camp and ridiculous shit.
sonofsamadams
sonofsamadams - 8/10/2011, 12:17 PM
Tim Burton gave us two really good Batman movies. A darker twist into superhero movies, and had a lot of interesting Villains. But When Joel Schumacher took over, it was DONE. Bob Kane died an unhappy man.
xBlaze96x
xBlaze96x - 8/10/2011, 12:29 PM
Joel Schumacher Is a Monster of Society. Why WB thought a campy Batman movie like the 60's TV show would be a big success. Is beyond comprehension. But I do believe it was to get the little kids to be really interested in that crazy light show.
RidiculousFanBoyDemands
RidiculousFanBoyDemands - 8/10/2011, 12:49 PM
My least favorite Batman movie was Batman Returns. Now, that is not to say that this is the worst Batman movie, but I don't understand why Batman Returns has so much love. B&R is by far the worst, and Batman forever - while extremely campy- was okay. But Batman Returns gets an unnecessary pass. I'll be very brief about why I absolutely loathe this as a Batman movie.

1) Batman plays third fiddle to Catwoman and Penguin.
2) Tim Burton has gone on record saying he doesn't read comic books, which is clearly evident because he bastardized two great comic book characters. Really the penguin was raised by circus freaks and penguins? Selina kyle was licked back to life by cats? Really?
3) The scale of the movie was tiny. It was basically a Tim Burton movie with Batman characters.
4) Batman killed at least 3 people in that movie. I could go on and on but I will stop there.

People are shitting on Nolan's take, but at least he is borrowing and using the comics as a guideline. Tim Burton made his first movie all about the joker - who isn't supposed to have a coherent back story-, makes him kill Bruce Waynes parents all for the sake of plot convenience. Don't get me wrong I have a soft spot in my heart and will always love Batman 89, but Tim Burton was obviously clueless when it came to the character of Batman.

As for Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy: I thought it was way too over the top. It was like she was trying to out cheese and one line Arnold. There is nothing redeeming about Batman and Robin.
RidiculousFanBoyDemands
RidiculousFanBoyDemands - 8/10/2011, 1:00 PM
Also, my man do us all a favor and take a couple of minutes to edit your articles. Good stuff, just a little hard to read.
Mrmoviemaker09
Mrmoviemaker09 - 8/10/2011, 1:22 PM
i agree with all of you guys you all made some good points but what do you think could have been done to make the movie.....bearable

@RidiculousFanBoyDemands sorry i was typing on a cell phone
RidiculousFanBoyDemands
RidiculousFanBoyDemands - 8/10/2011, 1:36 PM
no worries man!

Umm make the movie bearable....errrr....well I don't have enough time to sit here and type everything but I will list a couple of things I would do differently.

1) Remove Poison Ivy and Bane, they were just filler characters anyway. Completely underdeveloped and horribly written.
2) Remove every one liner.
3) Not make Batman a socialite. He is a freaking detective! He hates the spotlight! Not to mention, someone you would NEVER see on the cover of an US weekly (or even freaking time magazine for that matter).
4) Cut out Batgirl all together. Quick tangent about B&R. Barbra was Alfred's niece, grew up in england, went to Oxford and had no trace of an accent!
5) Make Robin a badass not just some whiny over emotional kid. Maybe make him bend the rules to the point where it even makes Batman a litte uncomfortable, and maybe scared for him. Another quick tangent, nobody in Gotham was a little bit curious as to why Bruce Wayne would try to adopt a grown ass man! Let's break this down real quick. Bruce Wayne is obviously in the public spotlight, and in the first four movies was never scene out with a woman. There were no rumors about him dating, or anything. Then all of a sudden he let's a GROWN man come live him, and tells everyone he is adopting him. I know your gay Joel and that is cool, but really? Did you really need to introduce Robin this way???
6) FOCUS THE STORY ON BATMAN AND NOT FREAKING VILLAINS!

That is all the time I have for now, but to make this movie bearable would take a miracle to say the least.
Solomon
Solomon - 8/10/2011, 1:48 PM
Uma as Ivy was the only watchable part of Batman & Robin
RunDTC
RunDTC - 8/10/2011, 1:50 PM
I agree 100% with everything RidiculousFanBoyDemands said about Batman Returns and Batman and Robin.
95
95 - 8/10/2011, 2:26 PM
Sloppy writing. Typed from phone? LOL, now that's funny.

I liked the Schumacher films when I was younger, after I saw Batman Begins that all changed.

