I remember thinking, "man I wish they would have cast Patrick Stewart as Victor Fries" Now I am glad he stayed away from that steaming pile of guano.

I still wish they would use Mr. Freeze though as he is my all time favorite villain. He could be made into such a deep character. Then they should use Patrick Stewart.

George Clooney was without a doubt the worst Batman/Bruce. I think the worst part has to be a tie between when the two look at each other, click their heels, and ice skates pop out of their boots; or when Batman turns to the camera and has this big goofy grin. Horrible horrible. It's worse then Bat-shark repellant.

This is the only movie I ever walked out of the theatre on. Ever. I hate Joel Schumacher and wish him many hemmorhoids. When he dies, his hell should be him being forced to watch this film over and over again for the rest of eternity.

"Chill out".

What I have personally perceived to that statement, was in reference to sexual activity.

Isn't there supposed to be some big, deluxe 'Directors Cut' DVD coming out at some point that JS keeps claiming fixes the films problems?

Yeah, I don't believe it either, but this just sprang to mind.

Nope, I believe that's only for Batman Forever.

That was one of my biggest gripes about this movie. That, and they really turned the series from being dark and disturbing (like the book and the first two movies) and really made it sort of an extension of the TV show, which I just can't enjoy. Sorry, I can't get behind campy, ice-skating, pun-throwing, bat-nipple batman. Not happening.

But I didn't hate Clooney as Batman. I thought he was a good Bruce Wayne, too.

I always mention this too when discussing B&R. I still believe Clooney could have nailed Batman given the right director and script. He was simply lost with nothing to do in this film. I think Clooney would have worked very well if Warner Bros. would have stuck to a straight up Ivy story where he actually has to be Bruce Wayne for a good part of the film as Ivy seduces and deceives him.

I never liked Schumacher's approach to the two villains concept for his two films as he basically had them simply teaming up, whereas Burton had a four way battle of whits between his characters in Batman Returns and no one was quite on each other's side. The pairings were also off, as Ivy and Two-Face would have made a much better combination, if anyone remembers their episodes together on the Animated Series, and Freeze is strong enough to carry his own film (see Batman/Mr. Freeze - Sub-Zero).

I believe you mean anti-shark repellant.

I kept waiting for Arnie to say "Ice to meet you!" a la McBain.

And yes, I do believe it's the worst movie that I didn't walk out on (along with Sudden Death).

One of the worst five movies I've ever seen. And in case you were wondering, the others on my list are Ghost In the Machine, Highlander 2: The Quickening, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Blues Brothers 2000, and an honorable mention for The Hours.

Batman & Robin was so bad that most of the people involved with the production still haven't recovered to this day. Ahnuld had heart surgery that same summer and his career was in the toilet until he went back to the Terminator well. Uma Thurman needed Kill Bill to finally get back on her feet(the disaster of The Avengers the following summer also didn't help matters). Chris O'Donnell has been reduced to guest spots on The Practice(unless you consider The Bachelor or Vertical Limpdick comeback movies). Alicia Silverstone got fat and had trouble finding work. I'm pretty sure Elle MacPherson's attempt at an acting career ended here. Jeep Swenson who played Bane died for chrissakes. And last and definitely least is Joel Shitmaker who needed to go the indie route with Colin Farrell to finally get his directing career back on track.

It even affected the comic book movie genre. The only superhero films released between B&R and X-Men which saved the genre were Spawn, Steel, and Blade, all of which were in production or already completed before B&R came out. And let's not get into Warner Bros' troubles relaunching Superman and Batman which certainly couldn't have been helped by B&R.

Only Clooney managed to survive this movie and that's mostly because he had ER to keep him in the spotlight until Out of Sight, Three Kings, and The Perfect Storm resurrected(or launched really) his film career.

And on a side note, the one person who actually benefitted from this piece of sh-t was Harry Know-less of It Ain't Cool News. Batman & Robin's legacy aside from the careers it killed is that it was truly a milestone in the way negative internet buzz could harm a big budget Hollywood flick at the box office.

I'm just grateful I didn't waste money going to the movies to see this. Someone else
paid for a rental and I lasted 20 minutes before I called it quits. A piece of garbage,
for sure. I think the only thing worse was Battlefield Earth and unfortunately I had to
stay to watch that piece of garbage.

while it wasn't an indie but quite good was "phone booth" which starred Ferrell and was directed by Shitmaker. (that and falling down are the only movies of his i can stand.

I should've said "low budget" instead. I believe Tigerland was an indie flick though.

I can't make it passed 10-20 minutes in the film before I fall asleep.

I still don't see how "Lets go kick some ice" didn't make the 100 most memorable movie quote list.

What annoys me the most was that this movie had f--- awesome potential. And it was just...blown. The script, save for Mr. Freezes character, was just AWFUL. Plain, plain awful. Why Schumacher would make this movie is beyond me.

