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Dom Robinson reviews
Warner Home Video
- Cat.no: D 016500
- Cert: PG
- Running time: 120 minutes
- Year: 1997
- Pressing: 1998
- Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 42 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital 5.1 (AC-3)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English, Arabic, Polish, Greek, Czech, Turkish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Croatian, English for the hearing-impaired
- Widescreen: 16:9 (1.78:1)
- Price: £15.99
- Extras : Scene index, Production Notes, Scene Access
Director:
- Joel Schumacher
(A Time To Kill, Batman Forever, Flatliners, The Lost Boys)
Producer:
- Peter MacGregor-Scott
Screenplay:
- Akiva Goldsman
Music:
- Elliot Goldenthal
Cast:
Batman/Bruce Wayne: George Clooney (The Peacemaker, One Fine Day, From Dusk Till Dawn, “E.R.” (TV))
Mr. Freeze/Dr. Victor Fries: Arnold Schwarzenegger (True Lies, Eraser, Last Action Hero, Twins, Predator, Terminator 1 and 2, Total Recall)
Robin/Dick Grayson: Chris O’Donnell (Scent Of A Woman, Batman Forever, Circle Of Friends, In Love And War, The Chamber, Blue Sky)
Poison Ivy: Uma Thurman (Pulp Fiction, Gattaca, The Avengers, The Truth About Cats And Dogs, Dangerous Liasons, Final Analysis)
Batgirl/Barbara Wilson: Alicia Silverstone (Clueless, Excess Baggage, The Crush)
Alfred Pennyworth: Michael Gough (Batman 1-3, The Fourth Protocol, Out Of Africa, The Age Of Innocence)
Commissioner Gordon: Pat Hingle (Batman 1-3, Larger Than Life, Citizen Cohn, The Grifters)
Julie Madison: Elle MacPherson (Sirens, The Edge, Jane Eyre, The Mirror Has Two Faces)
Ms. B. Haven: Vivica A. Fox (Independence Day)
Nora Fries: Vendela K. Thommessen
Bane: Jeep Swenson
Banker: Coolio
Batman And Robinis the fourth post-Adam West film to make it to the bigscreen and a further extension of the long-running franchise which began inDC Comics, the characters having originally been created by Bob Kane.
As always Batman has to do battle with two evil foes at once and like BatmanForever he is joined by his sidekick Robin. This film sees another additionto the cast in the form of Batgirl, the neice of Batman’s butler Alfred who haslost faith in what her school’s careers office has to offer since all she wantsto do is go crime-fighting along with our other two heroes.
Causing death and destruction this time round are doctor-turned-madman Mr.Freeze who dons a metallic suit which keeps his body at a low-enough temperatureto live, while another science experiment gone wrong is Poison Ivy, a scientistwho mixed the wrong potions together, was swallowed by her plants and spat outagain, and now has the power to kill a man with a single kiss.
George Clooney is the third actor to put on the rubber Batsuit out of thefour recent big-budget versions and who is fast becoming one of Hollywood’shottest properties from his role in the TV series E.R. to films such asOne Fine Day, From Dusk Till Dawn and The Peacemaker. His actingrange can hardly be considered one of the greatest, but he does an adequate jobhere and is already signed on for Batman 5.
Arnold Schwarzenegger rarely plays the bad-guy but he does a good jobhere, his voice booming out from his suit and his gun freezing anyone who getsin his way in his bid to take command of Gotham City. As Barry Norman calls him”the human special-effects”, in this case there’s several special effects giventhe intricacies of the Mr. Freeze suit. Uma Thurman takes the role ofPoison Ivy and turns her into a mix of dotty scientist or alluring vixen.Her sidekick is Bane, a bizarre creation played by wrestler Jeep Swensonwho died last year.
Chris O’Donnell reprises his role of Robin, while AliciaSilverstone makes her Batman-debut as the new addition to family asBatgirl. As ever, Michael Gough returns as butler Albert whose health isfailing in his old age, and Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon.
That leaves the three love interests, each of which have a very small partindeed. Elle MacPherson plays Bruce Wayne’s girlfriend, having veryfew lines, Vivica A. Fox, last seen as Will Smith’s wife inIndependence Day, gets dressed up for a single line in Arnie’slaboratory. Finally, model Vendela K. Thommessen gets no lines asArnie’s wife Nora Fries since she’s a bit unwell and spends her time insidea tankful of water as they find a cure for her.