And I don't know why people like the Tim Burton Bat-films. I never liked it, deviates from the comics even more than Nolan [not that I care about that].
Macksimus
Macksimus - 8/10/2011, 3:23 PM
Shumacher's movies just plain sucked. Burton's movies were way overrated, but they were all we had back then and they were a change of pace from the campy 60's Batman. People like them for nostalgic reasons; not because they were any good. 1989 Batman was the first Superhero movie I saw in theaters, so it will alway mean something to me. I loved it when I was a kid, but after watching it recently, i realized how bad of a movie it really is.

...also, I hate it when people say "Burton's movies got it right." BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA...HA HA HA HA....that's just the nostalgia talking LOL.
CapFan79
CapFan79 - 8/10/2011, 5:09 PM
I loved Forever when it came out. People have only given that movie hate since B&R and BB came out. I still like it.

Batman was great and almost as good as BB, except that BB did a far better job showing why Wayne chooses to become Batman. Returns is worth watching for Pfeiffer and Walken, though Penguin is gross.

B&R is like a movie version of the camp TV show. I enjoy it the same way I do Plan 9. It's so bad it's good.

Comics are no different. Some are dark, some are campy, some writers do their won thing while others dig deep into the psychology. Nolan's film are consistent which makes them more rewarding.

I'll be interested to see the direction Batman films go after TDKR. I hope the can do Dark Knight Returns or other one-off films.
Supes17
Supes17 - 8/10/2011, 6:46 PM
The only batman film I'm interested in after this franchise is over is THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS
Supes17
Supes17 - 8/10/2011, 6:47 PM
Bob Kane was a greedy bastard the took the credit for the design and creation of batman.
CapFan79
CapFan79 - 8/10/2011, 7:50 PM
Kane was a consultant on all of the films too. He had no issues with B&R cause he got paid! Even his wife had cameos! He died happy.
SigmaCenturion
SigmaCenturion - 8/10/2011, 8:30 PM
I think the only one of the older batman movies i liked was batman forever even though everything was wrong with it. I didn't like burton's movies at all. He screwed up the characters way too much. His penguin was really really disturbing. About the only thing redeeming about burton's is catwoman even though he gave a strange origin. i think i like batman forever because i though val kilmer came the closest out of the actors to portray bruce wayne
Gutts81
Gutts81 - 8/10/2011, 10:07 PM
@RidiculousFanBoyDemands Man if i could hug you .. I would. I still love the 89 Batman to this very day. But as comicbook fanboy(mostly Marvel) I now look at those movies as being completely off for what Batman is and and what he represents.Dude, Bats killed like 6-9 ppl in the first movie and we never got a convincing Bruce Wayne from Keaton. And the second movie (my fav) Batman killed a ton of circus clowns and such. I mean I know ppl have their own opinion about Batman begins and TDK but those were fantastic movies that marvel has yet to achieve(sorry stark)the level of. It's like a reviewer once said when he made a late critical review of the movie by saying Bale played 3 roles in those films. Bruce Wayne A) Typical flamboyant millionaire B) Bruce Wayne the intellect who finds out about multiple wrong doings through his connections from having wealth and power. C) Batman. This dude played all three to a [frick]ing T! And make it so bad I didn't even see Batman begins until it was out on dvd for like 4 months. When i finally did sit down and watched it i was so pissed at myself for not supporting a fantastic movie and quite literally the best CBM made so far.
RidiculousFanBoyDemands
RidiculousFanBoyDemands - 8/10/2011, 11:12 PM
thanks Gutts81...This is why I like posting on editorials. The responses are more detailed and thought out, as opposed to the ones that usually end up on the breaking news/ photo threads.

You bring up a very great point about Christian Bales performance. I am ashamed to admit I never thought of it like that. He executed those three roles flawlessly! I will admit his voice is a little over the top but I can understand why he would go to such extremes.

*Tangent Alert*
Nolan's Bruce Wayne lives in a world of 24/7 media. If Batman didn't drastically disguise his voice I am sure that someone would pick up on him being Bruce Wayne. I would imagine Bruce Wayne being the Prince of Gotham is very very well known. His face was/is all over the papers, I'm sure he has done countless interviews so it again I totally see him drastically changing his voice.

The only problem I have with the Nolan movies is this:

You would figure someone would figure out that the Batman arrived around the same time Bruce returned to Gotham. Somebody on the police squad would at least look in to the possibility of Bruce Wayne being Batman. I mean he is probably one of the only people in Gotham that has the kind of resources available to pull it off. Then again I understand the counter argument, that the reason Bale plays Bruce Wayne as such an ass is to throw people off.