Wow. I thought I was the only one. Glad to see someone else on the same page. I thought he was decent but was completely wasted to give screentime to nipple-boy and clueless-girl. They could have had something, but pissed it away. What's worse is that Clooney takes/took the credit for putting the franchise in the grave, when it should have been Schumacher stepping forward to accept that award.

Just watched this for the first time in 13 years. Wow, just wow. I knew it was going to be hell to watch but I had no idea how bad it really was. My mouth was agape the whole movie. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. I would like to give 50% of the blame to Schumacher and the other 50% to the writer. Shameful.

The fact that Nolan's Batman's have come out and are near perfection in my eyes of what a Batman movie should be, makes this movie even worse.

I watched Batman Forever recently as well. Almost as bad.

Two bright spots I wanted to mention though. Clooney is not that bad in this. I thought he was a decent Batman. It's surprises me that he actually got the role because he was nowhere as big or respected an actor as he is now. All he had really done when he got signed to do Batman was E.R. and From Dusk Till Dawn. Definitely not the household name he is now. Still, I thought he was the one bright spot in this movie.

Second, Uma Thurman is smoking hot in this. Alicia Silverstone....you got paid a boat load of money I'm sure, you couldn't drop a couple of pounds?

I watched this again when I got the "Batman" Blu Ray set. It was overly horrible. It's one of the only movies where I genuinely felt I wasted 2 hours of my life. It makes Transformers 2 look like a masterpiece.

I got this free with a DVD player long ago and took it to work to test our AV equipment with, since I knew that it sucked. In all these years, I still haven't gotten past the first ten minutes. There is so much ridiculousness in the beginning that I don't think I could watch the whole thing without my brain exploding. And it's not even fun badness, just bad badness. The only way I could see watching it would be to have some friends over and see who can point out the most crap.

haven't seen this one yet, but recently picked up the Batman Anthology blu-ray set and will check it out sooner than later...will report back once my mission is complete.

I understand the hatred for this movie, but not the campy Batman theme in general. It's just another take on the character, and done right, like the 60's TV series, it can be great entertainment. The 60s series actually resurrected the character from obscurity.

The problem I have with this movie is that it's just terribly made. The movie was too loud, the music was just obnoxious, the characters were played way too seriously, the set design was overwhelming, and the overall theme of the movie and the plot were just lost in a sea of overdone action set pieces.

Although I have to agree with the other posters, the other Batman films up until The Dark Knight weren't that great.

In the first Batman movie, I never really understood how the Joker managed to shoot down the Batwing with a huge pistol. That scene never made sense to me, even as a kid.

Batman Returns was just awful.

Batman Forever was a horrible movie all around, for the same reasons as Batman and Robin. It's not that Batman can't be played in a humorous fashion, but the movie was just over the top. It was way too much. Sorta like Spielberg with sentimentality. If they had just toned it down a notch, they would have been better movies.

Batman Begins was just a weak movie all around. In fact, it wasn't even necessary. Audiences are familiar with the character, so was this movie really necessary? granted they had to restart the franchise, but it's not as if audiences are so dumb that they won't recognize Batman when they see him.

The only problem I have with the Dark Knight is that Batman is sidelined compared to all the other great characters in the movie. Harvey Dent, Gordon, and the Joker really steal the show. Still, it's a great movie.

Agree with Superboy on the campy theme. I forget where I read it (may have been here) but each of the 4 movies can be broken down to a period in Batman's history. I forget which was which, but just thinking:

Batman = Late 30's vengeful killing Batman
Batman Returns = Darker Batman after Robin's death
Batman Forever = 70's style, troubled but effective, limited work with Robin
Batman & Robin = 60's Pop Batman

That being said B&R is a lot better if you watch it on mute I was so disappointed with how Batgirl (my favorite character) was in the movie. Uma is a bright spot, George isn't bad, but its was during his head bobbing stage. The biggest problem with the film is you can see it was designed to sell toys.

I thought it was pretty good, a solid B. The origin had to be retold. It's been years since a Batman flick, some people still don't know what exactly motivated him. Also...what he did later to become Batman. That gap in time is what's important. Nobody really knew what Wayne did between his parent's death and actually becoming Batman. It's weakest elements are any and all elements of Rachel Dawes (played by the way too young Katie Holmes), dunno why they really thought a love interest matters. At least Maggie Gyllenhaal played it like an adult woman. Also to this day it irks me to see Gordon in the Batmobile.

What was cool from BB to TDK as that they killed that love interest. I didn't see that happening actually. Not that I don't belive Nolan can't do it but that they'd allow it in a film utilizing a character widely known by kids. TDK went darker and it was good. It was a very much crime drama film w/ superhero elements.

I watched Batman Forever the other day. I remember loving it when it first came out, but man its almost as bad as Batman and Robin.

After Nolan's Batman, all 4 of the previous movies are pretty unwatchable to me, even the first one.