Batman and Robin (Movie)

Batman and Robin Batman and Robin Gallery Aliases Batman and Robin Universe Burtonverse  Movie Details Directors Joel Schumacher

Producers Peter MacGregor-Scott

Writers Akiva Goldsman

Musicians Elliot Goldenthal

Cinematographers Stephen Goldblatt

Editors Dennis Virkler, Mark Stevens

Distributors Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.

Running Time 125 min.

Rating PG-13

Budget 125 mil.

Release Date June 20, 1997

Previous Movie

Appearances
Featured Characters:
 * Batman (Bruce Wayne)  (Final appearance)
 * Robin (Dick Grayson)  (Final appearance)

Supporting Characters:
 * Alfred Pennyworth  (Final appearance)
 * Batgirl (Barbara Wilson)

(Single appearance)[1]
 * Commissioner Gordon  (Final appearance)

Villains:
 * Mister Freeze (Victor Fries)

(Single appearance)[1]
 * Ms. B. Haven

(Single appearance)[1]
 * Poison Ivy (Pamela Isley)

(Single appearance)[1]
 * Bane (Antonio Diego)

(Single appearance)[1]
 * Jason Woodrue

(Only appearance; dies)[1]

Other Characters:
 * Julie Madison

(Single appearance)[1]
 * Gossip Gertie  (Final appearance)
 * Nora Fries

(Single appearance)[1]

Locations:
 * Gotham City


 * Arkham Asylum


 * Gotham Art Museum
 * Gotham City Observatory
 * Wayne Manor


 * Batcave


 * South America
 * Jason Woodrue's Lab

Items:
 * Batsuit


 * W:C:DC:Bat-SignalBat-Signal


 * Mister Freeze's freeze gun


 * Utility Belt


 * Venom

Vehicles:
 * Batmobile


 * Robin's Motorcycle

Plot
The super-criminal Mister Freeze attacks the Gotham museum of art, however he is stopped by Batman and Robin, though he escapes.

Meanwhile a super soldier dubbed Bane is created in South America. The creator of Bane, Doctor Jason Woodrue kills his assistant Pamela Isley. Isley rises from the ground more beautiful and Woodrue is attracted to her. Isley kisses Woodrue but explains to him that the kiss will kill him because of the chemicals in the ground mutated her. Woodrue dies of the poison in the kiss and as Isley sets the labs on fire, Bane mistakes her for his master and the two head for Gotham. At the airport Isley kills eleven people with a kiss.

Meanwhile at the Batcave, Batman and Robin's brotherly relationship is breaking up. They are almost becoming enemies and Mister Freeze comes up with a plan to get ransom money to continue his research for a cure for his dying wife. Isley, now calling herself Poison Ivy, reveals herself to Gotham and falls in love with Mister Freeze who gets captured and creates a lair for herself and Bane.

At Wayne Manor Alfred's niece Barbara Wilson comes to live with them.

Poison Ivy visits Mister Freeze at Arkham Asylum. Ivy uses a special love dust on the guards who immediately become attracted to her. She kills the two with a kiss and then Bane and she break him out. Batman and Robin try to foil the trio, but Poison Ivy manipulates Robin's rage. Batman and he part ways. Meanwhile, Poison Ivy "kills" Freeze's wife out of jealousy and tells Freeze that it was Batman.

The Trio move to Poison Ivy's lair. Poison Ivy goes to a party to celebrate Wayne enterprise's new telescope. She steals Commissioner Gordon's police keys and changes the W:C:DC:Bat-SignalBat-Signal to a Robin signal.

The Robin signal is activated and Batman reaffirms his bond with Robin. Batman and Robin are both captured by Poison Ivy but Barbara, now Batgirl, beats Poison Ivy and frees the two. All three hear from Poison Ivy that Freeze is going to turn Gotham into ice. The three head to the Observatory to find out that Freeze and Bane have turned the telescope into a giant freeze gun. Freeze and Bane are both beaten, but Freeze uses bombs to destroy the freeze gun so it cannot be reversed. The trio thaw Gotham using satellites and reveal that Poison Ivy attempted to kill Freeze's wife (Batman saved and restored her before it was too late). In gratitude and wishing to atone for his misdeeds, Freeze gives the antidote to cure stage one of the disease to Batman so that he can cure Alfred.

Alfred is cured and Poison Ivy unfortunately shares a cell with Poison Ivy at Arkham and he still has access to his suit.

Trivia

 * This was the final entry in the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher movie series. The movie actually did have a good first week at the box office, but word of mouth spread fast and the movie went straight down the chart. Unlike the first movie which was a huge multimedia success across the board, this movie is still known as one of the single biggest disasters in entertainment history and marked the temporary decline in the popularity of comic franchises in the movies and television.


 * The Batgirl in this story is different from the Batgirl from the comics. This Batgirl is Alfred's niece instead of Commissioner Gordon's daughter.

Clooney actually surprised his E.R. castmates by showing up to the set one day in his Batsuit.
 * In 1996, Schumacher and the Producers failed to bring Val Kilmer back to play Batman again. They later announced the signing of George Clooney, who was then known for his part on the medical drama E.R..


 * Robin's suit closely resembles the suit of Nightwing, a persona he adopts in the comics after he split from Batman. This suit, however, is black and red instead of black and blue.

It would have been easiest to hire Hogan, because he was working for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), a Time-Warner subsidiary at that time.
 * Had Arnold Schwarzenegger not accepted the part of Mister Freeze, the part would have been offered to fellow action star Sylvester Stallone, Patrick Stewart or professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.


 * The character of Bane was not utilized the way he was in the comics. There, Bane was known for breaking Bruce Wayne's back and was truly a mastermind in his own right. Here, he is nothing more than Poison Ivy's big enforcer and was almost comical. Bane was played by a lesser-known professional wrestler named Jeep Swenson, who passed away due to a massive heart attack just weeks after the movie was released.


 * Also, Arnold Schwarzenegger was having his own heart problems and had heart valve surgery in the weeks prior to the movie's release.

But, Schumacher said he didn't have it in him to do another Batman movie and the project was scrapped quickly.
 * There were plans for the fifth and final Batman movie to be produced, entitled "Batman Triumphant" which was intended to have both Clooney and O'Donnell return as Batman and Robin, to debut Scarecrow and Harley Quinn and to mark the return of Jack Nicholson as The Joker. Harley would have been portrayed as the Joker's daughter rather than his girlfriend as originally planned and the Joker himself would have been just an illusion created by Scarecrow.


 * Joel Schumacher was told by Warner Bros. to make the movie "toyetic". Meaning, to make everything look like something the kids would want to buy at a toy store and to include elements that are marketable. This is painfully obvious during the final fifteen minutes of the movie where (for no apparent reason) the heroes start wearing silver plated suits and drive very gimmicky vehicles on their way to the final battle. In fact, when the time came for the heroes to don their new black and silver suits, Chris O'Donnell said he felt like he was selling action figures.


 * This movie was such a failure, that it stalled the development of a fifth Superman movie that was to be made by none other than Tim Burton. That movie would later become Superman Returns.


 * In the commentary, Schumacher notes that they were running out of interesting villains, when they got to this movie. The director ultimately had to go to his 6 year old godson (who briefly appears in the film, as a member of Spike's gang) and ask which were his favorites.

Links and References

 * The Agony Booth: Batman and Robin Review


 * 1) ↑ 1.0 1.1 First and only known appearance to date besides flashbacks

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