Anyway, I remember seeing begins not even knowing a new Batman movie was coming out. I am a huge Batman fan, and honestly I knew nothing of this movie. I do remember at the end of the movie being like, now this director gets who this guy is. Even if you don't like his movies, you have to at least admit that Nolan has a better grasp on the characters then Burton did. I guess Burton should have opened a comic book or two.

I won't go on anymore about returns, but I agree with Macksimus 100%. I think the people who defend Burton are very nostalgic and look at the movie with rose colored glasses. Returns is definitely watchable, however it is not a good BATMAN movie.
Caedus137
Caedus137 - 8/11/2011, 12:54 AM
Am I the only one who thinks Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy was one of the worst performances ever given by anyone, ever, in any film...ever? (Cue the exaggeration Police...)I mean, that voice!!! What the f.uck was that voice all about??? I recently watched R&R on a rainy afternoon because it happened to be on Sky Movies, and if Im honest, Clooney didnt bother me, Chris O'Donnell didnt bother me and Arnie is just...well... Arnie!!! But Uma Thurman... jeez... I could have eaten my TV.
Caedus137
Caedus137 - 8/11/2011, 2:40 AM
Also, good points above about Christian Bale's portrayal of Bruce Wayne. I'd never thought of it that way... Him acting like an arrogant dick on purpose to throw people off the scent, so to speak. Adds an entirely new layer to an already well rounded and well developed character.
kong
kong - 8/11/2011, 4:09 AM
When i was younger i would watch all of the old Batman films i would love them so much bout now all they have to do is make a Batman beyond movie or whatever after Nolan's trilogy or a Batman reboot and i'll be fine.
RunDTC
RunDTC - 8/11/2011, 6:17 AM
@Caedus137: no, it's not just you.
Checkmate
Checkmate - 8/11/2011, 12:45 PM
Cheesiness and misrepresentation of characters.
jaysin420
jaysin420 - 8/11/2011, 5:59 PM
I'm not saying they're great, but I think these movies take WAY too much abuse. When I was young, I actually enjoyed Batman and Robin and Forever more than Batman and Returns.
superbatspiderman
superbatspiderman - 8/11/2011, 8:56 PM
Reading this article makes me so glad that we have Nolan and his batman movies because i whole heartedly believe he is the best thing that ever happened to Batman. I think all the 90s Batman films sucked but I gotta give Returns more credit than the Schumacher movies because it is at least watchable but it still sucked.
superwolverine
superwolverine - 8/12/2011, 9:07 AM
I think burton's '89 batman laid the foundation for a darker batman. plus the musical score was good(not the prince soundtrack).
Hairyman
Hairyman - 8/12/2011, 1:06 PM
This is the worst written rant I have ever read. Please, don't post again until you learn how to use puncuation correctly. One or two errors is fine, but I couldn't even make it through this piss poor writing. This looks like your young nephew wrote it.
krzfter
krzfter - 8/12/2011, 1:43 PM
I have always like Burton's Batman, even though it's not very close to the source, the movies were enjoyable. What kill the franchise was all the glow sticks and how fake looking it was in Batman Forever. And I like this movie just not the look of it.
SpiderFan35
SpiderFan35 - 8/12/2011, 3:58 PM
Wow, I've said it before and I'll say it again: THIS IS NOT WRITING! This is verbal diarrhea put into writing (or in this case typing). Good God man, did you consider re-reading what you wrote before posting it? This sounds like someone transcribed a recording of a drunk person talking on the phone at 3 in the morning.

Please people, for the love of all that is good in the world, please stop posting terribly written "articles" about bad CBM's. Just stop it. The movies were bad, we get it.
Mrmoviemaker09
Mrmoviemaker09 - 8/12/2011, 6:58 PM
@everyone again you all make some valid points....after the Nolan/Bale Series is over who would what to take over as the caped crusader and who would you want to see as the director

@Hairyman and SpiderFan35 So, after lots of consideration I came to an impasse....a proverbial fork in the road....either to mention you at the same time or individually so since you both complained about the same thing I'm going to send this to the both of you....Yes I'm aware of spelling and punctuation errors its been said before build a bridge GET THE [frick] OVER IT stop crying over unimportant bullshit if the article was as bad as you two whiny bitches claim then why waste time commenting, does it make you feel powerful? Important? your not all you are are two reasons why i dread reading comments on post and @Hairyman my article was not a rant THIS IS A RANT you dip shit. My article was simply a way for me to see what could have been done differently because as stated before i feel that one of the reasons CBMs fail so hard is because Directors only THINK they know what people want to see and with my name being mr_movie_maker i like to make movies and one day I hope to get the chance to make a CBM the right way so I asked what could be done differently. Now the both of you should seriously consider thinking about how your actions could have a negative reaction but that's just my two cents
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