Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 17, 1995 TAG: 9506200021
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Batman Forever," the third installment in the series, actually improves on the original concept. It's funnier, lighter in tone, and, at long last, actually focused on the title character. The various changes that have been made in cast and crew are all to the good.
Val Kilmer seems more comfortable as a psychologically troubled superhero than Michael Keaton ever did. To be fair though, Kilmer has more to work with here than Keaton did in both of his films. Director Joel Schumacher (``Falling Down," ``The Client") brings a flashy, more commercial visual style and a stronger narrative drive.
Some credit there must go to writers Lee and Janet Scott Batchler and Akiva Goldsman.
The film begins with a long, complicated action sequence that introduces one of the villains, Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), a demented and disfigured prosecutor-turned-gangster who has vowed vengeance on Batman. Bombshell psychologist Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman) also shows up to see Two-Face in action, though she's more interested in Batman, and she's not completely objective. "I'll bring the wine," she purrs to him, "you bring your scarred psyche."
Filling out the cast are Jim Carrey and Chris O'Donnell. Carrey is perfectly cast as the Riddler. He's actually Edward Nygma, a megalomaniacal inventor who has vowed vengeance against Bruce Wayne. O'Donnell is young acrobat and soon-to-be sidekick Dick Grayson, who has vowed vengeance against Two-Face for reasons of his own.
Yes, there's a lot of vengeance-vowing going on. Even Batman still has some problems to work through in that department, giving Val Kilmer room to do something with the role. Here, for the first time, Batman/Bruce Wayne isn't a straightman for more fully developed and colorful villains. Even though Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey spend a lot of time going over the top - and when those two go over the top, they go waaaaaaay over the top - the focus of the story remains on Batman and the conflict between the secret and the public sides of his personality.
Equally important to these cinematic comic books is the gothic atmosphere of Gotham itself, and production designer Barbara Ling has built on the already exaggerated cityscape that was created in the first two films. She makes the skyscrapers more towering, the statues more massive, the deco more deco. Schumacher adds bright touches of color to the nightworld where most of the action takes place. Street punks, for example, are decked out in day-glo, and Two-Face's gang members have silly flourishes of neon on the magazines of their machine pistols.
The unrealistic setting is such an integral part of "Batman Forever" that the violence isn't too strong for younger viewers. Kids old enough to follow a fairly complicated comic book plot and old enough not to be scared by the bad guys' outlandish makeup and costumes will be thoroughly entertained.
So will their elders - providing the grown-ups have a taste for big-budget lightweight escapism.
Batman Forever *** 1/2
A Warner Bros. release playing at the Salem Valley 8 and Valley View Mall 6. 120 min. Rated PG-13 for violence, some strong language and sexually suggestive material.
by CNB