The picture quality is damn-near perfect. There are some artifacts noticeableon occasion – an example comes during the opening credits at the top of thescreen just before the two red Batman symbols sweep across the screen from onelocation to another to reveal the Batman and Robin logo – and on someslow-moving scenes where the background image rarely changes (the DVDcompression saving space by not repeating parts of video which don’t change),but mostly only if you’re really looking for them, which makes this one of thebest region 2 UK DVDs I’ve seen so far.
This film comes in widescreen format only (as Warner have have with all of theirinitial releases) and looks all the better for it. The ratio is 16:9 (1.78,which is close enough to the 1.85:1 theatrical ratio) and the disc is 16:9enhanced for widescreen TVs. If you do view this film in fullscreen on videothough it’s not too much of a problem as director Joel Schumacher (also thedirector of another two new Warner DVD release, A Time To Kill andThe Client) shot both Batmans 3 and 4 such that they’d be matted to1.85:1 for the cinema. Hence, while the fullscreen version simply removes theblack bars, you get to see more picture information than you’re meant to, sothe widescreen version is the only true way of seeing the film as the directorintended. Both of the first two Batman films (I’m talking Michael Keaton here,not Adam West 🙂 were shot hard-matte 1.85:1 so the fullscreen versionsof those will be pan-and-scan.
The Dolby Surround soundmix is one of the disc’s many highlights. What thefilm lacks in plot it more than makes up for in special effects and a barrageof explosions and gunfire. Even in an action-packed film like this there arealso some scenes primarily for the ambience and music score which also comeacross clearly. The disc also features a Dolby Digital AC-3 soundtrack whichI cannot comment on as I don’t have a suitably-equipped amplifier, but I sawthe film in the cinema in Dolby Digital and if the quality is duplicated here,it should be fantastic – one of my favourite moments being the opening creditswhich see the principal cast names roll past your ears from behind beforedisappearing into the distance.
Extras : Chapters :There are 42 chapters spread throughout the film which is superb, giving alarge choice of scenes with which to get instant access, most of which willput you in surround-sound heaven and of course the best ones are any featuringAlicia Silverstone…
The scene index allows access to any of the 42 chapters in the film, first inseven groups of chapters (the last counting up to 41 as there is a separatebutton for ‘End Credits’) and then more specific selections.
Special Features :An 11-item menu has information for ‘Cast & Crew’ which gives brief biographiesand filmographies for the principal cast members and director, plus itemsgiving insight into: ‘Bob Kane and the birth of Batman’, ‘Creating the newstory’, ‘Friends and Foes’, ‘Recreating Gotham City’, ‘The Batmobile’, ‘TheRedbird’, ‘The Freezemobile’, ‘Special Effects’, ‘The Costumes’ and ‘SpecialMake-Up’. Reel Recommendations :Recommendations for other Warner Bros. films sorted into Actor, Director andGenre categories including Eraser, Batmans 1-3, A Time To Kill, The LostBoys and Contact. It also lists Austin Powers which isn’t aWarner Bros. title. Languages :English is the only language on the disc, but there are subtitles for thefollowing languages: English, Arabic, Polish, Greek, Czech, Turkish, Hungarian,Icelandic, Croatian and English for the hearing-impaired.
This disc opens with the Warner logo which can be bypassed by selecting ‘Menu’from the remote control. The main menu is a bit of a problem though as clickingon the respective parts is a hit-and-miss affair but perseverance does pay offin the end, usually by clicking just above or below the required selection.Some parts require a few mouse clicks to access some parts and others quicklypass onto the next part before you’ve had chance to read it so you have to goback to see it again.
Overall, I thought this was one of the better post-Adam West Batman films.Yes the plot is thin, but for pure entertainment value in terms of audio andvisual effects it’s hard to beat. The first film was too heavy and went on toolong, the second was better but still too dark. The third was too silly andwhile Tommy Lee Jones was good, Val Kilmer and Jim Carrey didn’t do themselvesany favours. In fact, Val Kilmer could have made the fourth film, but he choseinstead to make The Saint. As Arnie says in Last Action Hero,”Big mistake!”.
Given Warner’s low-pricing of its DVDs and the amount of extras on this disc,it comes very well-recommended. It would have been nice to include a trailerand director’s commentary, if such has been recorded, but the rest isdefinitely worth the asking price.FILM : ***½PICTURE QUALITY: ****½SOUND QUALITY : *****EXTRAS: **—————————————PACKAGE: ****
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.