Batman Forever (Movie)

{{DC Database:Movie Template
 * Image                  = Batman Forever.jpg
 * Aliases                = Batman Forever
 * Universe               = Burtonverse
 * Publisher              = DC Comics


 * Directors              = Joel Schumacher
 * Producers              = Tim Burton; Michael Uslan; Peter Macgregor-Scott; Benjamin Melniker
 * Writers                = Lee Scott-Batchler; Janet Scott-Batchler; Akiva Goldsman
 * Musicians              = Elliot Goldenthal
 * Cinematographers       = Stephen Goldblatt
 * Editors                = Dennis Virkler; Mark Stephens
 * Distributors           = Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.
 * Running Time           = 122 min.
 * Rating                 = PG-13
 * Budget                 = $100 million
 * Release Date           = June 26, 1995


 * Previous Movie         = Batman Returns (Movie)
 * Next Movie             = Batman and Robin (Movie)

Featured Characters:
 * Appearances            =
 * {{a|Batman (Bruce Wayne)}}

Supporting Characters:
 * {{a|Alfred Pennyworth}}
 * {{a|Commissioner Gordon}}
 * {{1st|Robin (Dick Grayson)}}
 * {{a|Chase Meridian}} {{Only}}

Villains:
 * {{a|Two-Face (Harvey Dent)}} {{1stas|Two-Face}} {{Dies}}
 * {{1st|Riddler (Edward Nygma)}}
 * {{a|Sugar}} & {{a|Spice}} {{Only}}

Other Characters:
 * {{a|Flying Graysons}} {{Only Dies}}
 * {{a|John Grayson}} {{Only Dies}}
 * {{a|Mary Grayson}} {{Only Dies}}
 * {{a|Mitch Grayson}} {{Only Dies}}


 * {{a|Boss Moroni}} {{Only}}
 * {{a|Fred Stickley}} {{Only Dies}}
 * {{1st|Gossip Gertie}}
 * {{a|Thomas}} & {{a|Martha Wayne}} {{Flashback Dies}}
 * {{a|Jack Napier}} {{Flashback}}
 * Catwoman (Selina Kyle) {{Mentioned}}

Locations:
 * {{a|Burtonverse}}
 * {{a|Gotham City}}
 * {{a|Arkham Asylum}}
 * {{a|Gotham City Hall}}
 * {{a|Haly's Circus}}
 * {{a|Wayne Enterprises}}
 * {{a|Wayne Manor}}
 * {{a|Batcave}}

Items:
 * {{a|Batarang}}
 * {{a|Batsuit}}
 * {{a|W:C:DC:Bat-SignalBat-Signal}}
 * {{a|Riddler's staff}}
 * {{a|Utility Belt}}

Vehicles:
 * {{a|Batboat}}
 * {{a|Batmobile}}
 * {{a|Batwing}}


 * Plot                   =

Two-Face On The Loose
Harvey Dent, the former Gotham City district attorney who became the villain Two-Face after half his face was disfigured, escapes Arkham Asylum and robs the 2nd National Bank, holding a guard hostage. Bruce Wayne goes into action as Batman, meeting with criminal psychoanalyst Chase Meridian who finds herself attracted to Batman. He takes down Two-Face's goons and rescues the guard from the bank vault he was trapped in, but fails to stop Two-Face before he causes his helicopter to crash into the Statue of Justice in Gotham Harbor prior to his departure.

Too Many Questions
Bruce Wayne visits Wayne Enterprises, where he encounters Ed Nigma, a scientist who is working on a prototype entertainment device called the Box which beams realistic images from television signals into a person's brain. Bruce notices that Nigma says that the device manipulates brain waves and says that he can't fund the project because it raises too many questions. Nigma fumes at the rejection and decides to continue on with his work.

False Alarm?
Bruce sees the Batsignal in the sky and goes out as Batman to meet with Commissioner Gordon, but instead finds Chase, who has used the signal for a more personal encounter. The commissioner interrupts this by asking what the signal was for, and Batman simply says it's a false alarm before he departs.

Guinea Pig
Ed Nigma's superior Fred Stickley finds him still working on The Box during his off-hours and threatens to fire him. Nigma has Stickley tied up and used as a test subject for his device. As he does, Nigma discovers that it enables him to grow smarter by feeding off other people's brainwaves. He then sends Stickley to his death by pushing him through the window of Wayne Enterprises and drowning in the Gotham River to silence him, then covers up his death as a suicide and feigns a mournful attitude, choosing to leave his job.

Mysteries And Riddles
As the Gotham City police investigate Stickley's death, Bruce finds a mysterious riddle on his desk that was anonymously sent. He takes this riddle and another that comes soon after to Chase Meridian's office to find out who would send him riddles. Chase suggests that the sender has some psychotic fixation on Bruce with the intent of destroying him. She also sees that there is more going on in Bruce's mind than he's letting on during the visit. He quickly ends the meeting by asking if she wants to go with him to the circus.

