Notebook Reviews: BATMAN & ROBIN

Joel Schumacher – 1997

The film that killed the Batman franchise. Batman & Robin isn’t as bad as you’ve heard – and it’s enjoyable enough if you look at it like an updated version of the 1960s Adam West/Burt Ward television series. 

George Clooney would have been the perfect Batman/Bruce Wayne if he had better material to work with and Arnold Schwarzenegger chews the scenery (and puns) as Mr Freeze. Chris O’Donnell makes an okay Robin, but the less said about Alicia Silverstone‘s Batgirl the better. Uma Thurman‘s Poison Ivy is an additional complication for an over-stuffed film, which is essentially a scene for scene remake of Batman Forever. 

Batman & Robin is a comedown from the previous instalments that’s for sure, but the production design is great and Elliot Goldenthal‘s score is gloriously bombastic. 

I can’t in good conscience recommend it, but Batman & Robin (like all Joel Schumacher films) is glorious to look at.