(1997)
1.5
Derek Armstrong
The fourth Batman movie shows what kind of bloat can settle into a series once people stop caring about it, forcing the filmmakers into a desperate, all-senses barrage of cheap stimuli. One of the most wrongheaded films to come out of Hollywood in years, Batman & Robin throws even more spaghetti against the wall than its famously diffuse precursors. This time, none of it sticks. That Arnold Schwarzenegger was paid $20 million to be the more irritating of two dull villains gets at the massive size and scope of this misfire. His Mr. Freeze spouts so many terrible puns about ice, it's like he's the world's worst stand-up comic pitching Frigidaires to a room full of penguins. As Poison Ivy, Uma Thurman slinks, slithers, cackles, and annoys. George Clooney's first time donning the cape is not exactly a disaster, but he does rob the formerly brooding superhero of all his mystery with such lines as "Chicks dig the car." Said Batmobile is back, full of new gadgets, and there are a dozen other ridiculous gizmos, including air surfboards that transport the witless duo of Chris O'Donnell's Robin and Alicia Silverstone's Batgirl. The set design, descended from the fertile imagination of Tim Burton, feels like a tawdry rip-off of his genuine inspiration. Burton's labyrinth of gothic scenery has degenerated into a skyline populated by buildings shaped like oversized people. Everything about this film is oversized and underthought, with wretched dialogue and some of the most overblown yet poorly choreographed action sequences to come down the pike.
Batman & Robin on AllMovie
Batman & Robin (1997)