Murder At The Circus
As Bruce and Chase watch the Flying Grayson family acrobats at the circus, Two-Face and his goons come in and threaten to blow up the building and the people in it with a time bomb unless Batman reveals himself for who he really is. Bruce Wayne tries to tell Two-Face that he is Batman, but cannot be heard over the crowd. After Two-Face activates the time bomb, the Flying Graysons try to get to the bomb to shut it off before it blows. Dick succeeds in doing so and causes the bomb to blow up in the river. But he fails to stop Two-Face in time from killing his parents and brother by shooting at the cables they were climbing on.

Broken Wings
Bruce takes Dick into his custody at Wayne Manor, but all Dick cares about is getting even with Two-Face. Although at first Dick desires to take off, he sees Bruce's impressive collection of motorcycles and decides to stay. Alfred notices that Dick's motorcycle helmet has a robin on it. Dick says Robin is his brother's nickname for him after coming to his rescue when his trapeze robe broke. Dick hands Alfred his Flying Grayson costume and tells him to dispose of it, saying he won't need it anymore. Alfred decides to put it away, saying that broken wings will mend in time, and Robin will be able to fly again.

The Riddler Comes Knocking
After Two-Face's next failed attempt to destroy Batman, he finds an unexpected visitor in his personal hideout -- Ed Nigma, who now calls himself the Riddler. He shows Two-Face how he managed to find out where he lived through a demonstration of his completed invention called The Box, using it to feed off the brainwaves of others in order to make himself smarter. The Riddler seeks a partnership to steal enough capital to mass-produce enough Boxes to put into every home in exchange for revealing to Two-Face who Batman really is. Two-Face flips his coin to decide whether to accept the offer or kill the intruder. The flip rests in the Riddler's favor, and soon they go on a crime spree together, raising up enough money to open up NygmaTech, the mass producer of the Boxes.

A Knight On The Town
Dick Grayson, however, discovers the Batcave and decides to go cruising around town in the Batmobile when he rescues a young woman from a thug, only to be soon overwhelmed by a gang of thugs. Bruce Wayne comes to Dick's rescue as Batman, but Dick is angry at Bruce for not stopping his family's murder and wants to kill Two-Face for it. Bruce tries to reason with Dick that killing Two-Face won't make the pain go away, but instead will make it worse.

Unexpected Partner
At the gala party that Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson attended where Ed Nygma was showing off the latest advances to his Box, Two-Face shows up, scaring the people with a hail of gunfire, impatient for Batman to appear. Soon he does, and Two-Face lures him underground where he tries to kill the Dark Knight with a gas explosion, and then buries him under a ton of sand. Fortunately Batman escapes with the unexpected help of Dick Grayson, showing up in his Flying Grayson costume and wearing a mask, but Bruce is far from grateful and says Dick could have gotten himself killed. Dick says he's going to be Bruce's partner whether he wants it or not, and has Alfred put his Flying Grayson costume alongside the Batsuits in the Batcave.

Paying The Doctor A House Call
Alfred turns Bruce's attention to Chase, the young woman whom he desires his master to fall in love with and possibly marry. Bruce tells Alfred that Chase is in love with Batman. Alfred tells him to let the lady decide.

Soon Bruce shows up at Chase's apartment balcony as Batman. Chase embraces and kisses them, then realizes she is starting to think about someone else and tells him that. As Batman departs, he smiles, realizing that she is now thinking about Bruce.

A Bat On The Mind
As Two-Face mourns yet another failed attempt to destroy Batman, the Riddler shows him what his Box has recorded from Bruce's mind -- the image of a black bat -- suggesting that Bruce Wayne is the very person who is secretly Batman.

Kidnapping Chase
During a private evening at Wayne Manor alone with Chase, Bruce reveals some secrets about himself that she figures out led him to becoming Batman. However, Two-Face and Riddler invade the estate in order to kidnap Chase, blow up the Batcave, and leave behind another riddle for their victim to solve.

Solving The Riddles
Bruce Wayne discovers that each of the riddles have a number -- 13, 1, 8, and 5 -- and believes that they are all connected to a letter -- M, A, H, and E. He deduces that 1 and 8 may actually be 18, which makes the letter MRE -- resulting in Mr. E, or "mystery", which is another name for engima, or Mr. Ed Nigma.

Enter The Dynamic Duo
Bruce discovers that one of the Batsuits, an untested prototype with sonar detection features, is undamaged and decides to use it. Dick Grayson offers to help Bruce take down Two-Face and the Riddler as he now presents himself wearing an armored version of his Flying Grayson outfit, calling himself Robin. Bruce finally accepts him as a partner.

The Deadly Duel
Upon reaching the island where the Riddler's hideout was, Robin first faces off with Two-Face, who nearly falls to his death before Dick Grayson decides he would rather see the villain be turned over to the police. Batman enters into the chamber of the hideout and finds Robin and Chase tied up and ready to be dropped to their own deaths at the touch of a button. Riddler asks Batman which one he will save first. Batman confronts the Riddler with a riddle of his own, which he uses to distract Nigma long enough to hurl a Batarang to destroy the receiving aperture of The Box, causing Nigma's brain to be scrambled.

A Final Toss Of The Coin
After Batman succeeds in rescuring both Chase and Robin, Two-Face threatens to kill all of them when Batman has him flipping the coin to see whether he should. As he does, Batman hurls a handful of coins at Two-Face, causing him to fall to his doom trying to catch the right coin.

The Secret Is Safe
After Nigma is turned over to Arkham Asylum, Chase visits him in his cell, who claims to know who Batman is. He appears unto her in a straitjacket, claiming that he is Batman. Chase realizes from this that Nigma has gone insane and that Bruce Wayne's secret is now safe. She meets Bruce outside the asylum and kisses him, telling him not to work late.

And soon Batman fights crime in Gotham alongside his new partner Robin.
 * Cast                   =
 * Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne/Batman
 * Chris O'Donnell as Richard Grayson/Robin
 * Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent/Two-Face
 * Jim Carrey as Ed Nigma/Riddler
 * Nicole Kidman as Chase Meridian
 * Michael Gough as Alfred
 * Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon
 * Drew Barrymore as Sugar
 * Debi Mazar as Spice
 * Rene Auberjonois as Dr. Burton
 * Elizabeth Sanders as Gossip Gertie
 * Notes                  =
 * Shot between mid-late 1994 and early 1995.


 * Release date: June 1995 (North America).


 * Trivia                 =
 * This movie saw a complete facelift. The producers wanted to base this film on the Batman comics of the 1940's and early 50's. Batman Forever had a new director in Schumacher with a new colorful and vibrant look and feel that was a complete turn-around from Tim Burton's darker look and the was a new composer in Elliot Goldenthal who wrote a new theme for the Batman.


 * There were a group of scenes that were cut from the movie that would have explained why Bruce Wayne chose to retire (and then un-retire) Batman. These included a scene where Bruce catches an tv editorial where the reporter says he believes that Batman is the cause of Gotham's problems and that he should leave. The other scene would have shownBruce returning to the cave where he fell many years ago, only to find his father's journal on the ground. He then would read a passage from the journal implying that Bruce indirectly caused his parent's murders by wanting to go to the movie theater that night. Then, a giant bat would come flying out of the darkness at Bruce and stop in front of him. This would somehow remind him that he is still Batman. These scenes are preserved on the recent two disc DVD set.


 * Michael Keaton was ready to step into the batsuit once more for this movie, but after Tim Burton left the project, he didn't like how the story was going and followed him.


 * Joel Schumacher was a big fan of Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns and Year One and wanted to make this movie an adaptation of the latter story. But, Warner Bros. declined his proposal.


 * Jones' version of Two-Face, as well as the film itself, was met with a mixed response among critics and audiences alike. Scott Beatty, in particular, noted that he felt that the Batman Forever version of Two-Face was more of a Joker knock-off than the multifaceted character in the original comics. However, Jones was nominated for "Best Villain" at the MTV Awards for his performance.


 * Another criticism was Two-Face being the one responsible for Dick Grayson's family's death as well as the origin of his tranformation into Robin.


 * Dick mentions "Batboy" and "Nightwing" as possible sidekick names for him. Nightwing is the name of his superhero identity that he takes after becoming an Independent hero in his own right.


 * Controversy erupted early on about the fact that Batman and Robin would have "nipples" and codpieces on their costumes. Schumacher said that he viewed the suits as sculptures and sighted that superheroes are typically drawn with incredible physiques, so it seemed normal to include nipples. Batgirl in Batman & Robin was given a similar designed costume but in feminine form.


 * Ewan McGregor, Jude Law, Christian Bale and Alan Cumming all auditioned for the part of Robin. Ironically, two of them would go on to play much bigger characters as Bale would become the Caped Crusader in Batman Begins and McGregor would be cast as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the second Star Wars trilogy. Cumming would go on to play Marvel character Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United


 * Drew Barrymore played Sugar, one of Two-Face's girlfriends.


 * Robin Williams was approached to play the Riddler, but Williams turned them down. Fortunate, the producers grabbed a rising star in Jim Carrey, who had just come off Ace Ventura and had just finished shooting The Mask and Dumb and Dumber.


 * There are rumors that both Val Kilmer and Tommy Lee Jones (especially Jones) did not get along well with Jim Carrey behind the scenes and that Kilmer and Joel Schumacher did not work well together. Kilmer denies the Carrey rumor (at least his half of it), saying that he did like Jim Carrey. The Carrey-Jones rumor has quieted down recently.


 * The slanted camera angles in the movie might be a tribute to the same style used in the Adam West Batman T.V. series, where the villains were usually shot at a jaunted angle, to suggest that they (like the shot) were crooked.


 * Tommy Lee Jones was not familiar with the Two-Face character, but his son was and encouraged him to take the part.


 * The soundtrack boasted two big songs. One of them was U2's Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me and the other was Seal's major hit single Kiss from a Rose. The video for Seal's song featured the singer standing in front of the famous Bat Signal and was intercut with clips from the movie.

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 * Links                  =
 * "Batman Forever: Two Disc Special Edition" DVD (2005)